New Britain herald., 1925-01-21
IS AN
 ASSET TO READING
Called the Step,Child Of the
 American Public Schools

,hild of the American public schools" Dr. Gilbert Grosvenor. president of the National Geographic society, addressing tho Association of American Geographers In ses- sion here today, urged that the support the movement now in progress in various Amori- can cities to have geography taught In high schools.
 Dr. Grosvenor called the failure to teach geography in high schools one of the anomoIos of American public school education.
 Geography is basic subject" he continued, Tt centers Into history science. literature and even the languages. It Is cultural subject of abiding interest and lifelong in- telectua fascination. It is a voca- tional adjunct to many kinds of business and the professions"
 A knowledge Of geography is es- sential to understanding the news. and better teaching of geography would stimulate intelligent reading of newspapers, he added. He pointed 10 condition which arose in Wash ington schools where 10000 obsolete geographies still contain maps of Europe as 1t was before the World war. The National Geographic so- ciety coopcratcd with Washington newspaper in printing descriptive story and an outline map of tho new Europe in an edition of that paper and 50,000 proofs later were struck oft by the newspaper suit able for pasting In school geogra- phies. Newspapers in other cities followed this example.
 "A direct service to schools the National Geographic society now renders is the issuance of weekly sets of bulletins to some oo,o0o school teachers for use among about 5o,o00 pupils" pr. Grosvenor said. These bulletins, which con- stitute gift to American education, supplement geography texts with up-to date, interesting, informative. illustrated bulletins on geography. They add to the zest of the study; they enlivon it by making contact between the days news and geo. I,i tl1 .a n out of the laboratory and make 1t part of life.
 The National Geographic society, with its membership of nearly one million has broader facilities for popuarizing the use of maps than any other single agency in the | world.
 In the last several years the so. ciety has distributed total of near lv tt,Q00,000 large maps. printed III six colors and sent to members along with their National Geogra- 1 phic magazine.
 The society virtually IS a unt. versity of geography. It IS conduct 1 ing an elective course - srea class of geography ratronized hl 1 millions of pupils of all ages. 1 Our student roster - that is oul membership - reaches 10 every community of the United States ot | 50 or more white persons, and tc 15. nations, colonies and manda' tories; to every country. in fact which has a postal system. Some oi l our members have to De reached by reindeer sleds, mule-hack anc camel caravans. in coolies' packet! and by queer watercratt.'
 Tn accounting the findings of tho National Geographic society's eXpe ditions during 1924 Dr. Grosvenol said
 Tn selecting subjects for eX vibrations we cndoaNOr to find field that will appeal to the interest 0 the average American. It is he Wh' provides the funds for onr Worl and we, as his trustees, insist tha the project we invest his money II should hold and encourage his geo graphic interest"
 Two of the Geographlc's eXpedl lions described by Dr. GrosNcho which combined adventures am nopular interest were those Of Jos eph F, Rock and Frederick Wulsil in China,
 Mir. Rock entered Iunnan to stud the fascinating problem of hoy corn, indigenous to America ap narently was transplanted to Chm
 before 149@; and to hunt tor
 hliclt-resisting chestnut tree, for in tcresting birds and animals and to
 new fruit and flower immigrants
 Turmoil along the turbulen China Tibet border delayed MI
 Rocks work. He was counselled t
 come home and await more peace
 ful times, but he preferred 10 "carr
 on." As a result he already ha
 amasscd experiences which add 'h
 zcst of adventure to the normal III
 trrcst in region where nature an
 man amaze - a region Of lealea'
 ing monkeys, snow-crowned monf
 tains, rope bridges which s"lng pro testing mules across the frequel streams, green parrots tfr1lhs U red berries. gorgeous valleys brilliant flowers, and oolt"'ie males. l.. In the racial twilight zone DC
 tween China and Tibet, the socle'E
 Central China expedition sought h'
 man traces of east Asias hiS'or
 before the Chinese came, hunting i'
 the largest non-anthropoid monN'
 in tho world, and collecting bo'an
 cal specimens in a region Nlrsih
 scientific study, ,,
 With a string of - came}S' ite'
 or,cL R, Wulsin and his aides puShe
 from Kansu into parts of Mo, golia where only nomads live. Il
 then worked his way south 'o"a' Kweichow. where dwell th" my torious non-Chinese tribes ot chm The two or three million ot IT ron.Chinesc popu)ace who sufVi' n ,ittIn-krown kwetChow allol