The Scope of School Geography

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Contents

PAGE 7

CHAP.

. INTRODUCTION ....

Introduction

Collaboration may have its dangers ; but it affords opportunity, of which we have availed ourselves fully, for criticism and argument. Perhaps collaborators feel more free to press their own views than he who merely confers the favour of reading an author's proof. And we may also admit that the subject of the book offers openings for alternative opinions, although we have succeeded in reconciling our own. For geography is a big subject, so big that no man may ever know the whole of it ; and we are concerned here not to lay down the boundaries of the whole of it, but only those of an inner circle, to wit, its application to secondary school teaching.

Even though our task goes no farther than that, it is necessary to endeavour to fulfil diverse objects. We have, as we take it, firstly to give some indication of the scope of a geography course which seeks to prepare the pupil merely for safe passage through the school certificate examination, and is severely limited in time to two periods per week. But secondly, we are now emboldened to believe that the school certificate is not the be-all and end-all of geography-teaching in secondary schools. Geography has become, or is rapidly becoming, a well-established university subject. But as soon as the school certificate stage is passed, if not even before, geography announces itself as an elastic subject — one in which the course of study may be deliberately led in this direction or that, whether the physical, or the mathematical, or the economic, or the historical elements be chosen. We deprecate such distortion of the subject

8 Introduction and insistence upon one branch, at least if it connote the exclusion of others, for the main purpose of school geography as we conceive it is to furnish the pupil with some idea of the world beyond his own home place and his holiday resort ; above all to foster the geographical outlook. Still more do we wish to ensure that teachers of geography

... do not itch

To interfere in matters which

They do not understand.

That is a real danger, so soon as geography reaches the frontier zone between its own content and that of any allied study. It is our concern, therefore,' to deal somewhat exhaustively with certain departments of study which are strictly geographical. In doing so, we may appear to set up ideals beyond the attainment of any secondary school curriculum, but we make no apology for that, if by doing so we succeed in informing the teacher of those directions and that value of geographical study which he may indicate, however briefly, to his pupils ; even if he have only two periods per week at disposal, even if he have only to inculcate the minimum of fact necessary to cover a syllabus like the following,^ to be brought within the scope of an examination paper of three hours :

{a) Distribution of land and water. Land forms and the agencies modifying them. Configuration and surface characteristics of the Continents. Factors determining climate. Distribution of temperature, winds, rainfall, vegetation, and animal life. " Human occupations and activities (social and economic) in relation to these physical conditions.

Introduction

{b) To be studied so as to illustrate the subjects stated in section {a) : The British Isles.

The rest of the world on broad lines only.

Attention is called to the importance of studying general principles of geography in definite relation to different areas.

{c) The reading of ordnance maps and the representation of relief by contoured sketch-maps.

Wherever possible, simple sketch-maps are to be drawn as integral parts of the answers.

Perhaps the most pregnant phrase in the above is ' the rest of the world on broad lines only '.^ What is treatment * on broad lines ' ? Take any country — Mexico for instance (it need not necessarily be a political division, but this one was set for * geographical description ' in a recent school certificate paper). What is there to learn of it * on broad lines * ? Its relief — the central plateau edged by mountains and falling to the coastal lowlands : the consequent variation of climate which falls into the well-known three zones : the consequent zonal vegetation from tropical to temperate : the distribution of rainfall with the resulting arid lands of the north, &c. : the distribution of population — the large towns, excepting the ports, lying high on the plateau :

^ We doubt the merits of this syllabus, and offer as individual suggestions : (a) another area, preferably within the British Empire, accepted for more detailed treatment as an alternative (not in addition) to the British Isles ; (b) such an area, in addition to the British Isles, but studied in less detail ; (c) as an alternative to the ^itish Isles and world outlines, the study of contrasted areas, e. g. British Isles or the Mediterranean on the one hand and Australia or South America on the other.

10 Introduction the difficulties of railway construction from lowland to plateau : the indifferent nature of ports on the shallow Gulf coast, to which nevertheless trade is mainly directed : the rich mineral products — ^silver, oil, &c. : the most characteristic vegetable products — the sisal hemp of Yucatan, the bananas, chewing gum, and so on : the people and some reference to their apparent inability to govern and develop their own territory effectively. Does that summary connote too much detail if the like be applied to the whole world ? Certainly, with the two-period week, it would be hard to drive the pupil farther. As certainly, it leaves little room for the study of economic geography as such, physical geography as such, and the rest of the subject considered, so to say, departmentally ; nor must we be understood, from our departmental treatment of the subject in subsequent chapters, to suggest that it should.

