The pulse of citizenship: reflections on Griffith Taylor and ‘nation‐planning‘

Abstract

This exercise in a type of applied historiography begins by annotating aspects of reform in Western education from the 1880s to the 1930s, an interval which exhibits the responses of ‘new’ subjects to political and social demands for improved civics education, and encompasses the inauguration of a recognisably ‘academic’ geography in Australia. Designedly, since the nominated period also incorporates the early life and career of pioneering geographer Griffith Taylor, the discussion probes beneath the strata of obfuscatory generalisation to relate one individual's engagement with the vortex of change. More specifically, it extracts a few lessons from Taylor's approach to ‘Nation‐Planning’ to suggest an appropriate orientation to current reformism in Australian education. It is argued that, while this trend questions the civic utility of established disciplines, it has been badly served by a disturbing ignorance of the social and intellectual heritage of the subjects under challenge.

Key Words:

• Education
• ‘new geography'
• civics
• citizenship
• Australia
• Griffith Taylor
• ‘Nation‐Planning’