Seven reasons to be cheerful?... or school geography in youth, maturity and old age ( Britain).

Bailey (Geography has come of age. Times Educational Supplement, 7 December, 1979 p31) identified 7 reasons to support his claim for maturity after a decade of experimentation. They are: 1) the establishment of theoretical foundations; 2) reassessment of methodology in geographical teaching; 3) resources and materials for school use; 4) School Council curriculum projects; 5) teachers journals; 6) reorganization of A-levels; 7) morale. The authors beg to differ and believe that Bailey's claims are unfounded. They argue that much of what masquerades as geography within schools in not and a lot more is not relevant to the needs of the non-specialist. It is estimated that only a small percentage of those reaching a sufficiently high standard at A-level to gain university entrance have a correct understanding of basic geographical concepts. Another problem is the growing gap between the schools and the research frontier where there has been a swing away from quantitative methods and methodological issues to urban questions and other substantive issues. Changes still continue, the future is progressive rather than established, geography is still growing. -E.Turner