Commission for Geographical Education International Geographical Union

Canadian school-geography has over the past two dec-ades become so detached from its academic parent disci-pline as to become irrelevant to the real geopolitical world. This irrelevance is poignant at a time when the very na-tion has been tottering on the brink of disintegration over the issues of Quebec sovereignty and Western Canadian autonomy. Ironically this threat of breakup has long been coloured by the geography of education, which has historically contraindicated the possibility of devising such national goals in education, as might support and enhance the economic and cultural basis for Canada’s continuing survival as a viable political entity. After surveying the geohistorical factors in the balkanization of Canadian curricular authority, this paper proposes a national, educational policy framework for systematically raising the geocultural literacy of the general populace. Experience from other advanced industrial nations suc