I want to ban social studies

“What is the one thing you will do if you were God” was a hypothetical question that a 12-year-old got in one of my sessions. Without blinking an eye, he answered. “I will ban social studies”. For a moment I thought an exam on the following day was the reason behind such a strong sentiment. But I was wrong. The kid did hate the subject from the core of his being. And he is not alone. I volunteer at our apartment library, which gives me an opportunity to be privy to conversations of children in pre-teens and teens. And multiple times, I’ve heard similar sentiments from children on the subject. In fact, I can say 99% of children whom I’ve asked have told that they hate the subject – especially history.

The irony is that all of them love reading Amar Chitra Kathas and watching movies like Ponnian Selvan and Bajirao Mastani. Then why do they hate the subject so much?

Reason seems to be pretty obvious. Its not the content that is the problem but the way it is presented to them. The problem is not in the “what”, but in the “how” - how are we teaching them and how are we testing them. Schools expect them to remember dates, names and lists which they find boring, uninspiring, impossible to remember and leaving them wonder why they should know all this.

For instance, after teaching the story of King Ashoka instead of asking the year Kalinga war was fought, can we ask them to imagine themselves as the emperor on the battle field and describe how they would have felt? If they would have avoided war or used a different strategy?

Or when teaching the Mughal dynasty instead of forcing them to remember the names and dates when each of them came to power or conquered each city, can we make them relate to the fact that Akbar was just 13 years old when he became emperor. Since the kids are also of similar age, wont they find the story more relatable on how a 13-year-old managed to become one of the most beloved rulers of all times. Or the futility of Babar’s life that after inheriting the throne at the tender age of 12, he was wandering and fighting wars for 32 years and finally became the first Mughal emperor only to remain in power for 4 years. That’s really sad, isn’t it. Or when teaching Anglo Mysore wars, instead of trying to make them remember the actual dates (1767-69, 1780-84, 1790-92 and 1799), isn’t it better to make them realise that there was a war almost every 10 years which lasted for more than couple of years. What would have been the plight of the kingdom and citizens in such an atmosphere?

Did you notice the change of perspective? Suddenly all the stories are about people, their feelings, emotions which is what the subject is really about. The story of people who lived in this world before us. Instead, why do we force the children to remember facts such as Aurangazeb annexed Bijapur in 1685 or Golconda in 1687.  

The history textbooks are filled with many such unnecessary details which scares the children. For instance, the other day I was revising lessons with my 13-year-old son and we both found it absolutely amusing that Robert Clive who led the British to victory in the famous battle of Plassey made a fortune from India and had made 401,102 pounds while leaving India. But why do we have to mention that exact amount here? Isn’t it enough to tell that they made a lot of money? Children get scared with the numbers and dates or rather they are made to believe that questions can come from anywhere in the textbooks. It seems they were told to memorize all the 40 dates in the chapter. Why o why??.

So, should we ignore all the historical dates? That’s not what I’m advocating. We should use dates to get a perspective on the timeline of historic events, to understand how long or how short did something last or even to understand that history is cyclical in nature. For instance, British first set factory in India in 1651. Almost 100 years later, Battle of Plassey happened in 1757 which was the first military victory for the British. And another 100 years later India’s first war of Independence happened in 1857. And it took another 100 years for India to get freedom in 1947 and become a republic in 1956. Now the dates don’t appear so boring, isn’t it. It’s all adding up to tell a bigger story. That it takes almost a century for major changes to happen and why is that. Could it be because political and policy changes happen slowly for people to realise and react and it takes almost 10 generations to effect a change in history. Now, that could be an interesting and powerful discussion in classrooms.

I truly believe triggering such discussions will help children develop critical thinking. And it is not just critical thinking, but we are missing a huge opportunity to make children relate to another human being’s story which further can help them develop so many other skills such as empathy, compassion and art of storytelling.

Subjects like history and civics are mostly given a second-class treatment in the STEM (Science, technology. Engineering, Maths) focused education system because of the lack of lucrative career options. But even then, I personally believe the non-STEM subjects if taught right can help children feel relaxed, refreshed and recharged during the day giving them the energy that they will need to focus during STEM classes which demands concentration and focus. Instead, sadly they add to the burden of boredom during school hours.

My late grandmother was a very knowledgeable lady, had a good grasp of history and was very interested in current affairs. At home, we passionately debated about political events where she used to quote events from history to support her arguments. Most of the time her conclusive arguments were “you should study history; coz history repeats itself”. I used to dismiss it then as her last straw to win the argument, but its much later in life that I understood what she was saying - understanding past helps understand present better. This is true in multiple contexts – to understand a person, a situation.  I’m sure when Russia attacked Ukraine, most of us would have googled to understand what really was the background of the events. Usually, it is when a big event happens, we realize how little we know about the world. And especially in today’s times driven by agendas it becomes even more important to have an understanding about the subject if not anything, but at least not to let someone take advantage of our ignorance.

Thankfully my son belongs to the minority 1% who enjoys the subject. The margins of his history textbooks are filled with cartoons, raps and doodles about the events in the chapter most of which are quite funny and deeply insightful at the same time. While I secretly hope to monetize them in someway one day, I also sincerely wish that the child who wanted to ban social studies gets the required support from his ecosystem and turn him too into a rapper or cartoonist who enjoys the subject!!!

Ps: I’m sure there are exceptions where few schools/teachers might be teaching the subject the way it is intended to. The article is about the majority who is not doing that. Also, I did notice a welcome change in NCERTC textbooks where there are interesting activities given - just like the examples I suggested in the article that helps children connect with the subject. For instance, an activity is about imagining oneself as an East India company official and writing a letter to your mother about your life in India. But the sad reality is that children are not made to do these activities for the lack of time in the misplaced priority of completing portions and conducting exams.