G

EOGRAPHY has meant many things in

different times and in different places.

This is something not to be wondered at, since it is the oldest intellectual discipline, coming down to us from the times of the Greeks who, indeed, gave it the name by which it is still known-ge the earth and graphein to write. However, if we look in the Encyclopaedia Britannica or some other source of information about the branches of knowledge, we find that there are four divisions of geography that are generally recognized. The teaching of one of these branches is especially important at this time in high schools in the United States.

The four divisions of geography generally understood are mathematical, physical, biological, and human. Stated briefly mathematical geography deals with the global shape of the earth, which can be resolved to exact formulas in terms of arithmetic, algebra, and geometry. Physical geography is concerned with the physical attributes of the earth, including climate, weather, characteristics of mountains and valleys and other features of terrain, and phenomena of the ocean. Biological geog

raphy treats of the distribution of plants and animals and their adaptations to their environments.

Human geography is primarily concerned with people, studying them from the point of view of the problems which confront them because of the nature of the area in which they live. The human geographer concerns himself with how the people of an area have come to be as they are because of the place where they live. He asks, "How does the space a people occupies with all its attributes and resources and their location affect that people?"

These four branches of geography, like other disciplines, for instance, history, mathematics, and language, have gradually evolved through the years and have come down to us because they have fulfilled a certain need for knowledge. They are not mere collections of facts and formulas, but each has ways of thinking with organized structures of its own. The learning of facts is not intellectual training, unless these facts are seen as the conclusion of systematic inquiry and as part of a larger structure of knowledge.

Of course, in trying to answer the question that the human geographer asks, many factors have to be considered-among them, climate, the relief of the land-whether it is flat or mountainous-and in many cases the inquirer has to take into account the history of the particular people in which he is interested. For example, the human geography of Korea could not be understood without knowing the recent history of North Korea and South Korea. Human geography must inevitably consider the historical, traditional, and other cultural factors of a people, for those circumstances have made significant contributions to the character of the people today and their way of living. The teacher of history often has to draw on geography to answer some of the questions that arise in his field. For example, the history of the settlement of the United States cannot be understood without knowing the geography of the mountain passes in the Appalachians and the Rockies, and the valleys in the Middle West which directed the migration from the East. Many geography teachers believe, it (Continued on page 127)

The six charts a

Office

Chart 1.-Public School Enrollment

Chart 1 compares the number of children in school and not in school by age groups in 1930 and in 1950. The most notable changes are shown at the early and later age groups. The increase in percent of 5-year-old, 6-year-old, and 7-year-old children in school indicates the larger proportion of younger children now entering school. Whereas in 1930 about 20 percent of the 5-year-olds were enrolled in schools, in 1950 about. 33 percent were enrolled. For 6-year-olds, the increase was from 65 percent to nearly 80 percent.

At the other end of the chart, the increase of 16-, 17-, and 18year-olds remaining in school indicates the greater holding power of school in this age group. In 1930, only about 50 percent of the 17-year-olds remained in school. By 1950, this had increased to over 65 percent.

Both of these increases mean a greater load for the schools. Thus as the number of children in the country increases, the load on the schools increases in greater proportion than the population because a larger percentage of children aged 5 to 7 and 15 to 18 are in school.

Attention is called also to the still large percentage of the 17and 18-year-olds not in school (one-third and two-thirds respectively) because of its importance in terms of waste of potential trained workers for the Nation.

Chart 2.-Increased Enrollment 1936-53
Projected School Enrollment 1953-60

Chart 2 indicates that the increased total in school and college enrollment has been due chiefly to increased elementary school enrollment. Enrollment predictions can be made with considerable accuracy once births are known because the average pupil starts at 5 or 6 years of age and continues about 13 years in school. Projections to 1960 are therefore on the basis of children already born. The following changes may influence these figures:

a. If there is a continuing increase in the percentage of 5- or 6-year-olds entering school, the elementary figures must be increased.

b. If the percentage of drop-outs, ages 16, 17, and 18, decreases, the high school estimate must be increased.

c. If the percentage of youth attending college increases, the college figures must be revised upward.

Births for 1953 are estimated at about 4,000,000. The prediction of a future rise in enrollment beyond 1960 would seem reasonable when it is recognized that during the 1960's there will be a great increase in family units reflecting the increase in population which began in the late 1940's.

and at various meetings of organizations. They illustrate

pressing problems in American Education. SCHOOL

IFE is pleased to publish these charts and parts of the Commissioner's

statements for its readers.

