"All a child need know is the meaning of the common world around him [sic], the air he breathes, the water he drinks, ice, snow, rain, clouds. These facts of common life might be imparted at a very early age, and were best imparted by parents.
At present parents are too ignorant to teach them, and they must be 'taught first at school. The exception above referred to is the instilling of those rudimentary facts which are to geography what the multiplication-table is to arithmetic.
Without these facts, such as the outlines of continents and oceans, which cannot be taught inductively, no comparison, no generalisation, is possible; and if they are to be indelibly impressed on the mind, and form part of the groundwork, they must be learned very early.
The why of geography cannot come till considerable portions of history and science have been answered."
Halford MacKinder, 1889
Source: Science , Dec. 13, 1889, Vol. 14, No. 358 (Dec. 13, 1889), pp. 408-409 Published by: American Association for the Advancement of Science
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