Category Archives: Social Sciences

You’ll find domain-specific material designed to meet Common Core Standards in social studies, along with adapted and differentiated materials that deal with a broad array of conceptual knowledge in the social sciences. See the Taxonomies page for more about this category.

Bernard Coard on the Implications of Placement of West Indian Children in British “Educationally Sub-Normal” Schools

Posted on February 11, 2022 | Leave a comment

“The implications for the large number of West Indian children who get placed in ESN [Educationally Sub-Normal] school and who can never ‘escape’ back to normal schools are far reaching and permanent. As demonstrated above, the West Indian child’s educational level on leaving school will be very low. He will be eligible, on reason of his lack of qualifications and his assessment as being ESN, only for the jobs which really-ESN pupils are able to perform; namely, repetitive jobs of a menial kind, which involve little use of intelligence. This is what he or she can look forward to as a career! In turn, though his getting poor wages, poor housing, and having no motivation to better himself, his children can look forward to s similar educational experience and similar career prospect! No wonder E.J.B. Rose, who was Director of the Survey of Race Relations in Britain, and co-author of the report Colour and Citizenship, states that by the year 2000 Britain will probably have a Black helot class unless the educational system is radically altered.”

Excerpted from: Coard, Bernard. How the West Indian Child Is Made Educationally Sub-Normal in the British School System: 50th Anniversary Expanded Fifth Edition. Kingston, Jamaica: McDermott Publishing, 2021.

Leave a comment

Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences

Tagged , , , ,

Cultural Literacy: Ralph Bunche

Posted on February 4, 2022 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Ralph Bunche. This is a half-page worksheet with a two-sentence reading and two comprehension questions. In other words, thin gruel for a diplomat of Mr. Bunche’s stature; he did, after all, win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950. In the course of preparing this post I learned that he was present at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Furthermore, he was also deeply involved in the global decolonization movement after World War II.

So, this sparse introduction serves the barest of purposes in familiarizing students with Ralph Bunche and his accomplishments. Still, unless a social studies teacher works Mr. Bunche into a unit on decolonization, students may never hear his name. So, if this modest document resolves that, perhaps it is useful after all.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Leave a comment

Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Social Sciences, Worksheets

Tagged , , , , ,

Bernard Coard on the Experience of the Wrongly Classified Child

Posted on February 4, 2022 | Leave a comment

“The experience of being removed from a normal school and placed in the neighborhood ‘nut’ school, as everybody calls it, is a bitter one. The child feels deeply that racial discrimination and rejection have been practiced towards him by the authorities who have assessed him wrongly as being ESN [Educationally Sub-Normal]. Other Black children, who are young and unsure of themselves, may simply accept the judgement of themselves as being of low intelligence and give up any attempt to succeed academically. The immense influence of other people’s expectations in creating the child’s own self-image of his abilities and likely performance will be examined, with evidence, in Chapter 3.

On the other side of the coin, the teacher who is told by the educational ‘experts’ that a child is ESN, will obviously expect the child to be ESN. Therefore, the sort of work she will give the child, and the standard she will expect of him, will obviously be much lower than in a normal school. This means the child will learn much less than he is really capable of, and will be very frustrated day by day in the class room. That such children quite often ‘act up’ and become behaviour problems under these circumstances is to be expected”

Excerpted from: Coard, Bernard. How the West Indian Child Is Made Educationally Sub-Normal in the British School System: 50th Anniversary Expanded Fifth Edition. Kingston, Jamaica: McDermott Publishing, 2021.

Leave a comment

Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences

Tagged , , ,

Mande Languages

Posted on February 1, 2022 | Leave a comment

“Mande Languages: Branch of the Niger-Congo family of African languages. Mande comprises more than 25 languages of West Africa with over 10 million speakers. The most significant subgroup is the Mandekan complex, a continuum of languages and dialects, including Malinke, Maninka, Bambara, and Dyula, spoken from Senegambia and Guinea east through Mali to Burkina Faso. Other major Mande languages are Soninke in Mali, Kpelle in Liberia, Susu in Guinea, and Mende in Sierra Leone.”

