The Battlefield of Our Public Schools- Geography

Geography or "Global Education"

I receive a Geography related email newsletter.  One newsletter contained several topics that really didn't sound much like the usual "geography." It contained healines like:  The Importance of Teaching Global Education in the Classroom...and  Making the Case for Geography in Our Schools, and, Geographic Education Revival.  

 "Global Education?"  Does that equate to geography?  Hardly!

You might find it interesting to look up the term.  Take note, as I did, that  " Global Education " is a philosophy of life.  (It's not even geography at all.)  Here in this newsletter, the teaching of a philosophy.... is simply being disguised as "geography.  It is not the same thing.


Geography educates you about facts and figures, it is a study of landmasses and cultures and exploration; Global Education is a worldview, a cognitive orientation of understanding  and an interpreting of perspectives which involves ethics, natural philosophy and a postulation of "values."  

Who's values? 

Whoever can dominate another.. that's who's.  Presented here to look like geography... really, and quite subliminally, something completely different will be taught. 

"Make a case of  teaching geography in our schools?"   Really?  We have to make a "case" in order to teach geography because people just do not want to learn i, land features, cities and capitals?    Since when?  

Geographic Education Revival?  Revival?

This newsletter informs"
 "Surveys recently conducted by the National Geographic Society (the NGS is the expert)  and the Asia Society (another expert) shed light on a growing concern: the decline of multicultural awareness.  

 ("Alarm!  Alarm!" There is a decline in people being multiculturally aware!)

Pardon me, but this is America... the melting pot, where people come from all over the globe and make their home here and bring their culture with them.   How is it that people are not "multiculturally aware?"  More importantly is not geography the study of place and people too?

Seriously, an in this age of  INTERNET accessibility.... in the age of being able to translate languages via computer on command... and in a time where most American families, as well as other parts of the world, people are watching television that consists of well over 600 channels being broadcast from all over the globe simultaneously, people are not multicultural aware?  Who are they kidding.

 We humans do still  read newspapers, take great interest in television programs, like National Geographic and the Discovery Channel and the programming on  PBS.  We visit libraries...  and id our schools do not teach about various cultures and geography and history, during thethe time our kids are there then there is a problem.... with the education our kids are getting and the money being spent on "school."

The article cries, "...studies show that U.S. students lack an understanding and knowledge of different people, places and cultures around the world."  


Please note who the failure is....  It is U.S. students.

The article  goes on to tell the reader, "The need has grown for the public to demand more rounded," (...pardon the interruption, but did you catch the shape of THAT global word? "rounded," do you think it could be intentional?)  " higher-quality education for today's youth, and for teachers to understand the value and necessity of developing lessons based on global education."

It's not just the students in the U.S. who are being labels as deficient....  It is those deficient American teachers that are apparently a problem too.  They don't know anything either. The clarion call is for the public to demand "global education."

U.S.students are not dumb.... and neither are U,S. teachers, who by the way, go to school for years and years learning what is put before them and passing.  But this newsletter considers them inept, or at least uninformed, and "obviously" not as smart as the people (the "experts" on teaching who are writing this article...) which claim to know more about what should be being taught to kids in schools.

Seriously?  Why should the purveyors of a magazine, tell us what to teach and not teach in our schools

 The writers here certainly have a lot of nerve...calling their kind of education and philosophy known as "global education" a "higher quality" education then singling out US students as poorly educated and blaming it on their teachers in our schools.   Beware.  These self proclaimed  "experts" (on everything) are trying to sell you something....but first they have to convince you to get rid of what you currently hold dear.  Your U.S. citizenship and the freedom to choose for yourself what you believe and think.... (and this without their supposed "expertise" on the matter.)  They are nothing but clever marketers who use clever words and hope you will exchange what you have for what they claim, is better.

Last I remembered teachers had been educated, even went to college and most paid a lot of money for that highly prized job which came to them because of their educational training.  Last I looked, maps and books were all over the place and at our fingertips too.  Airplanes trains and automobiles work to transport people all over the world... all the time.  We are not a multiculturally unaware people.

