Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
19.5.1
Double-Feature Programming of Basic Geography
and Basic History
There has been an idea to establish a subject that integrates geography and history, to
be called Integrated Geography and History (tentative title). This initiative is similar
to the action chosen in early Social Studies. For example, the second National
Curriculum Standards announced after World War II that in addition to General
Society (fi ve credits) as a compulsory course in the fi rst years of senior high school,
students would take at least one from the following four subjects: Japanese History,
World History, Human geography, and Current Issues (fi ve credits each). Moreover,
by liberally incorporating historical components in Geography and geographical
components in History, students still learned history, thus beginning a complementary
relationship between Geography and History. In Human Geography, the following
terms were purposefully integrated: exploration of Africa by Livingston and Stanley,
the travel journal of Marco Polo, times when Mongolians have fl ourished, history of
contact between Mongolian and Han people, industrial revolution, land reform,
Malthus' Essay on the Principle of Population, castle towns, development of cities in
medieval Europe,
Kojiki
, Columbus, Magellan,
Gishi Wajin
-
den
, Roman roads,
and the Silk Road. This provides a frame of reference in the new curriculum that
emphasizes historical understanding.
However, under the current curriculum, it is diffi cult to carry out a radical change
as in the past because the number of existing geography instructors is incomparably
smaller than that of 20 years ago. If compulsory Integrated Geography and History is
established under these circumstances, it is inevitable that instructors who specialize
in History will be more likely to teach the subject. The classes will likely be far from
what Integrated Geography and History should be, that is to say, one that weaves the
human world with warp (history) and weft (geography). If this plan is accepted as an
Integrated Geography and History subject, problems with the content remain.
Thus, he National Curriculum Standards' strategies to regenerate senior high
school Geography must feature Basic Geography and Basic History (tentative titles).
Furthermore, they must be made compulsory, even if assigned fewer credits to put
Geography and History on equal footing.
19.5.2
From World History and Japanese History to History
of Humankind and Modern History
The Geography and History course is divided into World history, Japanese History,
and Geography. The issue with this is that geography only makes up a third of this
division, with history dominating more teaching time. This is confounded by the illogi-
cal division of history into distinct topics of world and Japanese history. The current
division of the Geography and History course into one part geography and two parts
history (World and Japanese) is an imbalance that favors history. Another example
