How We Are Clothed: A Geographical Reader

Front matter

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Preface

The character of our schools is determined by our educational ideals. That these ideals are steadily advancing is evidenced by the remarkable change in the content of the school curriculum during the last decade, as well as by the change in the method of instruction.

Education becomes vitalized as we recognize its connection with the desires and needs of life — as we make it a part of life. The application of this principle is particularly important in elementary school work.

In the commodities and the activities which have to do with supplying man with the necessities and the comforts of daily life, children are greatly interested. In making the industrial a phase of our elementary instruction, however, the thought goes deeper than the mere materials and activities by means of which food, clothing, and shelter are obtained. This study opens the way to an understanding of the geography of the home and the world and of the influence of environment on the physical, social, and moral development of human life.

Geography, more naturally than any other school subject, opens the way to this study of industrial and social conditions. Its province is to show the relations between geographic conditions on the one hand and the life of man on the other.

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PREFACE

The study of food, clothing, and shelter should be centered in the pupil’s immediate surrounding^ In tracing these commodities back to their origin, and in following the raw product through the various stages in its development, journeys will be made to the most distant lands. In this way much of the world will be covered, and always with a definite purpose. The relation between the physical and the life conditions — real geography — will thus be logically and interestingly developed.

Maps should constantly be before the class for the location of cities, countries, and routes of travel. This feature has much more than a present value, for it develops the very important habit of locating the places studied in later life.

It would be unwise to attempt to give all of the many modifications of each industry. The experience of the teacher, and even that of some of the pupils, will furnish much material not here presented. To give information is important, but to suggest and, through suggestion, to lead the pupil to discover for himself are vastly more important. This point the author has kept constantly in mind.

To teach children the proper use of the necessaries of life should be a very vital part of their training. Parents and teachers should make every effort to see that children early form the habit of wise saving.

The phase of geography represented by the books of the Home and World Series lends itself admirably to work along this line. This is because it deals with the resources and manufactured articles, the conservation of which is so necessary.

PREFACE

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Of the materials which enter into the manufacture of cloth and of clothing, there is great and needless waste. Teachers dealing with clothing from the standpoint of geography have a splendid opportunity for teaching conservation. One of the important reasons for revising the books of this series was to call attention to this opportunity.

Unless the pupil comprehends what he reads, the mere reading will be of no benefit to him. We are to-day placing great stress upon silent reading and the testing of its results. It was for this purpose that the author inserted many questions in the books of the Home and World Series. There has now been placed at the end of each chapter a list of questions. These, teachers will find valuable as means of testing the results of the reading.

The illustrations have been chosen with care. They have a teaching power not possessed by words. In order that the pupils may derive the greatest benefit from the pictures the teacher should direct the study of them.

James Franklin Chamberlain.

Contents

PAGE

Introduction 3

Northern Neighbors io