The Garden Island. [volume], October 24, 1911, Page 2, Image 2

About The Garden Island. [volume] (Lihue, Kauai, H.T.) 1902-current

Image provided by: University of Hawaii at Manoa; Honolulu, HI

                
THE GARDEN ISLAND.
Geography That is Sure to Stick When Once Learned
By Carrie P. Ilcrndon
A young man just from college,
'said to me, the other day, "I wish
I could study Geography as it is
taught to-day. When I studied it
. Geography meant only a memoriz
ing of facts. That there was rea
son back of these facts which the
children might possibly compre
hend ami enjoy seemed never to
have occurred to our teacher. J ust
facts, facts, facts, and woe betide
the youngster who could not sax
over just what the look said.
Staying after school or even whip
ping on the hand was often the
penalty. My powers of memoriz
ing' were great, so of course I fared
well, while the only boy in the class
whoever thought or asked questions
was always in trouble. "Of course
I never learned any Geography and
of course I remember none." He
might very much better have said,
"Of course I saw the reason for
none of the facts I learned a n d
memory alone could nt hold
them."
The state texts, adopted by the
supposedly best educators of many
of our great, rich states, are still
organized and the old plan of facts
strung together without the least
suggestion that one is in any way
related to or dependent on the other.
These old books are adopted be
cause they are cheaper and the text
book committee must save the peo
ple's money. But do they save it?
The average child studies geogra
phy three or four years, but leaves
school admitting that he knows
nothing about it. Three days of
school, eight months to the year
and twenty days to the month,
means four hundred eighty days.
Suppose the children devote one
hour a day to Geography study.
That means four hundred eighty
hours. We pay a good bright boy
at our Industrial School seven
cents an hour for his time. That
is f.LV6n for the time spent on his
geography. Is it not worth while
to put into his hands a book, w hich
if mastered will stick? A b o o k
which w ill send him into the world
to put a question mark after each
man's business success or failure,
each nation's growth or decline?
Tile old book devotes a paragraph
each to surface, climate, plants,
aniwals, occupations, cities, gov
ernment and religion without any
idea of showing the interdepen
dence of these. The best u e w
books start with some great essential
facts about a country and all these
paragraphs above which we admit
mibt be taught, unfold as naturally
as a blossom. The I'nitcd Slates
has a population of something like
ninety two millions. Canada, lying
to the North of us. has an area
greater than our own and yet her
population is less than six millions,
about one fifteenth as large as our
own. Now why is this? Canada
was discovered and settled about
the same time that the United
States was. Why have ninety-two
millions flocked to t h e United
States while the people of Canada
are equal in numbers to the state
of Pennsylvania? A study of the
climate of Canada now has for us
adefinite purpose. It is to help us
solve a problem that is now of in
terest to every school boy. A study
of the water ways that permitted
the early settler to go to the interior
a n d to carry on trade naturally
follows. The fact that our water
ways are always open to trade
while those of Canada are blocked
for five months of the year helps
him solve the problem of the differ
ence in population, and since there
is the cause and effect relation it is
not hard to remember. Take our
great staple crop. corn. A few
mouths from the time it was plant
ed il was ready to b e eaten
on the table and yet throughout
the entire year it w as so easily pre
served and prepared as good both
for man and beast. What a wealth
of food arranged along a single
cob! How easily prepared to tempt
man's appetite! This one crop,
that did more than any other to
make early settlement possible,
was or was not a product of Canada .
Again we read with the idea of
solving our problem of the-difference
in population. Our greatest crop,
cotton, the exports of which brought
into our c o u n t r y i n 1 01 i.S
5 ". ufo,0" and has increased
every year since, what of this crop
in Canada? You do not lind it
mentioned. Wheat will occur to
us as one of our great crops. Turn
to the crop tallies given in our best
books. You will lind the order
United States. Russia, France, In
dia, AusU ia-Hungary and Italy.
Again Canada is not mentioned.
Look at the table for sugar cane.
The order is Cuba. Java, United
States, Hawaii. Brazil. Again
Canada isuot m uitiemcd w bile we
rank third. In the wool table the
United States is not so high in the
scale ranking fourth. Canada is
not mentioned.
