I believe high school world civilizations classes should be structured around languages, not geography.
I remember my own high school world civilizations class, where we memorized names and copied maps.
While that information is useful, it would be better to anchor world knowledge in world cultures. (Isn’t the class called “world civilizations,” not “world countries”?) By organizing class units by language family, these classes would focus instead on the accompanying cultures. Studying for a feel of each language-culture would provide a more engaging framework for retention than straight memorization.
Further, a focus on the world language-cultures would help break down ethnocentrism, teaching students that there are many right ways to do things.
Simply offer a brief overview of major world languages — their writing systems, accents and a few of the most culturally significant vocabulary terms, possibly even a few words English has borrowed.
By viewing the variety of takes on language and the variety of perspectives inherent in multiculturalism, “foreign” would come to mean “different” instead of “odd” or “wrong.”
Erika S. Stauffer, Orem