Excerpted/Adapted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

Leave a comment

Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences

Tagged , , ,

Cultural Literacy: Burkina Faso

Posted on February 1, 2022 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Burkina Faso. This is a full-page worksheet with a reading of three sentences, the first of which is a long compound, and eight comprehension questions. The reading focuses on the geography of this West African nation, as do the comprehension questions. This might be solid material for emergent readers and users of English as a second language: the material calls upon students to pay close attention to some finely parsed details about the nations adjacent to Burkina Faso, then record them in response to targeted comprehension questions.

Incidentally, Burkina Faso, like Chad, Mali, Guinea, and Sudan, recently suffered a coup d’etat. If one searches the topic, the pattern that emerges in reporting on these coups is that “Africa is suffering a wave of coups.” That may be true, but authoritarianism around the world is on the rise, not just in Africa. If a civil society remains most salubrious for everyday human life and interaction, a military coup is never good news. On a somewhat happier note, the Burkina Faso National Football Team is on a winning streak.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Leave a comment

Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Social Sciences, Worksheets

Tagged , , , ,

Paul Robeson on Picking His Battles

Posted on February 1, 2022 | Leave a comment

“The artist must elect to fight for freedom or slavery. I have made my choice. I had no alternative.”

Paul Robeson, Speech at antifascist rally, Royal Albert Hall, London, 24 June 1937

Excerpted from: Schapiro, Fred, ed. The Yale Book of Quotations. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.

Leave a comment

Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences

Tagged , , , ,

Cultural Literacy: Marcus Garvey

Posted on February 1, 2022 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Marcus Garvey. This is a full-page worksheet with a four-sentence reading–all compounds–and seven comprehension questions. This is a good general introduction to this important–if controversial in some quarters–leader. I can tell you that the reading honestly states that the United States government deported Mr. Garvey to Jamaica because it feared his influence over Black people in the United States.

So there’s that, at least. Here is a connection worth exploring: are you aware that Malcolm X’s parents were Garveyites? There remains some reason to believe that Malcolm’s father, Earl Little, was murdered because of his involvement with Marcus Garvey’s United Negro Improvement Association.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Leave a comment

Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Social Sciences, Worksheets

Tagged , , , , , ,

The Doubter’s Companion: Courtiers

Posted on January 28, 2022 | Leave a comment

“Courtiers: Instantly recognizable. Unchanged throughout history. These individuals live in the half-light, chasing power without purpose, prestige without responsibility. They travel in the shadow of those who have responsibility.

There are more courtiers in Western society today than perhaps at any other time in any other society. More even than in imperial China. It isn’t simply the crowds of White House staff of their equivalents around the presidents and prime ministers of other countries who count in this class. There are the lawyers, consultants, PR experts, and opinion-poll experts. They exist throughout the public and the private sectors and yet are no more than superficial decoration.

A corporatist society itself turns every technocrat who wishes to succeed into a courtier. Such highly structured systems find it almost impossible to reward actions over methods. And the corporation excludes the idea of individual responsibility. They are breeding grounds for those who seek power through manipulation.

The popular image of the courtier involves elaborate court dress, But the Jesuits were the most successful manipulators of power and they appeared in an anonymous uniform, similar to that of our discreet contemporary technocrats.”

Excerpted from: Saul, John Ralston. The Doubter’s Companion. New York: The Free Press, 1994.

Leave a comment

Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences

Tagged , ,

Cultural Literacy: Straw Man

Posted on January 21, 2022 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the concept of a straw man in argumentation. This is a half-page worksheet with a two-sentence reading (the second of them a long compound) and two comprehension questions. This is a cogent introduction to the topic of the straw man. However, it presupposes an prior understanding of argumentation (and its rules) that some students may not possess. But in our current discursive culture, understanding the straw man, a favorite tool of demagogues, strikes me as vital for the development of critical awareness in students.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Leave a comment

Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Social Sciences, Worksheets

Tagged , , , , ,

Teach the Child, Not the Subject

Posted on January 17, 2022 | Leave a comment

“Teach the child, not the subject: The quintessential slogan of the progressive, child-centered movement of the 20th century. It is certainly true that the health and welfare of the child are more important than the academic subject matter. However, the slogan sets up an unfortunate and unnecessary dichotomy between the child’s social, physical, and emotional well-being and the teacher’s responsibility to teach the child the knowledge and skills that are essential elements of a good education. Both are important.”

Excerpted from: Ravitch, Diane. EdSpeak: A Glossary of Education Terms, Phrases, Buzzwords, and Jargon. Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2007.

Leave a comment

Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences

Tagged , ,