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In the 1790's the "social studies" of the day was to study the principles and details of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
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Goals for secondary education were clarified. History, civil government, and political economy were to be considered in the schools. There was also an emphasis on modern history along with an interweaving of government in history high school classes.
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The American Historical Association recommended a full four-year program of history to prepare for college.
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The NEA singled out citizenship as a significant outcome of schooling in the U.S.
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From 1939-1950 world events restored a strong nationalistic fervor to social studies programs. Part of this was a rivalru in education between the US and USSR during the Cold War. When the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, critics suggested that the USSR's advancement was in part due to the idea that American students lagged behind students in other countries, particularly the Soviet Union.
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Critics suggest that durinng the 1960s, high schools become like shopping malls in which students could choose from a vast array of courses and minicourses of quationable academics.
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Declining test scores, high school students unable to read, and lowering mathmatic competence are characteristics of students of the mid-1970s. The reaction was to return to the "basics". History and geography were becoming the main focus of social studies in the 1970s adn 1980s.
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The National Council for Geographic Education and the Association of American Geographers published the Guidlines for Geographic Education: Elementary and Secondary Schools due to a concern about the lack of geographic knowledge among young people.
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The National Council of Social Studies announced that social studies is to promote civic competence.
