very interesting point of view from a student (not sure what grade he's in). i just recently started reading Kazu's blog (http://kazublog14.blogspot.com/ ), but i really enjoy the honesty and subject matter. an honest perspective from a student growing up in california. props to the web for making it possible to be exposed to this.

word. social "sciences" are for pussies. learn how to do an ACTUAL TASK like western blotting or putting up wall board, *then* you may commence participation in a functional society

The concept of schooling likely will be getting transformed over the next 50 years. It has to. Why memorize most things when your brain extension (by Google) is available. It will be more important to learn how to tell real information from crap than to memorize a bunch of stuff.

kmcolo:

It will be more important to learn how to tell real information from crap than to memorize a bunch of stuff.

i think it always has been...just don't think traditional schooling has treated it as such. hopefully that will change.

Oh for heaven's sake, you can't write off an entire discipline just because it doesn't teach you how to build a wardrobe. Why should life be all about practicailty? Social studies make the world a more interesting place and help us to understand the world we live in and the people around us. What's wrong with that?

it is the old litany: "we don't need no education!". i never liked being at school, but it was always about teachers, and there were 2-3 who all of us liked because they were open minded and didn't push us in a medieval manner and didn't kill in us the curiosity and pleasure to learn.
pragmatism... i know a very smart guy, won some international prize in chemistry for college students, it was pretty sure he will get a fellowship in usa - and after he graduated from university he switched to ancient languages and became a translator (with not so good pay as a top scientist), because that was what he liked, to become a renowned scientist was the ambition of his father, a more "pragmatic" man.
i almost forgot to say - i am a teacher...

Back to the 'Golden Rule' again!

Social Studies is in school curriculums{sp?} to allow all the nation to learn the same values. With those 'common values' people can define what it is to be a nation. I can't look at social studies as an exploration of current events but more as an 'Understanding' of why current events unfold the way they do.
The values examined in 'Social Studies' help our young gain wisdom and common understanding. What is right/wrong in our society may or may not be right/wrong in other societies. Understanding that concept allows the world to co-exist.
If your teacher in school focused on current events and not the underlying causes of those events you have been disserviced as a student.