The Social Studies Wars

by Evans, Ronald W.

• ISBN13: 9780807744192
• ISBN10: 0807744190
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-01-01
• Publisher: Teachers College Pr

Summary

Ronald Evans describes and interprets the continuing battles over the purposes, content, methods, and theorectical foundations of the social studies curriculum. This facinating volume: addresses the failure of social studies to reach its potential for dynamic teaching because of a lack of consensus in the field; links the ever-changing rhetoric and policy decisions to their influence on classroom practice; and helps to clarify the meaning, direction, and purposes of social studies instruction in schools.

Author Biography

Ronald W. Evans is a professor in the School of Teacher Education at San Diego State University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction: The Struggle for Social Studies	1	(4)
1. Establishing Traditional History	5	(16)
Enter the Committees	6	(10)
Debate over Traditional History	16	(2)
Conclusion	18	(3)
2. The 1916 Compromise: The Report on Social Studies	21	(25)
The Report on Social Studies	23	(4)
Reflections	27	(2)
Silence	29	(3)
Debate on social Studies in the 1920's	32	(4)
NCSS Founded	36	(1)
Progressive Education and Rugg Social Studies	37	(4)
Looking Backward and Looking Forward	41	(5)
3. Social Studies in Hard Times: Social Reconstructionism and the Educational Frontier	46	(24)
Larger Battles	49	(1)
Education for Social Reconstructionism	50	(2)
The Commission on Social Studies of the AHA	52	(7)
Rugg and Problem-Centered Social Studies	59	(7)
Rhetoric Versus Reality	66	(4)
4. War and the War on Social Studies	70	(26)
War and Education	71	(1)
Progressivism Continued	72	(3)
The Gathering storm	75	(9)
The Controversy over American History	84	(10)
Conclusion	94	(2)
5. The Cold War and the Return to Academic Study	96	(26)
Attacks on Progressive Education	97	(7)
Curriculum Trends	104	(3)
The Continuing Struggle to Define Social Studies	107	(6)
The Anticommunist Crusade	113	(2)
Sputnik and the National Defense Education Act	115	(2)
Classroom Realities	117	(2)
Conclusion	119	(3)
6. The Era of the New Social Studies	122	(27)
Emergence	123	(8)
Definitional Dilemmas	131	(3)
The Newer Social Studies	134	(6)
Aftermath	140	(4)
Can Social Studies Be Changed?	144	(3)
Conclusion	147	(2)
7. The Runaway Train of Standards Reform	149	(26)
Reform story	152	(2)
The Revival of Traditional History	154	(5)
The National Commission on Social Studies	159	(1)
Crosscurrents	160	(2)
Standards	162	(4)
A Storm of Controversy	166	(5)
Explaining the Conservative Restoration	171	(4)
Conclusion: The Continuing Struggle for Meaningful Learning	175	(4)
References	179	(20)
Index	199	(14)
About the Author	213