But that, as we have indicated, is not the whole of the story. There are advanced courses to consider, and there is the fact, which we trust we are justified in assuming, that geography as a secondary school subject is in process of development. It may be regarded as fairly well established as an elementary subject, and as a university subject, but hitherto its position as a secondary school subject has been the weak link in the chain. Therefore, in respect to those of the following chapters in which we treat certain branches of the subject in a style which may appear somewhat exalted, we plead that our object in doing so is to suggest lines of approach which the teacher will find worth bearing in mind if he have the time and opportunity to push on along any or all of them, and may find suggestive even if he be limited to his two periods, and to viewing

Introduction ii the distinction level of the school certificate as the immediate ideal for his pupils.

We are aware that much of the matter which we claim should be taught in school geography does not properly come under the heading of geography. Certain contributions from other studies are borrowed in building up the geographical synthesis, and we dwell on their importance because they are necessary in a geographical training. Geography properly speaking has a definite viewpoint of its own and is not a mosaic of loans from other subjects. Our difficulty lies in the fact that science as taught in schools too often implies no more than the study of physics and chemistry. Biology is occasionally taught, but as a rule from the point of view of the morphologist rather than the evolutionist. The elements of astronomy and meteorology are not taught at all. The simple applications of mathematics to surveying are seldom made clear. The groundwork of geography is physical, and without that groundwork no scientific development of the subject can take place. It would be an ideal condition if the geography master could confine his attention to teaching geography, leaving the elementary science to others. If this were possible, school geography, and incidentally university geography, would take great strides forward.

No reform in the school curriculum could do more to advance the standard of geography than the change in school science recently advocated by Sir R. A. Gregory.^ Briefly, the suggestion is that up to the age of sixteen all pupils should take a general course in science more or less on the lines of Huxley's Physiography or Mill's Realm of Nature rather than the elements of chemistry and the

* Nature, 96 (1915), p. 307, and School World, Feb. 1917.

12 Introduction laws of heat, light, and electricity, and that a course of geography would at the sanie time provide the unifying principle between all aspects of the science course and the teaching in the humanities and history.

If this curriculum were followed, the overburdened subject of geography would be relieved of extraneous matter, and the teaching could be concentrated on regional geography. At the same time, the application of science in human life would have a more vivid interest to the pupils. Incidentally it may be pointed out that the advantages to university geography would be great if it could be assumed that all students on entering the university course had a general acquaintance with physiography or general elementary science, carried up to the age of sixteen. As things are at present, the scientific knowledge of school children lacks balance, and, however good it may be on some sides, is wofully deficient as a basis of geography.

Lastly, it may not be out of place to insist on the necessity of geography teachers being specialists in their subjects if good results are expected. Neither the historian nor the teacher of English has the scientific outlook which is essential, while the science teacher as a rule lacks the synthetic standpoint without which geography loses its meaning. The teaching of geography is no less the work of a specialist than the teaching of chemistry or history. This consideration is all the more important when we bear in mind that after their school days only a few fortunate individuals have the opportunity of pursuing the study farther. If the geographical outlook on the world — ^which is vital to a true understanding of man and his work — is to be given at all it must be given first at school.

• *

THE EARTH : FORM AND MOVEMENTS

It seems peculiar that there should be divergence of view as to the inclusion, in school geography, of a study of the earth's form and movements. Nevertheless, the matter appears to be in doubt. One certificate syllabus before us prescribes a knowledge of the size, shape, and movements of the earth, and then passes on to the elements of physical geography ; a second leads off with the distribution of land and water, and the study of land forms.

