Navigating your middle and high school social sciences.

Peoples’ perceptions of native cultures tend to be misinformed. This is especially true of peoples’ perceptions about Native Americans. The biggest misconception about native culture I see is assuming every native culture was a nomadic, hunter-gatherer civilization. This is positively false: there were plenty of Pre-Columbian civilizations that were settled and centralized, with one of the largest being the Mississippian culture, centered at the city of Cahokia.

A lot of people don’t like history. They might not like it for the rote memorization, often required for high school or college history classes. They could also dislike it for its seemingly dull nature. But I believe the biggest reason history is disliked by many is its perceived unimportance. And that’s a shame. History education is incredibly important, and it’s sad that so many students graduate school with a dislike or disinterest in history. History is incredibly important, as it provides necessary context for current events as well as being a great way for critical thinking and logical analysis skills to develop.