Why Social Studies?

It’s a common question: Why does this subject matter?

For social studies, that question is not rhetorical—it’s foundational. If we cannot explain why social studies deserves a place in every child’s education, then it risks becoming a loose collection of topics about “the past,” “culture,” or “current events,” without moral or civic coherence.

To ask why social studies? is to ask what kind of society we hope to sustain—and what kind of people we are helping our students to become.

Social studies is not simply about transferring information. It is about cultivating judgment, empathy, and responsibility in relation to others. It prepares young people to understand the world as an interdependent, living network of human stories, choices, and consequences. In its best form, social studies is the discipline through which democracy educates itself.

Living Well, Together

Social studies may be defined as the field devoted to “the study of people in relation to each other and to their world.” This deceptively simple phrase carries profound ethical weight. To study “people in relation to each other” means to investigate how we live together, how power and resources are shared, and how meaning and belonging are formed. It asks us to look at both cooperation and conflict, both the ideals we profess and the inequalities we perpetuate.

In other words, the goal of social studies is not only to understand society but to understand ourselves as social beings. We live in webs of relationship, culture, and responsibility. Children are born into these webs long before they can name them. Social studies helps make those invisible structures visible—it reveals how we came to live this way, and how we might live otherwise.

When we ask students to think about fairness, freedom, or diversity, we are not just teaching vocabulary; we are asking them to enter the shared moral project of humanity. The subject is therefore not neutral. It is deeply ethical, concerned with both what is and what ought to be.

One Subject, Many Disciplines

Social studies emerged in the early twentieth century as a way to bring together multiple disciplines—history, geography, economics, political science, sociology—under a single civic purpose. Rather than fragmenting human experience into isolated academic silos, social studies sought to connect them around questions of citizenship, identity, and public life.

Think of it this way:

• History helps us trace how the present came to be.
• Geography shows how people and environments shape one another.
• Economics reveals the choices we make about value and scarcity.
• Political science explores how we govern and resolve conflict.
• Sociology and anthropology help us see patterns of culture, power, and belonging.

Social studies weaves these threads together, not to produce experts in each, but to cultivate integrative thinkers—citizens capable of connecting evidence, perspective, and value.

In this sense, social studies is not a “content subject” but a thinking discipline. It trains the habits of inquiry necessary for democratic life: asking good questions, weighing evidence, comparing interpretations, and reasoning ethically about complex issues.

Democratic Roots

Social studies as a formal school subject took shape in the early twentieth century in response to enormous social change: industrialization, immigration, urbanization, and the expansion of democratic participation. In the United States, the Committee on Social Studies (1916) argued that education must prepare citizens “to act rationally and humanely in all the relationships of life.” That conviction still stands.

At its core, the subject was—and remains—a response to democracy itself.

Democracy depends on citizens who can deliberate, question authority, empathize with others, and imagine collective solutions. Those are not natural abilities; they must be cultivated. Schools are one of the few institutions deliberately designed for that purpose.

Here, social studies becomes the meeting ground between knowledge and conscience. It asks students not only "What happened?", but "What matters?" and "What should we do now?"

To understand why social studies matters, it helps to consider how it emerged—not only as a school subject but as a human practice.

Long before there were textbooks or classrooms, human beings have been social learners. Our ancestors survived not by brute strength but by learning together—by observing, storytelling, and transmitting moral lessons through narrative and ritual. They taught the young how to read the land, how to cooperate, and how to sustain relationships within the group.

In this sense, social studies emerged from the oldest form of education: learning how to live well with others.

What we now call “curriculum” was once the oral memory of the tribe. Myths, histories, and customs carried knowledge about survival, justice, and belonging. Over time, these became written laws, historical records, and philosophical reflections—but their underlying purpose remained the same: to pass along the wisdom of how to sustain human life together.

Modern social studies is a continuation of that ancient task, translated into the context of nation-states, global economies, and pluralistic societies. It retains the same moral question: How shall we live together now, given what we know about the past and what we hope for the future?

Democracy as a Way of Life

If we trace that thread through history, we find that democracy is not merely a system of government but a way of being with others.

John Dewey called this “democracy as a way of life.” It means that democracy exists not only in parliaments or elections but in the quality of our everyday interactions—in classrooms, workplaces, and communities.

To live democratically requires certain dispositions:

• Respect for others as equals in dignity and voice.
• Shared responsibility for the common good.
• Openness to evidence and change—the humility to be corrected.
• Commitment to common ground even amid difference.