Chart 3.-Public School Construction 1930-60

Chart 3 indicates that from 1930 to 1950 there was an actual reduction in the number of classrooms available as a result of the abandonment of obsolescent buildings, the consolidation of one-room schools, and the destruction of buildings by fire and other causes.

The problem of providing the number of needed classrooms becomes increasingly difficult financially because:

a. Some school districts have reached the debt ceiling placed by statute or State constitution.

b. Some school districts operate within tax limitations placed by statute or constitution. They have reached the tax limitation at the present time.

c. There is a great lag in adjustment of property value, which is the base for local school revenue in most school districts. The number of new classrooms provided in the past years approximated 47,000 in 1951, 50,000 in 1952, and more than 50,000 in 1953, but it is not keeping up with the increase in classrooms needed. The number of new classrooms needed annually is approximately 117,000. To provide the more than 340,000 needed classrooms would cost from $10 billion to $12 billion. (Continued on page 126)

PUBLIC SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION 1930-1960

UNDER 4%

L

ATE one afternoon last June, the assistant

in the Educational Materials Laboratory of the Office of Education sank onto a chair and said, "If this keeps up we'll never have to dust the books!" A group of teachers of English representing 4 continents and 12 countries had just spent the afternoon examining books in their special fields as well as in getting their first glimpse of some of the wealth of educational materials this country has to offer. For most of them it was a heady experience.

The visitors were the first assigned as a group to use the newly organized Educational Materials Laboratory, but since that time the Laboratory has attracted hundreds of visitors. Some were there when the staff came in the morning; many stayed until lights were turned off at night; a few asked if they could come in on Saturday. They have come from many States and from 56 foreign countries to look over the collection of representative textbooks used in elementary and secondary schools, professional books for teachers in a wide range of subjects, as well as reference materials and teaching aids.

Educators Visit Laboratory

Educators and leaders from other countries who come to the United States on the various educational programs which the Office of Education administers are all scheduled in groups for at least one period in the Laboratory. Most of them accept the invitation to return for individual visits

as often as they have time. The peak load of the year was last September when 420 people from our own and other countries visited the Laboratory. On one memorable afternoon 109 teachers spent several hours and left no book untouched. The educator members of the Committee on Consolidated Schools and Community Participation in School Affairs from Germany brought in their colleagues-a mayor, the city treasurer, a doctor, and a county commissioner -to see the kind of textbooks they would like to have for their schools.

The Laboratory had its regular users, too. These included members of the Office of Education staff who brought visitors as well as members of committees to discuss materials in connection with consultative services they gave. American personnel preparing for overseas assignments with the Technical Cooperation Programs used the Laboratory to good advantage in compiling lists of equipment and materials that they might need on the job and also got a general view of new textbooks and supporting materials. Groups of teachers who were asked to list books for new courses in their high school programs were able to examine many books before making their recommendations. Supervisors have brought groups of in-service teachers to introduce them to a variety of texts. Teachers attending summer school discovered that the Laboratory's open shelves made it a convenient place to work. The opportunity to examine the collection gave an artist with

an assignment to illustrate textbooks an idea of trends in that field. Several publishers have referred those who asked about their publications to the Laboratory where they were on display. The number of visits for the year runs to about 1,100, for they include many repeaters.

Books and Materials Contributed

The foregoing uses were some of those contemplated by the people who first discussed the need for a central exhibit of educational textbooks and educational materials located where it could be easily available to educators and others interested in the field. That this was finally accomplished was due to the cooperation of the American Textbook Publishers Institute. The ATPI asked its members to select books and materials for elementary and secondary education as well as professional educational books for teachers which it wished to place in an educational materials laboratory to be located in the Division of International Education of the Office of Education. Response of the members was prompt and generous, and to date about 2,500 titles, together with manuals, workbooks, and other aids to accompany them have been placed on the shelves. In addition, the Library of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare has transferred its uncataloged texts to the Laboratory and continues to send the new copies it receives. Professional educational organizations and

several Government agencies have contributed materials, as have State departments of education and some city school systems. A committee composed of Office of Education staff members acts in an advisory capacity on policy for the Laboratory.

