I don't have any answers for you, but know that I have 2 high school kids of my own who very much want to continue to study "social studies" for their degrees. They have had great SS teachers since middle school and an amazing one a couple of times in high school. One kid wants to major in international relations or international development and is thinking about the Peace Corps after college. The other used to want to be an engineer for the space program but has determined that the US government is completely messed up so he should become a senator and set it straight. He's even joining the forensics club this year so he can learn debate.

I guess I'd say they need to learn this stuff to understand how we got to where we are today as well as to learn how to make the world better tomorrow. That's probably too flowery to get most students to care about social studies, though.