The abundance and the close
proximity of coal and iron, we are
told, were the great reasons for
England's manufacturing supre
macy. Look at the coal table.
The order is United States, Great
Britain. Germany, Austria-Hungary.
In iron the order is United
Stales, Cuinanx . Great Britain.
Spain, l'raiicc. Canada docs not
figure. In gold the order is Trans
vaal. United St ites. Au- iralia. Rus
sia. Mexico. The silver 1 hart runs.
United States. Mexico. Australia.
Canada, Peru. Germany. While
the name United States appears in
many instances first, Canada occurs
but once and that in the last and
least important chart and l h e n
holds but the fourth place in the
chart wh.ile the United Slates holds
first place. Now we are prepared
to study w ith a purpose the plants,
animals, and minerals of Canada.
The sort of occupation these pro
duets offer the people grows na
turally from what has preceded.
A Study of the sort of people best
adopted to these occupations follows
naturally. We next :r-kcd the
question, would t he se i ecu pa I ioi is
de-maud niaiiv small trading j N
or few great cities? Where are tile
natural locations fnr these towns
and cities? And lastly, name-some
of them and see what the book has
to say about their character and
why they are w hat they are. Thus
you see these facts about Canada
are strung together in the relation
of cause ami effect. They are not
hard to remember. Our best new
Geographies are written in this
way. Such Geography is bound to
to stick. Is it extravagant to put
one of these new- books into the
hands of our children? His four
hundred and eighty hours spent on
Geography may thus be made a
veritable delight, a period of solv
ing great problems, a period of
thinking relations instead of a
dreary grind on facts, facts, facts,
most of which are destined to be
crowded out of memory by n e w
lacts.
Let us look at the n i i t-M,1
rivers that ma le e.nly se'.tle-.i;-. '.!
possible. The Am 'on i s navi
gable for steamboats for a d:stance
of twetttx two bundled miles from
the sea. almost across the continent .
The drainage we are- studying now
is a factor in the- solution of our
problem, not as an isolated fact.
The question of the source of this
vast amount of w.i ler in the Amazon
comes up naturally and the rainfall
of the equatorial region beeomcs a
matter of interest.
h'eod supply is a matter of great -ft
imp'-r'.anre to the- early settler.
The matter of he dtli and m ile ! i.d
for building a home are ol greate-st
importance. Next ct.nies theqiies
t i i 'il what does the country afford
th .1 .-.in ivadilv find a m -ket and
bring w.a'th to the i-e'. ;! r? As
suming that climate lm-st like that
of Europe is best suited to the
Europe ails w ho . re to set1, e this
new country, we study the climate
of the Amazon, Lal'iata audi Amies
sections with a purpose and we can
easily remember why Argentina.
Uruguay and Paraguay are the
most progressive sections of South
America and why Brazil, one of the
principal diatm.-tid producing
countries of the world, and having
about the same area as the United
States, has but one-fifth as m. un
people. The study of the Amax-n
jungle as to its possibilities
European settlers now has a pur
pose. But one large town is feu ml
in this entire Am.: -.a v. .lie ."m
Buenos Aires, at the i;;.;;.;li of He
La Plata, is the largest cl'.v of
South America, having over a
million inhabitants, and Montevideo
in Urugu-iy is larger thin Mon
treal, and the La l'lata valley is
dotted w i t h huge, prosperous
towns. Tin.1 location of cities and
tow ns. their sizes, the occupation
of the people call all be compre
hended when we compare these
two great river valleys as to their
possibilities for European settlers.
SHIPPING
WS
WEDNESDAY. The S . S .
Xii-.iii arrived at Kcalia o 11 her
n-giilar powde-r trip to the1 xxind
x ard side of the island. She aiso
can le d s o 111 e misee llallcanous
freight for KiLitea.
The S. S. Kimui arrived at three
llrrtx- Wednesday morning on her
leg-;! iv tt 'o. !:; ting fine weather
and a s'uo.edi tnp.
The lumber schooner Defiance,
vlr.li had beetl lx : ug at Port Allen
for a' nut two weeks discharging a
e'o ", s : g 1 1 men t of 1 umber, sailed last
Thursday, destined for Grey's
Harbor.
S. Ur Jay: The Like-like, Capt.
Naopula, arrix-ed at Nawiliwili at
.5:15 a. m. with 18 cabbin and 13
deck passengers. The L:ke-like
taking the Hall's run while t h e
Liter is unde: going repairs. She
brought a large assortment of freight
for Nawiliwili and 17.UU0 feet of
Limber for Ahukini. Purser Richter
reports a smooth trip.
We would respectfully call the
''' : our ! der.s to ti;e no
t ce ot respiration appearing in
ta s issue, and cdvis e itrs to
gs-tt iiu til - r.-gisira .ton o.Tui.
E
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