From counter-cultural movement to global values: The US geography curriculum

• Published in: Global Perspectives in the Geography Curriculum pp. 60 - 82
• Main Author: Standish, Alex
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: United Kingdom Routledge 2009; Taylor & Francis Group
• Subjects: GEOGRAPHY & ENVIRONMENT; Teaching of a specific subject; Geographical Education; Teacher’s Edition; Environmental Education; World Geography; Serengeti Plain; Contemporary Society; Van Matre; Intercultural Education; Geography Textbooks; Make Up; Refocused; North American Association; Geography Curriculum; Citizenship Education; Global Citizenship; Nonacademic Aims; Geography Standards; Education System; World Geography Textbooks; NCATE Standard; National Geographic; Global Issues; NCATE; Sensitivity Guidelines; William Van Til
• DOI: 10.4324/9780203890837-11
• ISBN: 9780415468954; 9780415475495; 041547549X; 0415468957

It is helpful to make a distinction between societal values as reflected in textbooks and other teaching materials and using the curriculum to consciously attempt to change the values system of young people. Again, sometimes both of these things are going on simultaneously, as was the case with the national bias found in many twentieth-century textbooks. This chapter will show how, as a result of the ethical turn, the US geography curriculum has progressively embraced objectives that can be categorized as the latter, resulting in the growing inclusion of nonacademic aims for the subject. This transition fits into a broader pattern in which all subjects have had to demonstrate their contribution to citizenship education. The teaching of geography in both the US and England/Wales, albeit with different timing, has become increasingly informed by social and political concerns rather than the demands of the discipline itself, as discussed in the previous chapter.