CHILDREN MISLED

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 122, 25 May 1928, Page 14

CHILDREN MISLED

OVERSEAS GEOGRAPHY A STRONG CRITICISM . ENGLISH SCHOOL BOOKS (From "The Post's" Representative.) ■LONDON, 6th March. ■ Mr. Lloyd -Duma's, head of the Aus-. tralian Newspapers' Cable Service, a recent arrival in London, has been pointing out where 'teaching in regard to Australial 'i#yiiadequate. He has been reading the geography book from which the English schoolmates of his daughter get their first impression of the Commonwealth, and he has found it wanting. In a letter to "The Times," he 'shows how he pursued the subject. He writes: — "After referring to the desert in the centre and mountains on the east coast, the reference to Australia proceeded: 'In the north,'where'the country is hotter, palms (jtnd fruits' are grown. There are grasslands where many sheep are raised and.where some wheat is gro.wn.' When-it is remembered that Australia is the, loading wool producer of the world and one of the principal wheat' exporting countries, besides having a steadily, growing fruit export trade— mainly from the south —the misleading nature of.this description will be realised.- ; ; '■:■.'■■"■'. ■ ■ ■ .-1.-"Pursuing the matter further, I obtained from the London County Council a 'list'-of books, maps, music, and diagrams approved for use in schools maintained by the council.' From this list of authorised books I selected at random seven geographies in the titles of which Australia figured. One of these books, published in 1927, seemed to give an excellent description of Australia and New Zealand. Another was devoted largely to technical, ' geological, and meteorological data, and I did not examine it. The other five, which are in use in London County Council schools, should be revised at once.'Here are two quotations from 'Beginners' Regional Geography,' by J. B. Reynolds:— L " 'The settlers live chiefly in the east and south-east, for the north is too hot for white men, and the rest of the eonti«ent is too dry for crops to be grown, or even for' good pastures.' " 'Most of South Australia, except the district near Adelaide, is a poor pasture-land or desert.' A BAB IMPRESSION. "Two of the remaining four books were many years out of date and necessarily give a misleading impression of a most progressive continent; the third contained numerous mis-statements; and the fourth was elementary, and chose the alleged desert as the chief among the few features it could touch upon. "The impression gained by children from these books' inevitably would be that Australia is inhospitable and unprogressive. A child's mind is ' not analytical; it takes its impressions broadly, but the impressions it forms at school often last a lifetime. •'As the representative in London of 'the .Sydney-Sun,. the 'Melbourne Herald,' and other Australian newspapers, I thought some action should be taken in the , matter. I therefore wrote to the education officer .of the London County Council, pointing out in what respects five of the books I had examined were unsatisfactory to Australians; I enumerated numbers of misstatements and suggested that, in the interests of education and Imperial sentiment, all references to Australia in their authorised^geography books should ::be.'£ubmit|ed to;a competent. Australian. In his reply the education officer says that these are questions primarily for tho publishers. The London County Council does not propose to do anything in the matter. It must use the best books the publishers give it. In other words, the council disclaims all responsibility for. its teaching in English schools. ; I "I feel that the matter is far too important to be allowed to,remain there. I am sure that, if you will bring' it to the notice of the public, some action can.be taken to reviso^and correct the teaching regarding Australia in schools in England, Further examination may indicate similar cause for concern regarding the geography and history of other Dominions as they are taught in English schools." ADVICE TO PUBLISHERS. This letter is followed up by ■ one from Mr. A. Watson Bain, of Blackheath. "The question of the . treatment of the Dominions in school text books," he says, "is a very important one and well worthy of tho prominence given to it in your columns. These books may be written by 'authors of high repute' in historical or geographical circles, but lacking the special knowledge necessary. I have in mind a popular geography of the Empire, written by a distinguished' professor, which, after going through several editions, was a few years ago revised by the author and was yet, as regards one Dominion at least (New Zealand), criticised by a local expert as incorrect and out of date. No teacher of geography, however successful, can know everything; and publishers would be well advised, in the interests, of the Empire, to follow the advice of Mr* Dumas, and submit their, text books to "experts with real local knowledge;''