5§ 



The National Geographic Magazine 



music teachers because not all teachers 

 can draw or sing. It is equally true that 

 not all teachers can give instruction in 

 geography ; and while a teacher may be 

 an excellent instructor in arithmetic, 

 reading, and grammar, she maybe a flat 

 failure in geography. Let the school 

 boards but recognize this fact and take 

 for geography work those who are best 

 qualified for it, and there would be an 

 immediate advance in result that would 

 be most gratifying, and that would lead 

 toward constant improvement. I think 

 no other reform in school work is now 

 so seriously demanded as this simple one. 

 There is no reason why the geography 

 teacher should not handle the geog- 

 raphy in every grade ; in fact, there is 

 every reason for believing that it would 

 be better to have it done so than to have 

 the children go from one type of teacher 

 to another — good, bad, and indifferent. 

 It would, to be sure, call for some re- 

 arrangement and reorganization, but 

 nothing serious. Once this was started, 

 the grade of geography teacher would 

 improve, both by the necessity of special- 

 ization and by reason of the fact that, 

 when a new teacher of geography was 

 to be selected, inquiry would be made 

 concerning her special fitness for that 

 work — an inquiry not now commonly 

 made. 



Another improvement of almost equal 

 importance to the one last proposed, 

 though less feasible than that, because 

 of the additional expense involved, is to 

 have a geography specialist as supervisor 

 in every city. I know of a man who is 

 a specialist in geography, thoroughly 

 competent to guide work of the best 

 kind, who is teaching all the English, 

 and nothing more, in the high school of 

 the city, not because he prefers it, but 

 because that was all that was open to 

 him there. What an advantage it would 

 be to that city if he were employed to 

 guide and instruct the teachers, to out- 

 line a rational course, and to see that 

 uniformly good work was done ! Many 



cities have teachers competent to fill 

 such a position, and the additional ex- 

 pense ought not to be considered when 

 such important results are to be secured. 

 It has often been found possible to pro- 

 vide for nature-study teachers. Why 

 not also geography supervisors ? If some 

 of the educational conferences would 

 turn their attention toward such prac- 

 tical needs as these, instead of devoting 

 their time to 'pedagogical discussion, 

 there would be more good accomplished, 

 more speed}- improvement in teaching, 

 and less valuable time wasted. 



NEED OF UNIVERSITY COURSES 

 IN GEOGRAPHY 



One more important change seems to 

 me to be called for. In the United States 

 there are now 10,000,000 children, more 

 or less, being taught geography, and ap- 

 proximately 400,000 teachers engaged in 

 teaching them. These teachers should 

 receive better instruction. But where are 

 the}' to turn ? To the normal school ? 

 Then where is the normal school to turn 

 for its teachers ? Where, in this country, 

 is an education in geography to be ob- 

 tained ? While there are institutions in 

 which physical geography is well taught, 

 or the pedagogy of geography, or com- 

 mercial geography, there is not a single 

 institution in America in which provis- 

 ion is made for adequate and well- 

 rounded training in geography. It fol- 

 lows, then, that the would-be teacher of 

 geography must either go abroad or else 

 himself fill in the gaps in his training, 

 after having obtained what he can from 

 some institution in which a part of 

 geography is taught. 



Is it not an anomalous condition in 

 our educational system that one of the 

 oldest and most respected branches of 

 learning, in which all our youth are in- 

 structed by tens of thousands of teach- 

 ers, in a course covering at least five 

 years of their lives, finds no place in 

 our universities ? One by one new 



