Why we do what we do?
I think this is the one question which explains the existence of social studies: the desire to know why. There are so many fields within the space of social studies: psychology, cultural geography, history, economics, political science, sociology and there are sub-fields of each of these. Social studies are a ubiquitous part of our lives whether we know it or not.
Did you ever wonder why polls are important?
Did you ever consider why location is important for businesses?
Have you ever wondered why people live where they live?
Have you ever thought about why history is important to our lives today?
These are some questions which the social studies can answer. When we gather statistics about a populations voting habits, we can better understand trends and tailor political messages to suit them. Businesses need to optimize their earnings potential, so location becomes a key element to an establishment. People tend to live where resources are easiest to access. History can help guide us away from redundancies and steer us into a future of promise. How's that for some answers?
Developing a mind which is in tune with social studies happens over time. We can practice those skills when we read. There are simple questions we can begin to ask ourselves anytime we read something. Who wrote it? What is it about? What do they want to tell me? What do I hope to gain out of this? But it goes beyond this. I have read many articles where reporters get their facts wrong. How do I know? Because I have trained my mind to recognize truth from falsehood. It is easy to sound like someone who knows about what they are writing, but it is another to report fact. In today's world where an edge is desired over reality, we often see news slanted or inflated to the point of ridiculousness, celebrities given more and more face time, and athletes get more notice about their "tweets" than the fact that the world still contains over 25 million slaves.
Developing a social studies mind when reading will help filter out useless information from useful information. It will create within the reader a greater sense of self and responsibility to society in general. Developing a social studies mind when reading will also give the reader a much better grasp over the subject matter they are reading: this is applicable to all genres of writing.
