English, Mathematics, and Science (the natural and the physical) have benefited from recent determined, official efforts to improve their teaching and learning in Philippine elementary and secondary education.  Social Studies has not. Social Studies is the principal subject area where civics is learned. It is the most logical entry point for social sciences, the disciplines with impact on how societies form and transform. Economics and history, two social science disciplines, are current high school subjects.  However what is most urgently required from the social sciences is the introduction of the scientific method of thinking as it applies to such situations as voting, purchasing, investing, following the law… in other words how to think through how to live.

With many choices confronting individuals and communities, the skills of reflection and reasoning, as well as the ability to be reasonable are crucial to societal harmony. This book’s preliminary results of fact finding on social and human sciences education in basic and tertiary education in the Philippines shed light on a sampling of teachers’ reactions to the need for philosophy,
bioethics, critical consciousness, social transformation and sustainable development.

You may access the electronic copy of the book from this link.