THE 



National Geographic Magazine 



Vol. IX JtfLY, 1898 No. 7 



AMERICAN GEOGRAPHIC EDUCATION 



By W J McGee, 

 Vice-President of the National Geographic Society 



The Capital of the Nation gives greeting to the National Ed- 

 ucational Association. The American Republic, more than any 

 other nation, owes character to knowledge diffused among its 

 people; and in no other nation is the diffusion of knowledge so 

 broad and general. This .diffusion of knowledge involves edu- 

 cation, and the development and maintenance of educational 

 institutions. In accordance with the plan of government by the 

 people, of the people, and for the people, our educational facil- 

 ities are brought within reach of every citizen, our educational 

 methods adapted to the needs of the masses. Some govern- 

 ments strive to build intellectual structures from the top down- 

 ward, only to find their lower bricks on a foundation of sand ; 

 our system is founded on the rock of popular education, and 

 the upper portions of the structure are left free. Therein lies 

 a fundamental distinction, the diametrically opposed nature of 

 monarchic policy and republican policy in educational matters. 

 Under the republican system the twig is bent — the youthful 

 mind is started aright; thenceforth it grows and strengthens 

 spontaneously, and in good time gives strength to the Republic. 

 Other nations cramp thought and enslave minds by Procrustean 

 systems based on the knowledge of previous generations, while 

 our nation plants the seeds of knowledge to be supported by its 

 fruits, and so rises constantly to higher and higher planes with 

 a rapidity unprecedented in history ; our state does not so much 

 shape education as our education shapes the state. Yet the in- 



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