The educational screen (c1922-c1956])

June, 1943 Page 201 geographical weights and economic pressures at critical and focal points. It is only possible in these brief statements to give enough of the above methods to indicate that they are used with political, not scientific motives. They are einplcjyed expressly to drive home the point of view of the German propagandist, not to teach geographic truth. Divide and rule is the hidden objective of the atlas, "The War in Maps" prepared by Haushofer and others at the Geopolitical Institute at Munich and distributed in this country by the German Library of Information of New York. It contains "suggestive" maps to influence this country against Britain. It has maps .showing how the British threaten the Monroe Doctrine in the Western Hemisphere. (2) More than ten of the maps ini])ly that the Briti.sh are aggressors in the jiresent war and some six of the ma])s show the righteousness of the German cause. We have been slow to answer these efTorts and it is obvious that only excellent factual maps can be used (2) England a threat to Monroe Doctrine from The War in Maps, p. 33—a deliberate use of design to exaggerate British areas. to combat these skillful proi)aganda maps for words do not have the convincing power that comes from cleverly made maps. Exposure of the falseness in maps after the damage is done is a poor remedy. It is i)etter to have a wider use of the .simple factual maps ui our schools and in the public jirint. Of course, under the present war stress the newspapers, thru the .As- sociated Press, The United Press and other agencies, print many maps of the war campaigns but those do not remedy our past neglect of map use for geographical understanding. The N'ew York Times, Fortune, Life, Time and others have done very notable maps for adults but, to be effective, larger groups must be reached. For the schools and youth it is necessary that ''^ere be a much greater distribution of simple factual maps that are adapted from Bowman's "New World," Horrabin's "Outlines of Political Geography," The War Department's "The War Up To Now," "The War in Maps" (New York Times), "Global War" by Mowrer and Rajchman, and the excellent map dia- grams in the British "Battle of Supplies." Some of the.se are war publications but their .style and clear ])re.sentation should be followed in publications that are designed for instruction in the fields that our schools have neglected. The motion ])icture can be most effective in in- terpreting the simple map facts that our educators have obviously mis.sed. Moving map diagrams could present certain phases of a region visually and when this is combined with a clear commentary, the impression would be convinciing and lasting. Walt Disney's Saludos Amigos illustrates the excellent use of color on the maps of Latin America. The Expansion of Germany has been done in 16mm 1)lack and white and gives a vivid impression of the German aggression. This would be an excellent topic for class discussion in the secon- dary school. The Nciv Geopolitics or Hitler's Plan is a recent 16 mm Canadian release that visualizes the fal-seness of the plan. Planned Destruction is a com- mercial 35 mm is.sued by MGM that shows Haushofer and his school at the production of propaganda maps. A new Erpi film shows how The Airplane Changes Our World Map. (3) Its maps and commentary form a good basis for classes or adult discus.sion groups. It ])resents in simple and truthful manner how the dif- ferent types of maps were useful and shows the "Heartland" in its relation to the present air routes. The above suggestions are made to those who realize that we nuist improve otir presentation of geography by the more skillful use of the old and new vi.sual tools. If the old Mercators were burned and a few trained and well informed geography teachers installed who would use skillfully the modern tools, we would soon recover from what Commissioner John ^^^ Stude- baker calls us, "the most illiterate geographically of any civilized country." It is hoped that by more map in.struction our youth will obtain global ideas that are not too little nor too late. (3) Polar centered map shows world centers to be within twenty-four hours air travel time—from the Erpi film "The Airplane Changes Our World Map."