The most elementary general geography begins with the information that the earth is a ball, and proceeds to the simple and partial demonstrations of that fact — the disappearing ship, the voyage of circumnavigation, and so on. It introduces the pupil to the globe. It teaches the cardinal points of the compass. It refers to the apparent movements of the sun and the stars, and illustrates by some such analogy as that of a running train that it is really the earth's movement which we observe by means of the heavenly bodies. It gives a first idea of causes of day,- night, and the seasons, and other familiar phenomena. By subsequent stages we gain a clear conception of the two movements of the earth : of the day or period of one rotation on its axis ; the year or period of one revolution round the sun — they are not easy to retain in the mind without demonstration by means of a model, and not always then. There follow the connexion between rotation and the

14 •■• 'T%e Earth determiii^tietfdt-fwJsitidmff' the north and south poles; the equator ; great circles. Some idea must be given 6f the determination of latitude and longitude. The latitude of any point must be understood as its angular distance from the equator, and an idea may be given, simply, of observations for latitude, as on the pole star in the northern hemisphere. The determination of longitude by means of time observations is generally grasped without much difficulty, although strange superstitions sometimes emerge from the pupiPs mind as to the effects of crossing the date-line upon the calendar. The modifications of solar time by means of standard and summer times have an obviously practical application and cannot be omitted. Lastly, we have the consequences of the earth's revolution and the inclination of its axis, with a fuller explanation of the incidence of the seasons. In the minimum course we cannot, perhaps, be too insistent upon a grasp of technical phraseology, but the equinoxes and the solstices are not too alarming terms.

This may be as far as the minimum school course can go. In regard to various phenomena of cosmical physics we are concerned with the effects rather than the causes. We are concerned with certain effects of the tides, as for instance in the British seas. If we explain what the tides are, and that they are due to the attraction exercised by the moon and the sun on the surface waters of the ocean, that should suffice for our part, which does not appear to include the necessity for demonstrating that gravitational attraction is directly proportional to the mass of the attracting body, but inversely proportional to the square of its distance. We have to define

Form and Movements 15

a volcano, because the existence of volcanoes in certain parts of the world is a geographical factor of importance to man ; but the exact relationship between vulcanicity and earthquakes is not ours to consider. Terrestrial magnetism we can barely touch ; but the difference, between true and magnetic north must be realized if thc^compass and the ordnance map are to be intelligently used.

But it is difficult to see how we can reduce or neglect these minima. They bear definitely on a number of subjects indicated elsewhere in this volume as essential. They give a first conception of the method of fixing points on the map. They bear directly, in respect of climatic conditions, upon the zonal or regional divisions of the world. It is unnecessary to particularize farther. Again, seeing that the most elementary geography lessons begin with the idea that the earth is a spinning ball, and that the facts following from that are certainly not understandable by the elementary pupil sufficiently fully for him to understand their bearings on his secondary work to which we have referred, it appears impossible to pinch out this bud of study in any secondary course. We would rather have him understand these fundamentals than be expected (say) to read a mass of descriptive matter not particularly pertinent to any branch of the subject.

But that is not all. If there be any branch of our minimal studies which is to serve as a guide-post to advanced work, this is one of the most important. It is one of the foundation-stones of the department of cosmical physics. It is essential to any boy whose bent may be toward the mathematical side of geography — i6 The Earth : Form and Movements the survey and the map. There may not be many such, but for those who emerge with these interests there is room.

II

The object of this chapter is to indicate the extent to which some knowledge of the physical processes by which the surface of the earth has been fashioned ought to be included in a course of school geography. It is with the present rather than with the past conditions of that surface that the geographer is mainly concerned, but inasmuch as the earth as we know it is the result of a long period of evolution, the explanation of its surface features frequently involves an appeal to their past history. So far there is general agreement among geographers. But when we come to consider what is implied in such a statement, we find ground for much diversity of opinion. There are some, for example, who maintain that the study of land forms, except in so far as it throws light on the relations which exist between man and his environment, is outside the scope of the geographer. Others, again, maintain that the study of morphological processes is the necessary basis of all modem geography. At present it is not incumbent upon us to do more than consider the matter from the point of view of the school. The boundaries between geography and the subjects most closely allied to it are not to be regarded as lines in the mathematical sense, but as belts, and sometimes as broad belts. On these belts students of varied interests may find much in common, and there is no reason why there should be any rigid demarcation of their respective subjects. Geomorphology is a case in point ; it deals with many matters common alike to the geographer and to the geologist, and even if its subject-matter and the methods by which it is studied belong to the latter rather than to the former, it is, if not an integral part of geography, at least an essential part of an advanced education in that subject. For school purposes, however, the geography course must be more precisely defined. It is true that many of the physical processes which are gradually modifying the surface of the earth may be made interesting and instructive to youth. On the other hand, it ought to be fully recognized that geography regarded as the study of the interaction between man and his environment is much more important as a training for the citizen than are the problems with which the geologist is accustomed to deal, and most of the time available ought therefore to be devoted to it. Our present task is to show how, as regards school work, the geological contribution which is admittedly necessary may be best limited without detracting from the interest and value of geographical study.

