The Journal of Geography Published Monthly except July and August Successor to the Journal of School Geography, Vol. V, and the Bulletin of the American Bureau of Geography, Vol. II. Editor RAY HUGHES WHITBECK. Associate Editor LAWRENCE MARTIN. Of the Department of Geology and Geography, University of Wisconsin Contributing Editors, 1914-15 ISAIAH BOWMAN, Assistant Professor of Geography, Yale University. W. N. CLIFFORD, Southern High School, Philadelphia, Pa. GEORGE E. CONDRA, Professor of Geography, University of Nebraska. EDWARD M. LEHNERTS, Assistant Professor of Geology and Geography, University of Minnesota. CHARLES A. MCMURRY, Professor of Psychology and Pedagogy, State Normal School, De Kalb, Ill. EDWARD VAN DYKE Minnesota. ROBINSON, Professor of Economics, University of WILLIAM J. SUTHERLAND, President Sate Normal School, Platteville, Wis. ROBERT DeC. WARD, Professor of Climatology, Harvard University. Contributing Editors for Great Britain and Germany. A. J. HERBERTSON, Reader in Geography, Oxford University. Rules of Publication PRICE The subscription price is one dollar a year, payable in advance. Fifteen cents a copy. POSTAGE IS PREPAID by the publisher for all subscriptions in the United States, Hawaiian Islands, Philippine Islands, Guam, Porto Rico, Tutuila, Samoa, Canada and Mexico. For all other countries in the Universal Postal Union add forty cents for postage. CHANGE OF ADDRESS-When a change of address is ordered, both the new and the old addresses must be given. The notice should be sent ten days before the change is to take effect. Subscribers who fail to give notice of change are responsible for payment for all copies sent until notice is received The post-offices do not forward second-class mail matter. Subscribers who do not observe this rule will not be sent duplicate copies. DISCONTINUANCES-If a subscriber wishes his magazine discontinued at the expiration of his subscription, notice to that effect should be sent direct to the publisher, never to an agent. Otherwise is is assumed that a continuation is desired. Do not ask the publisher to discontinue your subscription without paying arrearages. HOW TO REMIT-Remitance should be sent by Check, Draft, Express Order, or Money Order. payable to order of The Journal of Geography. It is, as a rule, safe to send a dollar bill without registering, but sender must assume the risk. Larger amounts should not be sent in cash. THE JOURNAL OF GEOGRAPHY V. C. FINCH, Business Manager University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis. 231060 IN THE DOMAIN OF THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY..... INFLUENCE OF THE MOUNTAINS OF THE BRITISH ISLES UPON THEIR HIS- INFLUENCE OF THE PHYSICAL FEATURES OF SCOTLAND UPON THE PEOPLE.. SOME GEOGRAPHICAL ASPECTS OF THE PRESENT EUROPEAN WAR.. SUGGESTED MEANS OF MEASURING EFFICIENCY IN THE TEACHING OF GEOG- WAR AND THE FOOD SUPPLY IN EUROPE..... THE GEOGRAPHICAL CONDITIONS OF NATIONAL DEFENSE. UNFAMILIAR NAMES IN THE GEOGRAPHY OF EUROPE. SUPPLEMENTARY LIST OF MATERIAL ON GEOGRAPHY WHICH MAY BE OB- CURRENT GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES... TAINED FREE OR AT SMALL COST.. With nearly 500 Titles. WHAT SHOULD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL GEOGRAPHY INCLUDE AND IN WHAT ORDER SHOULD ITS MATERIALS BE PRESENTED........ THE EUROPEAN WINTER AND THE WAR. A STUDY OF GEOGRAPHY IN NORMAL SCHOOLS.. GEOGRAPHICAL CONSIDERATIONS IN SELECTING THE SITE FOR THE NA- FRANCE: ITS NATIONAL DEFENSE (Translated by A. N. Winchell). SUGGESTIONS FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF GEOGRAPHY TEACHING; REPORT OF A CALIFORNIA COMMITTEE BY THE CHAIRMAN....Roy E. Dickerson 297 The JOURNAL of GEOGRAPHARY VOLUME XIII SEPTEMBER 1914. GEOGRAPHY IN CITY HIGH SCHOOLS * By R. H. Whitbeck, University of Wisconsin, Madison NUMBER 1 HAT is the present situation in this country with respect to geography WHA 1. Ninety per cent of the students who enter normal schools and colleges are deficient even in the elements of general geography, a condition which has no adequate defense. 2. The physical geography of the high school does little to improve this condition so far as a knowledge of general geography is concerned. 3. Geography is discontinued too soon in the grades. St. Louis, for example, reports that only 4.8 per cent of the recitation hours of its elementary schools is given to geography. 