Geography and National Development

Title

Language

English

Source

Volume XIX (6) June 1967

Year

1967

Subject

Geography -- Study and teaching -- Philippines

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Abstract

[Neglected in Philippine schools, Geography is one of the most useful studies.]

Fulltext

■ Neglected in Philippine schools, Geography is one of the most useful studies. GEOGRAPHY AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT Geography is a forgotten discipline in our school cur riculum both in the elemen tary, high school and college levels. Older people in the Philippines have had the op portunity to take geography classes during our elemen tary schools. Very few in deed had the opportunity to get this in college level. The vounger generations have not had this opportunity because there was what our educa tors called improved curricu lum in the educational svstem., This started in the beginning of the Philippine Commonwealth government in 1935 when the nationaliza tion of our government of fices and educational institu tions took place. American educators were substituted by American-educated Fili pino educators. They abo lished geography and in its place introduced several sub jects under the heading of Social Studies. About 8 years ago, an American geographer who passed by Manila on his way home from an Inter national Geographic Union Congress in Tokyo comment ed that our Manila Times newspaper has 4 to 6 pages of Society and social news items. You may wish to know what a geographer can do or how he can make use of his knowledge and the applica tion of these to his daily life or activities. The geographer can eva luate the physical and eco nomic resources of the country and indicate reasons for its success or failure in the economic development. As a basic and foundation sub ject, it can be used by dif ferent specialists such as the physicist, the oceanographer, the economist, the engineer, chemist, biologist, forester, climatologist, ecologist, mditary strategist, politician and June 1967 51 our science-promotion of ficers. In the routinary work of our science promotion officer and visits to areas of his ju risdiction he may come across a village at Lake Bato (if he is in Camarines Sur) and observe the people’s daily activities. In this area he may notice a married woman with two or three children tagging along, one in her arms and another one ex pected in three or four months. With a good know ledge of geographic funda mentals, such as climate, pre sence or absence of electric light, protein and carbohy drate intake of the people, land form and earth re sources plus a good power of observation, he can easily synthesize the facts on hand and can understand the si tuation prevailing in the community. In military geography, de tailed basic knowledge of geography has been respon sible for a successful military, and naval operation of world powers. In the words of Dr. Alden Cutshall, “Hitler’s timetable of conquest moved with clock-work precision during 1939, 1940 and early 1941 when , General Karl Haushofer, a trained geo grapher, was one of his trust ed advisors. After his break with Haushofer, at the time of the German invasion of the USSR in July, 1941, German conquest was beset by reverses of varying and in creasing magnitude. Allied landings in Africa and Italy were successful, at least in part, because they were timed to wait for optimum geographical conditions of tides and winds. "General MacArthur knew in detail the geography of Tacloban and the eastern coast of Leyte. He was in charge of the topographic crew that mapped the area before World War I. This was probably his first assign ment after graduation from West Point.” And now for engineering, there are geographic needs for almost every science. It is desirable for an engineer to know the sources of his materials in addition to their uses and strength. Econo mic geography can supply such information. There are schools of mines that -require a course in world geography in Latin America so that 52 Panorama their graduates’ may have knowledge of conditions in the foreign lands where ma ny may be employed. Courses in Sociology which empha size labor problem may be of great help to engineers in dealing with their em ployees and in public rela tions. Chemists and chemical en gineers need to know the facts concerning the occur rence of- essential materials, available transportation, la bor supply, power resources, and markets in order to deter mine processing and fabricat ing plants may be located. Other geographic factors af fecting plants locations may include water supply for steel mills and textile dyeing, availability of railroad or other transportation for flour mills, furniture factories and most other sorts of bulky goods, and the occurrence of needed supplies adjacent to each other. A biologist, who specializes in ecology is applying geo graphy in his science. Men concerned with the conserva tion of wildlife and fish need to know the optimum habitats for the animals, otherwise introduction of new birds or fish species may fail for lack of the neces sary environment. The ef fects of animals on a new environment must also be known; and an understand ing of this would have pre vented the introduction of the carp into the lake in Camarines Sur that destroyed the most important fish of the locality. Biologist and agriculturist need to know the climatic regions of the world and the weather requirements affect ing plants and animals. Fo resters use geography in many ways. The species of trees and the rapidity of their growth is related to the tem perature, rainfalls, growing season, soil, steepness of slopes, etc. The distribution of forest types is therefore a phase of geography Physicists find many of their experiments affected by various factors among which are relative humidity and temperature, by changes of pressure resulting from cy clones and to differences in elevation, and by differences in the clarity of the atmos phere, all of which are con cerned with the earth and June 1967 S3 hence are essentially geogra phic phenomena. Like meteorology, oceano graphy is a science which has grown from the geography soil. It is concerned with hydrosphere, a very mobil part of the earth. The tides, currents, temperature, consti tuents, configuration of the coast and ocean floor and the life of one ocean and its distribution are outgrowth and elaboration of simple geography. Certain diseases appear to be related to different geo graphic factors. The inci dence of mosquitoes, tick and other insect-borne dis eases is related to the weather and vegetative conditions un der which the injects thrive. Fungus infections are very prevalent in the wet tropics. When the English occupied Manila during the latter part of the 18th century, an Eng lish woman correspondent sent her description of the climate of the Philippines to her London newspaper in one sentence — "the climate of the Philippines is divided into two seasons, namely: smallpox season and cholera season." That was a beauti ful medical geographic des cription of the wet and dry climate of the Philippines. Mathematics is an integral part of geography. The construction of map projec tions, the explanation for deflection of the winds and ocean currents by the earth’s rotation, the calculation of latitude and longitude, and the determination of the length of day and night and other numerous geographic laws and principles require the use of mathematics which may well be called the mo ther of all sciences. Public planning is one of the recently developed sciences; it is the foundation upon which the planner builds, consisting of resources, physical features and general environmental conditions. All of these are fundamentally geographic. Geography pro vides the base from which planning can proceed. A nation’s power is the proportion to the resources available and the effective ness of their utilization. Everybody in this country has been singing one kind of music — that of the Philip pines having vast natural resources. But no country since the dawn of history has 54 Panorama been too reckless in exploit ing its resources at such a rapid rate as has been done in our country. Situation report made by Dr. and Mrs. Lee M. Talbot, both geo graphers of note working for the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, states that the Philippines is at a cross road of rapidly diminishing natural resources. It revealed the glaring facts of exhaus tion to the extent of ex tinction of these resources. In using the geographical approach to economic dev elopment of our developing countries, we may make use of fundamental knowledge of resource geography. — By Dominador Z. Rosell, from a paper read on Sept. 2, 1966, NS.DB. THEY RAPED THE PHILIPPINE FORESTS The way the natural resources of the Philippines have been exploited after World War II by some Filipino adventurers, most of them financially sup ported by aliens in and outside the country, has caused the virtual destruction of the forests in practically all provinces. This careless exploitation has not only depleted our forest areas; it has also given rise to devastating floods eroding our hills, plains, and valleys. The few adventurers are now turned into millionaires, affluent politicians, and powerful landlords. They deprived the nation of a large part of its natural assets. — Contributed. June 1967 55

pages

51-55

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