Social Studies at Huntington
Our students in Huntington live in a world which has witnessed the hopes and fears of the modern age. They live in a community which experiences diversity and opportunity meshed with the naturally concurrent challenges. We educators fully appreciate the importance of guiding our charges in acquiring deeper understandings of our nation’s role in this ever-changing world. We also know that it is incumbent on our students to accept the responsibilities necessary to realize the promise of the American life.
These understandings compel the teachers in the English and Social Studies departments at J. Taylor Finley Middle School and Huntington High School to see their primary objective to be sensitizing students to the multiple viewpoints and historical antecedents which explain the events of our day. We know that reading about the varied human experiences and understandings of the past, as expressed through fiction and the informational writing of others, is the means through which students learn creativity, responsibility and critical thought. It is also understood that history is the school of democracy and literature is a path to the soul. Our teachers are the muses forging the way on these journeys.
In our core courses and electives, students are constantly exposed to essential questions that permeate time and place. The issues, centering on the human experience, are grounded in a thorough study of the facts by means of analysis and interpretation. Research is also a central component to the secondary years of English Language Arts and social studies courses all students are required to satisfactorily complete for graduation.