Tuesday night in class it was briefly discussed that some schools were considering not requiring students to take history classes.  It was also discussed how this would in turn affect student's abilities to make critical life decisions, like how to make an educated vote in a presidential election.  It seems to me that if one of our main goals as educators is to prepare students to live in a democracy, teaching them what a democracy is would be a pretty large part of that education.  What sort of citizens would we be preparing if all we taught them was English and math?  Yes, they would hopefully be literate and know how to balance their check books, but they would not have knowledge of how and why our country became a democracy and what that means to us as citizens.  How can we expect students to care about participating in democratic elections if they never understand why they are important?  As I thought about these things on my drive home I was shocked that educated individuals could even consider not requiring history classes for students.  

Later that evening I discussed the topic with my mom who is an eighth grade science teacher.  She agreed that history is very important to a  student's overall education.  She then brought up a point that I had not previously considered.  Even if students are required to attend the class, if they are not held accountable through assessment they may not learn as much as they should from the class.  What she proceeded to explain to me shocked me.  In Union County, North Carolina eighth grade students are only required to pass English, math and one of the following three courses: social studies, science or physical education.  Teachers may not give out failing grades either, the lowest grade they can give a student is a 60.  This has resulted in many eighth grade students showing a lack of effort and interest in their social studies and science classes.  They know that as long as they pass English, math and the requirements for physical education they will pass the eighth grade.  This posed a new problem for me, how can you make students realize that these things are indeed important even if they do not have to prove their comprehension through testing?