SIGHT-SEEING IN SCHOOL 



491 



the headwaters of the Ohio, through the 

 storied Appalachians, to the Nation's 

 Capital — an unbroken line, four abreast, 

 across the United States, with several 

 thousand left over in San Francisco for 

 good measure. There they are — the 

 school children of the United States — 

 with golden hair and brown hair, black 

 eyes and blue, with rosy lips and spring- 

 ing step, all marching together in the 

 army of the public schools. 



CHILDREN THE CUSTODIANS 01? THE 

 FUTURE 



And each unit in this stupendous num- 

 ber represents an eager, throbbing, little 

 soul, looking out in joyous anticipation 

 or in timid wonder toward the life ahead. 

 Whatever is in the schools sends its vital 

 currents through all these minds and 

 hearts out into the life of our land. 



When we think that within a few short 

 years the fate of our country will be in 

 the hands of these children, that inevit- 

 ably they will be the next America, we 

 realize the importance of the training that 

 they should have. 



The schools have suffered many an up- 

 heaval, but none at all comparable with 

 the great crisis brought on by new con- 

 ditions arising from the war. Educators 

 all over the land are meeting these needs 

 in amazing measure. 



For several years vast changes have 

 been going on, which, accelerated by the 

 war, are now so far-reaching in their 

 results as to amount to a practical revolu- 

 tion in aim, tending to alter radically the 

 materials used as well as the methods of 

 teaching. 



GEOGRAPHY TEACHING ODD AND NEW 



An excellent illustration of recent and 

 rapid advance is seen in the work in ge- 

 ography. To appreciate all that this 

 means, we must think back to our own 

 geography lessons. 



We remember the reading over and 

 over of the lesson and the halting recita- 

 tions of such facts as we could call to 

 mind. We learned, "An island is a body 

 of land completely surrounded by water" 

 and "A mountain is a high elevation of 

 land composed mainly of rock." We 

 struggled through, "Ponds and lakes are 

 bodies of water that occupy depressions 



in the land." WTiatever depressions in 

 the land might be, it was beyond us to 

 fathom; but woe engulfed us if we could 

 not tell that lakes occupied them. 



We sometimes had ten or more of these 

 definitions in one day, and some of us 

 were "kept in" on sunny afternoons be- 

 cause we just could not make them stick 

 in our minds. We could not visit the 

 real islands, peninsulas, straits, and gulfs, 

 and pictures of them were few and ex- 

 pensive. 



So the hard definition road was the 

 only way to the dim and often inadequate 

 mental pictures we formed of these 

 things. As we read over and over the 

 pages of our books, few of us ever 

 dreamed of the fascination of Mother 

 Earth and the lure of her mysteries. 



But now our children have pictures of 

 the snowy peaks, with timber-line and 

 flowery meadow below. For them, as 

 well as for the few who can travel, the 

 Rocky Mountains lift their lofty ranges, 

 the Yellowstone offers its wonders, and 

 Niagara Falls pours out its rainbow spray. 

 Pictures can now bring to our children all 

 of the beauties and wonders of the earth. 



THE MAP COMES TO LJP£ 



Even a map can glow with fire and 

 meaning! The interests of our sturdy, 

 active boys and girls center in the world 

 about them. They are full of curiosity 

 about all the varied wares of the corner 

 grocery. The bunches of bananas turn- 

 ing slowly from green to yellow set them 

 to wondering whence they came. 



That seems a far cry from the map of 

 Central America and a study of "the sur- 

 face, climate, population, products, and 

 capital cities" demanded by courses of 

 study; yet now the pictures make the 

 magic connection. With them the chil- 

 dren go on a journey to Costa Rica. 

 Paying neither carfare nor hotel bills, 

 they, nevertheless, visit the banana plan- 

 tations, learn of banana culture, and be- 

 come acquainted with the black boys and 

 men who gather the luscious fruit for 

 them. 



Costa Rica becomes a most interesting 

 place. Now they like to study the map, 

 for that country is no longer a small pink 

 spot, but a place where real people live 

 and work and play. 