These are the very dispositions social studies is meant to cultivate. When a student examines multiple perspectives on a historical event, they are learning empathy and critical thinking. When they debate a public issue, they are learning deliberation and ethical judgment. When they study local history or Indigenous worldviews, they are learning that the world is not theirs alone—that they inherit responsibilities as well as rights.

Thus, the deeper purpose of social studies is not to produce specialists but citizens who can sustain democratic life.

Social Studies as Inquiry

The best social studies classrooms do not lecture about facts; they invite inquiry. Inquiry begins with a question that matters—something uncertain enough to provoke curiosity but structured enough to guide learning. For example:

• Why do people leave their homes to settle elsewhere?
• What makes a community fair and safe?
• Can progress ever be unfair?
• How should we balance freedom and responsibility?

These questions connect children’s lived experience to larger human dilemmas. Through inquiry, students learn that history is not fixed, geography is not neutral, and citizenship is not passive. They see that knowledge is something people create together through reasoning, evidence, and dialogue.

In this way, inquiry mirrors democracy itself: a shared search for understanding among people who may not agree but who remain bound by mutual respect.

The Canadian and Newfoundland Context

In Newfoundland and Labrador, social studies has always carried a particular weight. Our society has been shaped by migration, cooperation, and hardship; we know that survival depends on interdependence. Our history—fishing communities, confederation debates, resettlement, and cultural revival—offers a living curriculum in democratic learning.

The provincial curriculum reflects this heritage. From early grades exploring family and community to senior high courses on global citizenship and Canadian democracy, each level builds toward a deeper understanding of how individuals and communities depend on one another.

Yet, as in much of Canada, the challenge remains: how do we teach not just about democracy but for democracy? How do we help students see themselves as participants in shaping the common good, not merely as observers of civic institutions?

The answer lies in how we teach social studies—in whether our classrooms reflect the values we claim to uphold.

Teachers: Architects of Democratic Space

To teach social studies well is to accept a moral and intellectual responsibility. Teachers are not neutral conveyors of information; they are designers of democratic spaces. Every choice—what stories to tell, which voices to include, how to frame a question—signals what kind of world students are being invited into.

A democratic classroom is one where:

• Students can ask honest questions without fear.
• Evidence matters more than authority.
• Listening is as valued as speaking.
• Differences are explored, not erased.

This is not easy work. It requires the teacher to balance structure with openness, and to model the very dispositions they seek to cultivate. But when done well, it allows students to experience democracy not as an abstraction but as a lived practice of inquiry, care, and mutual respect.

Emergence and Democracy

The word emergence describes a process through which complex patterns arise from simple interactions. This is a powerful metaphor for both social studies and democracy itself. No single person controls the outcome; it emerges from relationships, dialogue, and collective interpretation.

In the same way, democratic understanding cannot be delivered—it must be grown. When students engage in collaborative inquiry, when they wrestle with competing interpretations of fairness or freedom, they are constructing their civic understanding together. Each conversation, each act of listening or compromise, becomes a small rehearsal for democratic life.

This idea—that democracy emerges through education—reminds us that teaching social studies is not just professional work; it is nation-building in the deepest sense. The quality of our public life tomorrow depends on the quality of our classrooms today.

Why Social Studies Still Matters

In an age of misinformation, polarization, and cynicism, the question "Why social studies?" has become more urgent, not less. The subject reminds us that truth is not whatever we wish it to be, that freedom without empathy becomes cruelty, and that communities cannot survive without shared understanding.

Social studies equips students to navigate this complexity with judgment and care. It invites them to see patterns, test claims, and imagine better possibilities. It tells them that the past is not over, the present is not simple, and the future is not fixed.

At its best, social studies forms citizens who can think, feel, and act with integrity—people capable of seeing themselves as part of a larger human story.

The Continuing Task

The future of social studies will depend on whether teachers hold fast to its deepest purpose. It is not about memorizing dates or completing worksheets. It is about forming the habits of mind and heart that sustain democracy—curiosity, empathy, critical reflection, and shared responsibility.

To teach social studies, then, is to participate in the ongoing emergence of humanity’s self-understanding. Each lesson, however small, becomes a conversation in the long story of what it means to live together well.

That is why social studies.

Reflection

1. What do you think is the most important purpose of social studies in the early grades?
2. How might social studies differ from simply “teaching about history”?
3. How can teachers make classrooms democratic spaces, not just spaces where democracy is taught about?
4. In what ways do you see the idea of emergence in your own learning?