Students need the thinking skills necessary to function in today's complex society and in an ever increasingly interdependent world. Social studies, through its various disciplines, is the appropriate place in the school to develop and practice the critical thinking skills needed to evaluate government policies and possible solutions to environmental problems and to personal, societal and global conflicts. What is more basic than giving students the knowledge and skills to function in, care for, and nurture our democratic nation? What is more basic than teaching children about their personal power to impact change in their own lives, this country and the world? What is more basic than teaching a child to value justice, equality and fair play? What then is more basic than citizenship education? What is more basic than social studies? Suggested answers to these questions are outlined in this article.