The children of California will spend their lives in the twenty- first century. As educators we have the responsibility of preparing these children for the challenges of living in a fast-changing society. Their lives, like ours, will be affected by domestic and international politics, economic flux, technological developments, demographic shifts, and the stress of social change. The only prediction that can be made with certainty is that the world of the future will be characterized by continuity and change. The study of continuity and change is, as it happens, the main focus of the history-social science curriculum. The knowledge provided by these disciplines enables students to appreciate how ideas, events, and individuals have intersected to produce change over time as well as to recognize the conditions and farces that maintain continuity within human societies.

      As educators in the field of history-social science, we want our students to perceive the complexity of social, economic, and political problems. We want them to have the ability to differentiate between what is important and what is unimportant. We want them to know their rights and responsibilities as American citizens. We want them to understand the meaning of the Constitution as a social contract that defines our democratic government and guarantees our individual rights. We want them to respect the right of others to differ with them. We want them to take an active role as citizens and to know how to work for change in a democratic society. We want them to understand the value, the importance, and the fragility of democratic institutions. We want them to realize that only a small fraction of the world’s population (now or in the past) has been fortunate enough to live under a democratic farm of government, and we want them to understand the conditions that encourage democracy to prosper. We want them to develop a keen sense of ethics and citizenship. And we want them to care deeply about the quality of life in their community, their nation, and their world.

      The object of the history-social science curriculum is to set farth, in an organized way, the knowledge and understanding that our students need to function intelligently now and in the future. Those who prepared this framework believe that knowledge of the history-social science disciplines (history, geography, economics, political science, anthropology, psychology, sociology, and the humanities) is essential in developing individual and social intelligence; preparing students for responsible citizenship; comprehending global interrelationships; and understanding the vital connections among past, present, and future. Without the knowledge that these disciplines convey, our students will be buffeted by changes that are beyond their comprehension. But with a firm grounding in history and the related disciplines, they should have the capacity to make wise choices in their own lives and to understand the swift-moving changes in state, national, and world affairs.

     In addition to the knowledge that our students will acquire by studying the human past, they should gain a deep understanding of individual and social ethics. This framework emphasizes concern for our students’ ethical understanding in every grade. We want students to seethe connection between ideas and behavior, between the values and ideals that people hold and the ethical consequences of those beliefs. Students should realize that tragedies and triumphs have resulted from choices made by individuals. They should recognize that ideas and actions have real consequences-that history, in other words, is not simply the ebb and flow of impersonal forces but is shaped and changed by the ideas and actions of individuals and governments. We study history to learn from the sometimes painful, sometimes exhilarating, often humdrum experiences of those who preceded us. We want our students to understand how people in other times and places have grappled with fundamental questions of truth, justice, and personal responsibility and to ponder how we deal with the same issues today. By studying the humanities and examining the ideas of great thinkers, major religions, and principal philosophical traditions, our students will reflect on the various ways that people have struggled throughout time with ethical issues and will consider what the consequences are for us today.

     The 13 years of study in which our children are engaged from kindergarten through grade twelve are barely time enough for the educational tasks to be accomplished. Our highly complex society needs well-educated minds and understanding hearts; it needs men and women who understand our political institutions and are prepared to assume the responsibilities of active citizenship. The younger generation needs to understand our history, our institutions, our ideals, our values, our economy, and our relations with other nations in the world. It is commonplace to acknowledge that we live in an interdependent world and function in a global economy. Specifically, we want our students to learn about the cultures, societies, and economic systems that prevail in other parts of the world and to recognize the political and cultural barriers that divide people as well as the common human qualities that unite them.

This framework represents an effort to strengthen education in the history-social science curriculum while building on the best practices contained in previous frameworks. The distinguishing characteristics of this framework are as follows: