The battle for equal subject-matter footing goes on. You might have heard that the National Research Council came out with a report arguing that science be taught—and tested—as intensely and math and reading.
The same day, a special commission set up by the American Academy of Arts & Sciences called for a central place for arts and the social sciences.
Filmmaker George Lucas, who serves on the commission, put it this way: “The sciences teach us how. The humanities teach us why. You can’t continue to do the how without the why. If we ignore history, philosophy, and all of the other attempts to deal with the why, the how can become very dangerous.”
As you might have read here, social studies folks are pushing for a more central place for their disciplines as well, working to find common ground on possible guidelines or standards for the social studies.
Ah, for the pre-NCLB days, when such arguments didn’t seem necessary.