Geographic Education in the United States: Past, Present and Future

The history of geographic education in the United States is a story of missed opportunities. Once taught in nearly every school and considered to be essential information, geography was replaced in the curriculum by Social Studies. Unfortunately a communications gap developed between the teachers of geography, most of whom taught several additional subjects, and the specialized, professional geographers teaching in post secondary institutions. This gap manifested itself in the lack of a concise definition of geography and a rationale for its inclusion in the school curriculum. This gap has been reduced some what in the past five years as a result of new cooperative efforts among the major organizations of geographers in the United States. Although this cooperative effort has not reached all of our goals there are obvious signs of progress. There has been a concerted effort on the part of the National Geographic Society to heighten the general public s awareness of the need for improved geographic education. The NGS has commissioned surveys that measured the levels of geographic literacy in the United State and other countries. This research showed that the young people in the United States knew much less about the world than did their peers in other countries. As a response to this information, several educational organizations, private corporations, and geographers have joined forces to produce a wide range of activities that are intended to increase the quality of geographic education and to show students how important their geographic knowledge will be to them as they mature and lead independent lives. This paper traces the history of geographic education over the past century and highlights the pattern of strategic decisions that led to the decline and re-emergence of the discipline as a component in the curriculum of schools in the United States.