"The hard left"... you know what is so damn comical about this statement?

[DebJ]

81. That is why the plan of NCLB was to focus first on reading and math and

then science ...social studies classes were effectively eliminated, especially in poorer districts
where the students struggle,and where certainly the powers that be do NOT want them to vote,
nor to understand the power they DO hold with that vote. The middle school children I taught for
a year couldn't handle any geography whatsoever except some knew the continents. But nothing
about what is on which continent nor anything else. Yet many had relatives in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I gave them a weekly quiz, which they could always retake to improve their scores, and gave prizes
for 100 percent scores, on basic geography. Since it was Ancient History, every one of the 80 students
could find Iraq, Iran,etc the middle east on a map and a globe before my teaching job was cut. They
knew Africa was not a country. They knew how to find their home town on a map. What does a news
story mean to anyone, when they have no idea where these places even are?

That's why NCLB left all social studies knowledge for dead last ... so that it NEVER gets done, at all.

Some pre-NCLB years ago, the fifth and sixth grade students had a social studies class every day. As of
a few years ago when I was teaching, they had 15 minutes twice a week. Whether they needed it, or not.
The sad thing to is that a child not skilled in math or even reading can still learn about the world, about power structures in the world, about how to make a difference ... more easily learn that today than ever before. The power of the internet, videos, etc... there is no reason for at least 85 percent to get a good grasp of social studies...even if they can barely read.