PAPERS OX GEOLOGY AND GEOGRAPHY 365 



A FEAV CBITICISMS OF THE ILLINOIS STATE 

 COURSE OF STUDY IX GEOGRAPHY 



C. E. CooPEE. State Xoemal University, Xokmal 



One of the most formidable arguments with which 

 geographers have to contend is that which claims that 

 the subject has taken so mnch nnto itself that it is a 

 duplication of the work found in a number of other lines 

 of study. Of course one can jDrove that many of these 

 other subjects which are so closely related to geography 

 are but the olT-spring of the parent, geography, but it 

 is not the purpose of this paper to consider either the 

 justice or the fallacy of the suggested criticism. "We 

 shall do better to admit that, regardless of the justice 

 or injustice in the criticism, it is usually the best policy 

 to remove the cause of it. 



One cannot look carefully through the State Course 

 of Study without being forcibly struck with the needless 

 duplication of the subject-matter in ''Home Geography" 

 and "X^ature Study and Agriculture". My first criti- 

 cism falls upon the home geography work of the Fourth 

 grade. Each monthly topic as outlined in the home 

 geography work receives sufficient emphasis somewhere 

 in the work in nature study. At best, only an introduc- 

 tion is needed in such subjects in this grade. Such work 

 as the phases of the moon, a detailed study of the soil, 

 equinoxes, solstices, and much of the star study is away 

 beyond the comprehension of such young pupils. It is 

 unfortunate that the ^'ital and human subject of geogra- 

 phy has inherited so much of this work from cartog- 

 raphy, astronomy, and mathematics. The best part of 

 the work, as outlined under home geography, is the work 

 on the study of the various peoples. This is the time 

 when children are vitally interested in the children of 

 other lands. If geography is to be begiiii in this grade 

 it ought to be correlated with language work and should 

 take the form of geography stories. Here is the place 

 to teach where our various foods come from, how they 

 are gotten, and how our homes are constructed, in com- 

 parison to the homes of boys and girls in other countries. 



