Social Studies

Our Vision:

Our vision, as educators in the field of social studies, is to empower our students to become informed, active, and responsible citizens.

Our Mission:

Our mission is to inspire our students to gain a global perspective that will expand their awareness of their rights and responsibilities.

Our Purpose:

As educators in the field of social sciences, we seek to help students to perceive the complexity of social, economic, and political problems. We accomplish this by:

• Demonstrating the ability to differentiate between what is important and what is unimportant in their lives;  
• Instilling the need to respect the rights of others;  
• Encouraging them to take an active role as citizens;  
• Explaining how to work for change in a democratic society;  
• Cultivating an understanding of the value, the importance and the fragility of democratic institutions;  
• Developing a keen sense of ethics and citizenship; and  
• Caring deeply about the quality of life in their community, their nation and their world.

Honoring the past; Recognizing the future!

As Ben Franklin was leaving the constitutional convention one afternoon in September 1787, a young woman approached him and asked, "Well, Dr. Franklin, what have you given us?" "A republic-if you can keep it," was his reply. Keeping the republic requires that United States citizens labor vigilantly to ensure that this form of government continues to extend the blessings of liberty to all its citizens.

The knowledge of our nation's past and of the American Constitutional system, and the role of government and civil society in the lives of free people, is ever more important today. In an Annenberg study more than 1/3 of respondents could not name a single right protected by the First Amendment.  More than 30% of people surveyed could not name a single branch of government.

We must prepare our children and grandchildren with the tools they need to be informed, engaged citizens who care about individual liberty and democracy. We must teach them history. We must insist they understand the government they are blessed to live under.  We must teach our children how to listen, to show empathy, to show civility in the face of disagreement, and to overcome malice and hate.  And, we must model the behavior ourselves.  This is the task of parents, teachers, and anyone who touches the lives of young people today.  And it is our patriotic duty as Americans.  We must never neglect to tell our nation's story!

As a people our first priority, our first public policy goal, must be to ensure our survival as a free nation through the development of students who can assume the office of citizen. This is the goal of the Carlisle Area School District's social studies program.

If you have questions about the Social Studies program here at Carlisle High School, please feel free to contact the Program Supervisor, Kevin Wagner

Phone: 240-6800, Ext. 26132 (Please leave a message if no answer)

E-mail: [email protected]