By: Marivic A. Coligado, Teacher III
SDO Laguna, Liliw Sub Office
Liliw National HS
Acquiring learning skills such as literacy and numeracy are some of the goals that we need to accomplish in school; however, we have what we call holistic learning. UNESCO defines holistic learning as a learning approach that activates the learner’s intellect, emotions, imagination and body for more effective and comprehensive learning. Schools are not just there to teach you the basics, but they will teach you how to deal with society, the world around you and the way society works.
This is where Social Studies or Araling Panlipunan comes in. With it being one of the subject areas taught in schools, one can’t emphasize its importance in producing globally competitive citizens of our country who understands how our experience can help us explain how our society works — from the causes of unemployment or what helps economic growth, to how and why people vote, or what makes people happy.
The main goal of teaching Social Studies is to develop students’ understanding in primary knowledge of aspects of historical, geographic, political, and economic issues together with other social disciplines. It develops the pupils’ literate and effective participation as a citizen of the country (Corpuz and Salandanan, 2012).
We are living in a diverse society. The knowledge we will learn from social studies would help us to participate properly in our society. From being historically literate to making well-informed decisions, let us try to discuss some of the reasons why Social Studies is important to learn.
One of the reasons is that it helps our learners to become better at reading and learning. Social studies deal with reading materials that require one to use critical and evaluative reading skills. When they deal with reading material that corresponds to a current issue or topic, it requires them to use their higher-order thinking skills (HOTS). It’s like hitting two birds with one stone. Making well-informed citizens/learners, at the same time making better readers who use analysis, critical thinking, and writing to show understanding.
To create learners who embody the Department of Education (DepEd) core values which are Maka-Diyos, Makakalikasan, and Makatao at Makabansa, we need to make young people understand the cultural, historical, and political ideas embedded in our country. How can one expect our young learners to contribute positively to society, engage in discourse, and thrive in a democratic society if they are not exposed to the topics and aspects of history and life that made society the way it is? We need them – our learners – to understand why it is important to be a good citizen.
Last but not the least, Social Studies gives our learners a real-world understanding. It gives them how the different countries are interconnected – from learning about the places, their culture, and events around the world. Through this, they can make inferences about how the world works and how we as part of it can be affected.
There are more reasons why our learners must value Social Studies as one of their subjects. Not only it contributes to the development of a holistically developed citizen, but also someone aware and knowledgeable of social issues and concerns at the local and global levels to make sense of everything in this world.
As educators, we must always strive for effective teaching not only of Social Studies subject, as well as other subject areas as meaningful, integrative, and challenging that would foster students’ knowledge, skills, and attitude as preparation to become productive citizens in a society in which they want to live.
Source: https://www.uopeople.edu/blog/why-is-social-studies-important/
