648 ON THE TEACHING OF GEOGRAPHY IN SCOTTISH SCHOOLS. 



university student whose school course has such a gap in geographical study naturally 

 feels discouraged from including the subject in his arts course, or, if he does include 

 it, he is so out of touch and has so far forgotten what he learned in his first three 

 years, that his university work in the subject is carried out under considerable hardship 

 for himself and more than a little difficulty for his university instructors. 



' The value of the subject as a means of widening the individual outlook, and of 

 providing a needed equipment for citizens in a democratic State, who will have to 

 form judgments on international as well as national questions, makes it highly 

 important that it should be taught to all pupils throughout the whole secondary 

 course, even if only a small minimum of time can be allotted to it. My personal 

 opinion is that even in the crowded curriculum of to-day there might still be spared, 

 for all pupils, l^ hours per week in the fourth year and one lesson a week of three- 

 quarters of an hour in each of the fifth and sixth years. 



' The work attempted in such a small measure of time would necessarily be small 

 in amount, but it could be sound in method as far as it went. It might include some 

 individual observational work in meteorology, some study of land forms in the field, 

 the power to read a map, such hint of survey methods as would be given by a few 

 plane-tabling exercises, such introduction to the regional outlook as would give 

 insight into the effects of winds and moisture and soil on plant and on animal produc- 

 tion, and on the results of these, along with the occurrence of minerals, on the distribu- 

 tion and industries of peoples and their interchange of commodities. Narrow as 

 the groimd covered would have to be, the intelligence would find good material to 

 work upon, and there need be nothing acquired that would have to be unlearned at 

 a later stage. 



' Every pupil completing a secondary course would in this way be kept in continuous 

 contact with the subject until he reached the university and had an opportunity of 

 extending his knowledge by including Geography in his Arts Course. While desirable 

 that as many students as possible should so include it, those in a position to influence 

 the choice of subjects made by intending teachers should encourage all these to give 

 Geography a place in their work for the pass degree ; for it is on them that the pupils 

 of the primary schools, of Advanced Divisions, and of many of the junior classes in 

 secondary schools — that is, almost all of our future citizens— will have to depend for 

 such presentation of the subject as will exercise their intelligence and arouse their 

 interest.' 



The President of the Section, reviewing the main points of the discussion, 

 thought that a comparison of the statistics contributed on both sides showed that a good 

 deal remained to be done before Geography was accorded in Scottish schools the position 

 which he had advocated for it in his Address to the Section (p. 99). Illustrations 

 had been given of what was desirable and practicable, in Scotland as well as elsewhere ; 

 and he noted with satisfaction the assurances of the Department that reasonable 

 encouragement was given to the teachers who initiated experiments in their own 

 teaching. It was for the teachers to take the Department at its word, and put forward 

 their suggestions and the results of their experience in practical shape and actual 

 examples. If text-books and source-books were deficient, it was for the teachers 

 and their advisers to produce better ones. If methods were inefficient, and geo- 

 graphical training inadequate, it was for the universities and training colleges to 

 revise and expand their geographical instruction ; and for those who selected the 

 teachers and assigned them to geographical teaching, to insist on thorough preparation 

 and active appreciation of Geography as an ' outdoor ' subject as well as a training 

 by book-work. 



Everyone admitted the congestion of the time-table, and it was the misfortune 

 of a comparatively new subject like Geography that it ' found the coach already full,' 

 and had in the past to be content with a seat ' on the knees ' of some other subject 

 such as History or Geology, already established there. In his own view, whenever 

 the opportunity came for rearrangement of the whole convoy, the proper place for 

 Geography would be found not ' inside the coach ' at all, but on the box seat. 



