362 ILLINOIS STATE ACADEMY OP SCIENCE 



elective, that 334 of the schools offering Commercial 

 Geography and 381 of the schools offering Physiography 

 offer but I/2 unit, that of the 31 schools offering 1 unit 

 almost 50% are in the city of Chicago, and that the 

 courses are found every where from the freshman to 

 the senior year inclusive, the showing is much less fav- 

 orable. 



To determine the qualifications of the teachers handling 

 the subject and the methods used in teaching would be 

 an interesting investigation. The reports of the at- 

 tendance of teachers in the Geography Section of the 

 High School Conference for the year 1916-21 inclusive 

 and the report of the Secretary of the Committee on the 

 Appointment of Teachers of the University of Illinois, 

 1920-21, may serve to indicate something of the condi- 

 tions. The number of teachers registered in the Geog- 

 raphy section of the High School Conference for the var- 

 ious years was as follows : 



In every case this is the lowest registration in any sec- 

 tion of the Conference and is less than the number of 

 schools offering unit courses. 



From September 1st, 1920, to September 1st, 1921, the 

 Committee on the Appointment of Teachers at the Uni- 

 versity of Illinois received 2079 requests for teachers, 

 of which 1328 were from Illinois. Of these requests only 

 twenty-one included Geography, One was for Geog- 

 raphy alone, four for Geography as a major subject, 

 and sixteen for Geography as a minor subject. Of the 

 220 candidates enrolled with this committee and gradu- 

 ating in 1921, one woman was registered in the Depart- 

 ment of Geography and she was placed in either a col- 

 lege or Normal School. The Secretary of this commit- 

 tee reports a total of only two Geography positions filled 

 last year. While this data is not conclusive, it certainly 

 indicates that Geography in the high schools of Illinois 

 is being taught by a group of teachers who are ignorant 

 of both subject matter and method, and who have little 

 or no interest in the subject. Geography in our ac- 

 credited high schools is a ''fill in" subject wished upon 



