382 REPORT— 1897. 



Congresses are held. The Geographical Section of the British Association, 

 perhaps, may be compared with them, and it has undoubtedly helped 

 greatly in spreading an interest in geographical science. 



5. CONCLUSION. 



In this report the questions of methods of teaching geography, the 

 importance of good maps and appliances, the need of open-air and museum 

 teaching as well as of frequent excursions, are not discussed, although in 

 the improvement of our methods lies much of the hope for the future. 

 At present, in the minds of many people, including some of our educa- 

 tional authorities, there is a very vague conception of the scope of 

 geography and its educational value. We lack geographical traditions in 

 the British Isles, and will continue to be without them as long as our 

 teachers of geography are mainly self-taught or trained in different 

 foreign schools. 



Elementary Education. — In all elementary schools geography should be 

 made a compulsory subject, and the syllabuses of the different standards 

 modified as has been suggested on page 372 ; while instructions to inspectors 

 (see Appendix II.) should be improved, and embody loftier educational 

 ideals, such as those so admirably outlined in the ' Instructions, Pro- 

 grammes et Rfeglements. Enseignement Secondaire,' issued to teachers 

 by the French Education Department in 1890 (pp. 89 to 104). 



But the position of geography in our elementary schools could be very 

 much improved, without altering the present syllabuses, if pi'operly 

 trained teachers in geography and a satisfactory equipment of geographical 

 apparatus could be found in every school. 



The first requirement for the progress of geography is that the teachers 

 themselves should be interested in the subject, and that they should be 

 given the means of a thorough geographical education in the training 

 colleges. Geography is, next to English, the most commonly taught sub- 

 ject under the present system, and therefore every elementary school 

 teacher should have a thorough grounding in modern geographical methods 

 and ideas. Its importance in the elementary school warrants its being 

 a compulsory subject in every year of the training college curriculum. 

 The spirit of the teaching, both in school and in college, should be 

 ' education through geography,' the summary of the French work just 

 mentioned. 



Secondary Education. — The utilitarian as well as the educational 

 value of geography should ensure its being taught in every class and 

 form of our secondary schools, as is the case in France. Most subjects 

 taught in school have a geographical side, and are made more intelligible 

 by a knowledge of geography on the part of teacher and scholar ; and 

 geography should have an assured and independent place in every entrance 

 examination to universities or professional colleges. 



All secondary school teachers, however, will not need to teach 

 geography, and so all need not be geographers. Those who have charge 

 of the geography classes, however, should have had an adequate geo- 

 graphical training, preferably at one of our universities. 



Higher Education. — In our universities geography should have its due 

 place, equivalent to that of any other university subject now fully recog 

 nised. For degree examinations it should be an optional subject, both in 



