PAPERS ON GEOLOGY AND GEOGRAPHY 369 



those which will assist the pupil in locating himself. Star 

 knowledge which is of a cultural value can be left until 

 more mature years. Just enough should be taught con- 

 cerning meteors, comets, and shooting stars to reiliove 

 superstition. In the list of definitions for the first month 

 of the eight gi'ade I should omit the following: point: 

 line: surface; solid: plane: plane surface: arc; ellipse; 

 foci; major axis; minor axis; plane of the earth's orbit: 

 perihelion: aphelion; meridian circle; and oblate spher- 

 oid. 



It seems to me that there is no use in taking time to 

 prove that the earth is round. Much of mathematical 

 geography must be taught dogmatically, so why try to 

 prove something so obviously true ? If some pupil should 

 want to know the proofs, then the fact that men have 

 sailed around it, and the shape of its shadow ought to be 

 sutficient proofs. It is inconceivable that the altitude of 

 the stars and the pendulum proofs are more compre- 

 hensible to these children than these simpler proofs. 



Similarly the proofs of the rotation of the earth are 

 unnecessary. If they are to be used, the dropping of the 

 baU, Foucaults pendulmn, oblate spheroid, circulation of 

 the water and the atmosphere are beyond the miderstand- 

 ing of gi-ade-school children. Let us i^ut the emphasis 

 upon the human effects of the shape of the earth and its 

 movements, and worry less about the mathematics of 

 the situation. 



I suppose one can teach inclination and parallelism so 

 that the child can give the facts back parrotlike but I 

 doubt very much whether he will understand those facts. 

 Xot one student in twenty-five entering my normal-school 

 classes has any knowledge of the width of the zones. In- 

 deed, is it necessary in the grades to give them that 

 knowledge ? Why not spend the time to better advantage 

 in teaching them the proportions of the continents in the 

 various heat belts and the effect of these heat belts upon 

 life? 



The equiQOxes and solstices are T?onf using and difficult 

 to teach even in high school classes. As for the change 

 of seasons, we should stress their effects more than their 

 causes. A few simple demonstrations of moving the 



