The Study of Geography in an Interdependent World.

The importance of restructuring the discipline of geography and enhancing its role in the precollege curriculum as part of a global approach to education is emphasized in this paper. International education is seen as an essential part of high school and college education in an increasingly interdependent world. The oil crisis, the world economic recession, and the Iranian hostage crisis have made the U.S. public aware of the complex world situation and have increased the need to understand the complexities of global interdependence. A revitalization of regional geography or area studies with a global emphasis and a problems approach is suggested. In order to show how geography developed as a discipline and illustrate its placement in the curriculum of the United States and Europe, its history is traced from the eighteenth century to the present. Traditionally, geography has held a higher status in the curriculum in Europe than in the United States. By the time a global perspective was introduced into the United States curriculum, theoretical goegraphy prevailed at the university level, and geography was never introduced as a required and integral part of high school education as it was in Europe. (SM)