what will we ever use social studies for?

Question

why do we have history class..like people care what happened back then..wat sense does it make to learn about some wars..unless we are going to be a history teacher..but besides that what will we ever use it for

Answer 1

Have you ever heard the phrase:

"Those that don't remember the past, are doomed to repeat it!"



Understanding history allows us to better understand the bad unintended consequences that result from good intentions. Understanding past decisions and their consequences gives us the ability to make better decisions today.



Lets take "universal health care" for example. If we study the history of other countries that have this system of health care, we would understand that as soon as the government pays for everyone's doctor bills, EVERYONE will be at the doctor. Supply will be stagnant, but demand will skyrocket! Supply and demand tells us that this means prices will go up. But, because the gov't will have control over the prices (since they are the only ones actually paying now), our health care system will suffer from poor quality of care!



In Canada (where they have "universal health care"), the lines were so long that a new law was recently passed: No one can wait longer than 4 hours before being seen at the ER. Since the ER can't make that happen, they have been requiring the patients to wait outside in their ambulances for an hour since the clock doesn't start ticking until they enter the ER. So now they are short of ambulances to come save your grandma from a heart attack!



Now thats what I call unintended bad consequences resulting from good intentions! Knowing the history of this type of health care should influence your ability to make future decisions about it. Don't you agree?



Plus, people will try to "rewrite" history all the time in an effort to try to make some political point. By knowing the truth, you won't be suckered into their trap.

Answer 2

Wow. How can you possibly understand the world in which you live if you have no idea of how things got to be this way? Have you no curiousity or desire to learn about things beyond your daily life?

I'll bet you know a lot about people like Brittney Spears and Lindsay Lohan. What will you ever use that for? Nothing they do is important, and not many years from now, nobody will remember who they were. Meanwhile, you could be learning about great, important, and, believe it or not, interesting things that happened in the world, events that changed the world. You'll be surprised to see that people have always cared about the same basic things. Technology may change, but people really don't.

Answer 3

Yeah I used to think that but now I realize that I was very ignorant. Think about it, we look at the past and study their mistakes so we don't make the same ones. As an example, look at Ancient Rome. They were a very powerful country until their fall. Some people say America was like them before their downfall. We could study what they did wrong so we don't do the same thing. Understand better? History does seem really boring at times but some of it can be super interesting.

Answer 4

I was a history major in college. Believe me, history is fun when it's taught right and the teachers let you pick the parts you're interested in. I did my final paper on how advertising in women's magazines changed between the two World Wars and I'd almost have written that for fun because it was a blast to research. (And I'm a librarian, not a history teacher)



But I'll let you in on a secret: the things that they test you on in secondary school, dates and names of specific explorers and battles? You're right. You won't use that information unless you teach history. That's a huge beef I have with the way schools teach history. History is just one big story. It's the story of how all the people who came before you lived, and of how countries grew up into the nations they are, and the funny or exciting or horrible people who shaped the world, and the everyday people who shaped it too. That should be tremendously fun. But schools just suck the life out of history so that you're left with nothing but lists of things to learn by rote, and they take out anything remotely controversial or interesting about historical figures, or anything that humanizes them (quick, tell me something about U.S. President James Buchanan. Bet "he was quite likely gay" wasn't something that jumped right to mind, was it?).



The thing you really have to remember about high school history is the themes of it. As people have been saying, you need to know what happened before to keep from falling into those same mistakes again. And also, I think that you need to know *how* things came to be the way they are to really appreciate them.

Answer 5

I think it is such a sad testament of our society that so many people simply look at the "bottom line." What will it get me? How can I apply it to earn more money? In these cases, yeah, history may seem useless...students take classes in college only because it's a ticket to a certificate that they _believe_ will earn them more money.



BUT...without a knowledge of the past, of who you are and where you came from, what good is that certificate? I always say (and i may be giving myself away here) that we are shaped by who we are, when we are, and where we are. That means that we are products of and makes of history. History isn't some flat thing that happened in the past that we must memorize. history is shaped by people, it is molded. It's a dynamic, organic thing that is never really "past" because we in our own contexts are applying our own experiences to what we know.



What is history? History is essential. It's not just about some wars. It's about poor people standing up and fighting for what they thought was right. It's about mothers protesting the high cost of bread they needed to feed their children and bringing down the French monarch. It's about colonized people speaking up and creating their own nation. It's about you and me and everyone around us interacting with the things, forces, people who created us.



I hope my comments have made you rethink this.



Good luck.

Answer 6

" Those who dont learn from history are doomed to repeat it" Imagine this: we stop studying history and forget all about the Holocaust, World war I, everything. That would be buring ou past. People need to know what happened in the past regardless if we use it or not. Besides one day your boss might come over ask about say world war one and youll look at him and say "huh what" you wont get promoted! Some {alot} of bosses promote people based on their work and also if they think their smart. History is used for alot of other things numb numb research it before asking. The country and leaders arent just doomed to repeat normal people like you too. Hitler knew this and he was "normal" poor person who toke over Germany.

Answer 7

Forget about history, sister! You need English grammar, spelling, punctuation, and capitalization to take the top spot on your to do list. It could be that you can't read well enough yet to understand why history is important. Do you learn from things past in your life and make better decisions from what you've learned? So does society - I give you social studies. Now go study.

Answer 8

You could use it if you want to become a historian, like you said history teacher, and well I'm not sure what you're learning in History now but sometimes social studies isn't always history--it could be civics, political history, etc. and you if you wanted to be a lawyer, politition, or work for the government those topics would help you....and sometimes history can also have an effect on the future...



but then again i don't want to be any of those things....and history isn't my favorite subject--so idk....

Answer 9

well, history is where you came from.Knowledge is power and knowing the cause of a war just might make it possible to avoid another war.

It's funny when I was in school I hated history too but when I started getting interested in it after and taught myself well....... there is a lot of knowledge there. Maybe one day you will feel the same

Answer 10

Um, knowledge of our past is important. The founding fathers spent their time and effort into making the US into what it is today. And other countries that have a form of Government had the same thing.



I think it's pretty sad that most Americans can't recite the preamble of the Declaration of Independence, and stuff like that. It's good knowledge to have.

Answer 11

This looks like a goofy task, yet instructors have been conventional to grant goofy assignments formerly . so....... notwithstanding I disagree with the theory that English is the worst difficulty, you need to assert that getting to understand English does not coach you with reference to the international, or the way it have been given to the state that that's. English is an unusual language, so there are a number of unusual grammatical varieties to be found out. that usually potential organic memorization, and rote getting to understand isn't comparable to deductive getting to understand, ergo that's an inferior getting to understand technique that doesn't have transferability to different matters. it fairly is with reference to the best i'm able to do.....

Answer 12

History tends to repeat itself. Knowing the past will only better prepare us for the future.

Answer 13

What will you use history for? To understand what is happening in the world around you. To understand who the power players are in world events. To recognize crises in the making and perhaps work to prevent them.

Answer 14

many people ask this question, the reason is because history repeats itself. As Ibn-Khaldun said, it just a cycle, an empire has is birth, growth, then decay. We learned how they decayed so we wont. Its like learning from your mistakes, but its someone elses mistake.

Answer 15

For giving helpful answers on here, to young people who need help with their homework or just ask silly questions.



Oh! To be so very young and naive, again.



As was so wisely said, "Youth is wasted on the young."



Enjoy your young years because you'll be an adult for a very long time. I hope so anyway.

Answer 16

It is to know what mistakes people made in the past, and TRY not to make them. Even though we still do

Answer 17

nothing.

the only thing school helps us with is .... um... nothing :S