Office of Education specialists have assisted the Laboratory staff in selecting materials to fill requests which come in increasing numbers from personnel in Technical Cooperation Programs abroad as well as from ministries of education in other countries. Many of the latter are develop ing reference libraries of textbooks and ask for suggestions. The requests from American personnel abroad vary with the region. No two are alike. What do they ask for? A few pulled from the mounting stack give an idea.

Types of Requests Made

Someone wants a "highly selected list" of titles for every subject and every grade from primary through secondary, and also of tests and measurements; another is a request for lists of materials for a literacy and adult education program slanted to community participation; simply worded instructions for drying food is another writer's problem. Lists of easy-to-read materials on agriculture to be used where the soil is sandy are urgently needed in another part of the world. Another writer warns that plans should be for stone buildings, for there is no wood; requests for lists of material on processing leather and making shoes, and instruction for making a charcoal-burning kiln come from still another region. "Can you suggest sources of maps and globes printed in the Arabic language," says another. Then there are the requests that caution against including material on dogs, but ask for some on cats, as they love them. But no matter what the origin of the request or how varied the topics, one thing they all have in common-“the material is urgently needed!"

The Educational Materials Laboratory celebrates its first birthday this month and is still growing. It is spreading out in expanded quarters and adding materials, including a limited amount of audio-visual aids. It welcomes visitors who come to use the Laboratory and is particularly happy to have information on sources of selected educational materials, for the aim is to make the collection so useful that it will never gather dust!

NORMA

a year in Great Britain under the British-American Teacher Exchange Program of the Department of State, Office of Education, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, and Board of Foreign Scholarships.

What resulted from this one of more than 1,600 exchanges of teachers between the countries of Great Britain and the United States can best be told in Miss Scott's own words. Here they are:

"On one occasion I was able to clear up a misconception much to the disappointment of the youngsters concerned.

"I had been asked to go to a junior school to talk to a group of small boys. The teacher (master) told me upon my arrival that the boys had been excited for days about the prospect of hearing a 'real, live Texan' and that he was afraid that I would have some difficulty in talking to them because they would be so exuberant.

"He left me with them after having introduced me, and instead of finding a room full of excited little boys, I was confronted with 30 of the stoniest expressions I have ever seen on 9-year-old faces.

"For what seemed a very long time, I struggled valiantly to arouse some enthu siasm; they continued to stare fixedly at me and I could get no response to my urgent request that they ask me about my native State.

"Finally, one small boy at the back of the room raised his hand and said in a grieved tone, 'Please, Miss, you don't look like a proper cowgirl.'

"I realized then that I had been an acute disappointment because they had known what kind of clothes I'd be wearing, how I'd stride into the room, and what sort of a nasal twang would mark my speech. The cowboy movies had done a thorough job of misinforming those children of what Texas women were like. Many times school children said with sorrow in their voices, 'Please, Miss, you're just like an English mistress.'

"You will be interested to know, I am sure, of a project which is the result of my year in England.

"When I returned to Orange, a profes sional organization of women teachers to which I belong (Delta Kappa Gamma) wanted to do something for the teachers who had been so kind to me. Our Each-OneAdopt-One plan developed whereby each member of the local chapter adopted a friend of mine to send food and, clothing and to write friendly, personal letters in the hopes of making life a bit easier and brighter for the overworked and overtired English teachers. Very soon the plan spread throughout Texas and by the time I had been back in the States 8 months, over 900 English teachers had been 'adopted.' Eighteen hundred teachers were being directly affected by the fact that one teacher had been sent to England.

"There is no way to know how many 'friends of friends' are now involved in the plan, nor how many school children are exchanging letters and gift parcels. The fig ure surely runs into the thousands. And, the thing that is significant is that the Texas teachers and children are perhaps even more delighted with the plan than the English, if that can be possible. There are hundreds of stories of friendships that have developed that will last a lifetime, giving satisfaction to all those concerned.

"The particularly significant thing about this plan for international friendship is its personal aspect. You can see that not only am I a teacher better able to combat prejudice and misunderstanding, but hundreds of teachers who will never have the wonderful opportunity that I had are also better teachers as an indirect result of the exchange plan.

"Professionally, the year spent on exchange to England was the most valuable of my teaching career. The opportunities for interpreting my country to the English were unlimited. The realization of the importance of doing a good job was sometimes a terrifying feeling.

"I am completely sold on the exchange scheme and believe its possibilities for furthering international understanding and good will are far reaching. In some way I should like to be permanently active in helping the program to expand and improve."