There is so much more to preparing a citizen than merely running students like lemmings through a three-year succession of history survey courses. Everyone is neglecting most of the social sciences in American high schools today, favoring the sequential and systematic delivery of history. What should be primary in the teaching of social studies, history or the social sciences? In this article, the author takes readers on a historical excursion in explaining his answer. He argues that all students need comprehensive social studies instruction--four years of coursework that every student must take and that is geared unswervingly to meet the standards and to create competent citizens. In addition to having studied history, every student in America must have a firm grasp of civics, international issues, behavioral sciences, and economics. Teaching social studies really can be a life-and-death issue, and popular ignorance of the social sciences can have tragic outcomes for human beings. (Contains 6 endnotes.)