"Once with a time...." Where do tho...

"Once with a time...." Where do those words take you? In bed, snuggl below a blanket, as you listen to a bedtime story? Into the pages of your favorite childhood adventure storybook?

gaze up the word "history" in a dictionary. It's no surprise that common of its meanings is "story." Stories of folks places, and events make social studies get to to life. Rachel Hoerman, a junior at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, plans to earn at least a master's grade in history. "History, to me [always] be seened like a never-ending story," she says.

Whether it's U or world history, geography, civics, or another related area, social studies can help you understand yourself and others. And if you broaden your experiences in social studies now, you may find yourself in an exciting related career someday.

The wherefores of Social Studies

If social studies has always looked like a jumble of names and dates to you, you may inquiring surprise where the connections are to real life. nearest time you're reading a chapter for homework or writing a report, remember the "whys" of social studies:

To understand yourself and your place in the world. Social studies "gives you a wide picture of not just where you are now, on the other hand how you got to where you are," says Jim McKeever a counselor at Antigo (Wisconsin) High exercise What did your ancestors experience? individual history teacher explains that her early ancestors lived subordinate to William the Conqueror in England, and another fought in the American Revolution. Find not at home about your family's past, and you'll discover your legacy.

To understand others in such a manner you can get along in the world. Our rural parts is a melting pot or salad receptacle with immigrants and their descendants of all races and backgrounds. In everyday life, it helps if we all understand, tolerate, and appreciate our differences, says Pamela Gardner, K-12 social studies supervisor for Stratford (Connecticut) Public Schools

"With the rapid and widespread use of technology, we can no longer afford to be isolationist," she says. We have to be able to communicate not and nothing else with the family next door, yet also with people across the world.

To render certain that we don't repeat history. The often-quot philosopher George Santayana said, "Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it."

History "allows us to contrast what we are experiencing with what others have experienced elsewhere in the past," says T Kilsdonk, a graduate scholar at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Pamela Pavek, a University of Wisconsin- Steven Point senior, adds that social studies teaches you "how family dealt with certain issues and in what manner past issues affect the world today."

To become a proper citizen. In the past year, Americans have been reminded more than till doomsday of the freedoms that proceed along with living in a democracy. According to the American Historical Association, participating in history class helps us define our characters as citizens in our communities, our states, and our country

To save the world! Social studies can be the foundation for a variety of pursuits that have an impact upon the world. Pavek, for example, chance of a favorable results to help others as a forensic psychologist someday. "If I can make a difference in a bond of individuals' lives, that will make me actual happy," she says. "The world indigences more caring, compassionate people to help others."

Hoerman agrees. After graduation, she plans to join the Peace Corps or teach English in a foreign land and then do research and field studies to help improve the lives of persons in poor areas through education.

Digging Deeper into the Past

If you already have intercourse with social studies or think it's time to give it another chance, here are near ways to broaden your knowledge and spark your interest:

* Take social studies electives. Antigo's 20th hundred years History! Literature course--which explores themes like as economic depression, war, and human rights within literature, film, art, and music--is real popular, says McKeever.

* Explore your neighborhood. Check without art museums and historic abiding-places or simply look around town for historical markers. Take a virtual tour of the world's historic places on-line.

* supplication course catalogs from colleges or technical teachs you may want to attend. Then find public what social studies courses proceed along with the field you're considering. For example, McKeever points on the outside that the local technical body requires social studies courses for its police science program.

* Find your stems Uncover family history by interviewing relatives and searching for information forward your family name on-line. To start, visit www.usgenweb.org, www.myhistory.org/guidebook, or www.genhomepage.com. Then, when you learn about the Pilgrims, the Louisiana Purchase, or World War I, you can picture your acknowledge ancestors living at that time.

For More Information

American Historical Association

www.theaha.org/pubs/careers

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