For the further elucidation of our subject the theories regarding geography which have already been indicated must be examined somewhat more closely. According to one theory the subject is concerned not only with description of the surface features of the earth as they now exist, but with the study of the processes through which they have attained their present forms and through which these forms are being modified. The processes involved are largely the result of the action of air and i8 The Physical Basis of Geography

water and changing temperatures, though other factors, such as volcanic forces and the slow crustal movements, have also to be taken into consideration. As a consequence of the continual interaction between land surfaces, air, and water, all land forms are undergoing a slow process of evolution which may be regarded as the latest chapter in f he geological history of the earth. There is here a well-defined subject of study, but one which is only to a slight extent connected with the conditions of life prevailing on the surface of the globe. If, however, as is now generally understood, the first duty of the geographer is to study the earth as the home of man and in relation to man, he will only be indirectly interested in the processes by which the surface of the land has assumed its present form. It is true, of course, that these processes are gradually affecting the human environment, but the changes which they bring about are so gradual that it is only in exceptional cases that we are able to trace their changing influence on human development. There seems little advantage, therefore, in attempting to reconcile the two views of geographical study which have just been indicated. Any attempt to find a place for the expression of both in the school syllabus will lead to a divided interest, a result which in the earlier stages of study ought to be avoided.

It does not follow, however, that the processes modifying the surface of the earth are to be ignored. As a result of their operation in the past they have created conditions which are of vast importance to man. But to understand why these conditions should be important it is often necessary that we should have some explanation of the way in which they originated.

It is impossible, for example, to realize why the Hwang-ho should be * China's sorrow ' if we know nothing of the processes of erosion and deposition, or to explain the distribution of soils in England if we have not heard of a Glacial Period. The argument might be advanced, indeed, that it is impossible for the geographer to say that he will study the development of land forms when and only when the history of this development explains the influence which they exercise on man, since it may be that not until he has studied that development can he say in what ways it affects the human environment. As regards research work this argument is undoubtedly valid, but it need not enter into our consideration of what ought to be taught in schools, where the teacher is presumed to select what he considers necessary for his purpose.

If then we accept the view that the evolution of land forms should be studied with special reference to the influence which they exercise upon man we shall find that the method of treatment is one of the utmost importance. De Martonne, in the introduction of his work, Train de Giographie physiqtce^ distinguishes between general geography [giographie gSnSrale) and regional geography [giographie rigionale), and indicates his belief that the treatment of the first ought to be explanatory, while that of the second ought to be descriptive. But it is questionable whether the geographical point of view is not lost sight of in such a distinction. To discuss mountains, plains, or river valleys in general terms means that the emphasis must be placed either on their physical or on their human

aspects, and as the similarities between mountains are

B 2 greater and the differences perhaps more marked on the physical rather than on the human side, it is on the first of these that the emphasis will naturally be placed. In another work De Martonne gives what we consider a much truer interpretation of the geographical point of view. His La Valachie, which unfortunately does not seem to be very well known on this side of the Channel, is one of the best regional studies which we have. The physical features of the country are not only described but explained, and both in his description and in his explanation the author appears to have continually under consideration the bearing of the facts with which he is dealing upon the human development of the region. It is from this point of view, therefore, that the geographer ought to develop his subject. He must describe land forms and where necessary explain their evolution, but the study ought to be regional. The pupil at this stage is not concerned, or at least ought not to be, with mountains in the abstract, whether they be regarded as morphological regions or as areas of human development. Needless to say it is not implied that recourse should not be had to the inductive process. After various mountain areas have been studied it is legitimate to classify the methods of mountain formation, and it may even be advisable to do so for the sake of clearness and completeness of view. But what we wish to insist upon is the fact that as we are studying physical features in relation to man it is often necessary to approach them from another point of view than the genetic. As far as the school at least is concerned generalizations regarding physical processes must not be allowed to hold a place of more than secondary importance.