4. The physical geography of the past generation has not proved wholly satisfactory, and is being replaced by the so-called humanized geography. It is feeling the effect of the socializing of the curriculum. On the other side of the situation appear the following facts: 1. Geography as a college study is developing rapidly, and trained teachers for the high schools are becoming available, a condition which has only lately existed. 2. There is a growing interest in geography among educated people generally both evidenced by, and helped by, the great circulation of the National Geographic Magazine and shown by the increase in geographical societies, and their activities. 3. Textbooks in humanized geography have already been issued and have been heartily received, and there is a demand for even a further emphasis upon applied geography in high school texts. 4. The geographical element in other branches of learning is receiving increased recognition. For example, the U. S. Department of Agriculture has trained geographers at work on the preparation of an Agricultural Atlas of the United States. The Carnegie Foundation has historians and geographers at work on an Atlas of American History. The Geological Surveys of Wisconsin, Illinois, and some other states are issuing geographical as well as geological reports, especially for educational use. *Read before the Science section of the National Education Association at St. Paul, July 7, 1914. 5: Geographical knowledge is an essential part of an education and upon its own merits will command and hold a place in the schools. But behind any study there must be an organized body of teachers to guide its development and maintain an esprit de corps. The conviction is growing that there must be a national organization of geography teachers as there is of history teachers, English teachers, Latin teachers, etc. GEOGRAPHY AN INTEGRAL PART OF A HIGH SCHOOL COURSE But why is geography an integral part of a high school education? American History, Ancient History, Mediaeval History, Modern History are all taught and believed in. These are records of what peoples and nations did yesterday and the day before. But is a knowledge of Germany of the 16th century more valuable than a knowledge of Germany of the 20th century? Any study of nations and peoples which omits their study as they are today is manifestly dictated by tradition, not by the needs of people. History is one of the most broadening studies in the curriculum, but there is no defense for ending the study of countries with the 19th century. To him who would be an intelligent actor in the world's affairs today, the political and economic geography of today is one of the most practical of studies. FOUR AIMS OF HIGH SCHOOL GEOGRAPHY There are at least four things which must be accomplished by a high school course in geography. First, it must give the pupil a fund of useful geographical knowledge; the kind that will serve him in the various activities of life where intelligent citizenship is required. We shall find it difficult to defend the teaching of the causes of the Peloponnesian War, the details of the Amphictyonic Council, and scores of similar matters of ancient and mediaeval history, which we drill into school children, while, at the same time we excuse a school which makes no serious effort to give its pupils an understanding of modern Germany, Japan, or Argentina. The life and industries of the people of Babylon and Thebes is a proper subject of study, but it is not a substitute for a knowledge of modern Mexico, Canada, or Russia. Before an impartial jury what defense has the study of the 2000-year old struggle between Sparta and Athens or between Persia and Greece, for crowding out of our schools anything like an adequate treatment of the countries which dominate the world today? The geography which is going to be demanded tomorrow is the geography which makes people reasonably intelligent about the cities and countries and peoples of their own day, as well as of those of long ago. This is politico-economic geography. It is a social science, but it will, I hope, be built upon a knowledge of the principles of physical geography. In Germany, France, Holland, Austria, Switzerland and Scandinavia, geography is nearly always closely affiliated with history and is often taught by the same teacher. |