Why I teach Social Studies!

So, I'm one of those who does not just focus on English/Language Arts and Math, much to the displeasure of some! But I believe in the teaching of Social Studies and all that it means, history, geography, law, civics, etc. etc. etc.

My reason and subsequent mantra for doing so is so that kids "won't think that Paris is the capital of Pennsylvania or that Texas is a country!"

I didn't just pull those random inaccuracies out of a hat. But my first week of teaching 6th grade Social Studies, I remember attempting to gauge what the students knew and put out a survey of some basic facts that I believed that should've known by 6th grade! You guessed it! Those were some of the "facts" I got!

1.  What is the capital of Pennsylvania? Paris
2.  Name one other country in the world. Texas

And then this, today....

.@CNN mistakenly labels Pennsylvania as New York in on-screen map http://t.co/TiR1Ayim2C pic.twitter.com/BH7dEKPNC8

— Philly.com (@phillydotcom) June 10, 2015