But when all is said it is obvious that frequent reference must be made to the work of the geologist, and it is important to consider how this may best be done. In the first place it can be laid down as a general rule tnat his technical language should be used as sparingly as possible. Instead of referring to rocks as belonging to this or that geological age it is almost always better to describe them by name as granite, sandstone, chalk, &c., to say whether they are hard or soft, permeable or impermeable, and to mention any other characteristic of a geological nature which they possess. Similarly, when describing scenery the terms employed should be such as will in themselves convey some idea of the physical features of the region under consideration. * A scarped land ' is a geographical expression : * a typical Jurassic area ' is not. Emphasis should be laid on the characteristic topography rather than the age and substance of the land form.

If pupils are to be taught to think of rocks as substances with the appearance and characteristics of which they are more or less familiar, and not merely as substances formed during some remote geological period, it is obvious that something must be said regarding the relationship of rock structures and scenery, and even of the way in which a particular kind of rock formation indicates a particular type of scenery. At first sight this might seem a matter rather for the geologist than for the geographer, but a moment's reflection will serve to show that it is a matter of some consequence to the latter. If the earth is to be regarded as the home of man the scenery of any particular part of it may be considered as indicating the character of that part of the home, and to understand its character we often need to know something of its development. It is impossible, for example, to study the distribution of population in limestone or in chalk country without knowing something of the action of water upon these particular rocks. The action of the sea upon the land may affect the value of coastal towns and seaports, and the deposition of silt may render unnavigable rivers hitherto navigable. Hence it is necessary that even in the school some of the main facts regarding the building up and wearing down of the land should be taught, always, however, with due regard to the main object in view. Of course there are many matters dealing with surface features of which it is important that pupils should know something but of which a full explanation is impossible. As long as Richthofen's theory of the origin of the loess deposits of China was regarded as satisfactory it was easy and probably wise to explain that loess was a wind-blown deposit from Central Asia. Now that other theories not capable of such easy statement have been advanced, the teacher must content himself with a description of the characteristics and^ distribution of loess, and with an indication that there is doubt as to the parts played by wind and water respectively in its transportation^ Any discussion of the different theories is obviously impossible. Again, the distribution of Boulder Clay in the British Isles is of considerable importance, as it affects to a greater or less extent the distribution and character of the crops in various parts of the country, aivd there are many occasions on which it will be necessary for the teacher to refer to it. • In doing so he cannot avoid saying something of its origin, but it is obviously impossible for him to discuss the various theorieslwhich are held on the subject, and he must content himself with showing that it is a question for the geologists to settle, but one .on which they are not yet agreed.

The difficulties are no less great when we come to consider how far we are to explain the evolution of the diflFerent types of physical regions with which the geographer has to deal, and probably it will be best to consider each of these types separately, though we cannot hope to do more than indicate the general method of treatment in each case. It has already been suggested that all explanation of the process of mountain formation should be given in connexion with specific areas. The difficulty arises when we seek to define what the proposed explanation should include, and it must frequently seem as if we were trespassing on the ground of the geologist. Is it possible, for example, to compare the geographical form and importance of two such regions as the Andes and the Highlands without making some reference to the fact that the one is a folded range and the other a dissected plateau ? Can we describe the Alps with their long slope to the north and their steep fall to the south, or the Himalayas bordered by the plains of the Ganges, without some reference to upfolds and downf olds ? What account of a rift- valley is possible which takes no account of its genesis ? Whether we wish to distinguish the plain of the Middle Rhine from the Black Forest and the Vosges, by which it is bounded on the east and on the west respectively, or the Central Lowland of Scotland from the Highlands in the north and the Uplands in the south, or Tanganyika in the rift* valley from Victoria Nyanza on the high plateau, it is surely necessary to say something of the faulting which has so profoundly modified the surface of the regions in question. The human geography of a great part of the north of England is powerfully influenced by the distribution of mountain limestone, millstone grit, and coal-measures, but it is impossible to understand that distribution without some knowledge of the processes of deposition, upheaval, acd denudation which have taken place. Miss Semple has shown that the social and economic conditions of the Kentucky Highlanders is largely due to the fact that the region in which they dwell consists of a pUteau of horizontal sandstone minutely dissected by the valleys of numerous streams.