A Look Back, a Look Ahead
The Fall 2003 issue of Canadian Social Studies marks our 38th consecutive year of publication. In 1965 The History and Social Science Newsletter, as it was then called, was a practice-based publication aimed primarily at classroom teachers. Looking back at that first year of publication, in some respects it is remarkable how the issues that were then current in social studies teaching remain with us today. In other respects, there have been significant changes in the content and style of the journal that speak to the new issues and new technologies out of which we frame our professional lives. The most evident style change has been the move to an electronic format that makes the journal much more accessible to the social studies community than it was in 1965. For example, recent readings from our counter register over 28,000 hits in the four years since Canadian Social Studies adopted an on-line format. In terms of content, Canadian Social Studies now attempts to strike a balance between academic rigour and classroom application. This shift is most evident when looking at the contents of the current volume. From John McMurtry's incisive critique of the effects of globalization on education, to Robert Gardner's articulate reflections on classroom teaching after 911, to Ian Wright's thoughtful feature article on critical thinking in citizenship education, Canadian Social Studies has attempted to provide a location from which scholars and teachers alike can respond to the social, political, economic and cultural forces that frame the content and pedagogy of social studies.
This more activist stance is not arrived at haphazardly. In the face of neo-liberal constructs of education that position teachers and scholars as "service providers" and structure social studies content and pedagogy in terms of the knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to gaining a competitive edge in the global marketplace, it seems to me that we need a place that allows us, in Chantal Mouffe's terms, "to return to the political." I hope Canadian Social Studies can continue to be such a place.
The Editor