As these "experts" make the audacious claim that it is a necessity for teachers to "understand" "Global education"  it is highly likely that geography teachers know more than some of these self- proclaimed experts who simply have a philosophy to spread... who want "American" teachers to listen to them, answer to them, and "teach" America's kids... . not geography, but something more near and dear to the globalist heart... a "global education."  To do that they have to make you worried and make you think these teachers are stupid... inept and make you think you have to demand they teach what the experts have to sell today...  not geographical knowledge, but a philosophy, a worldview"  This too is what happens then teacher stop teaching and are relegated to only teaching what is in the books.

The article tells us, that "The United States government tried to introduce and incorporate multiculturalism and global education into the system repeatedly since the 1980s but was met with hostility and protests by many of its citizens."  (They mean the conservatives... )"Many conservatives feel that global education introduces anti-Americanism, and that multiculturalism introduces and encourages "separatism and disunity."  They have that right. It is anti American, anti freedom and while it pretends to respect cultures, all it does is separate people into categories based on how they look act or dress.  Example, "What race are you?" asks the multiculturalist.

"Human, thank you." answers the person who believe all men are created equal, that there is no superior "race."

The next title in the pack was Making the Case for Geography in Our Schools.

Now, I cannot speak for your homeschool, but I know that in our home based education, geography was always important.  No one would have to "make a case" for teaching or learning how to read a map or label geographic features and gaining knowledge and appreciation of different cultures and even their history... the flora and fauna of our earth's regions and the people groups who live around the globe.  These were always important in our studies.  Why then would school educators fail to see the importance of such things?    Do they  mean to imply, that public schools fail to teach geography?  

Not exactly... but sort of.  

The article under this title begins, "The education system in this country has never done a satisfactory job in pushing geographic knowledge."  

Evil America.  Our education system "has never done a satisfactory job" 

This is an insult and it is just not true.  Many a student has learned a lot about geography.  Americans should be insulted by always being told how awful the public school system is.   It must be worthwhile in some respects.  Kids are actually learning things in their schools... some more than others and some people some subjects better than others.  The American school system does have problems  but it also has some value, and while I am not an avid advocate of the public school system.... this bad- mouthing of America  gets a little old.

"Pushing? " (Now there is an interesting choice of words.) It's a word that is tale-telling for sure.  This is the problem with public education... unscrupulous people often use it for their own good.  they use it make money.... not for the good of the student and more insidiously, the school system is used to PUSH personal and political agendas. He who had the most money, or mean-ness, usually wins.  There are many schools who do an exemplary job of teaching, and of teaching Geography, (that is, "the study of the Earth and its lands, features, and inhabitants...") which is not equivalent to teaching the philosophies of this thing now dubbed by self-proclaimed "experts" as " Global Education."  


The third article,  Geographic Education Revival. in my opinion, is nothing but an advertisement for National Geographic magazine and Goals 2000 Educate America Act..  If you are not familiar with Goals 2000 or Outcome Based Education,( O.B.E. ) then do some serious research and read up on it. You  might want to begin by reading the document itself... and  Wikipedia, or books and articles by knowledgeable people, like Berit Kjos, Phyllis Schaffley who were well aware of it at the time it was proposed as a model of education and subsequently passed into law. According to the article, Geographical knowledge is not really on the decline it's growing, but they have another name for the "new Geography" too..Human Geography. which is more about the politics of policies and land use, population and the political organization of space than it is about the actual geographical features of our globe.

The earth shakes, the wind blows and the land on the earth changes... land features appear over eons of time.  People adapt and live and learn and grow.... cultures arise and form.  But maps are passe' for he who holds the map... owns the land.... do you must adapt to the map.  Your view and beliefs, what you personally own and value, not the physical features of land mass... is not "geography"  There is more than wind and rain and weather patterns at work to shape the land and human cultures.  There is a driving force that aims to change not the land features, but your mind..

Global Education is not geography at all.  It is and education of mind.  It is the philosophy, values, ethics and political dynamics dictated by self -proclaimed experts, who be-litle America and our American value of personal freedom.  Make no mistake these elitists have vested interests.  They are in business and mean business too.  They are determined, not only to sell their magazines, and textbooks to your school, but determined to shape and manage human thought as they propagate their philosophy globally through the education... of you, and your children through our apparently "inept"American"  schools.
LB