Teaching social justice: Reviving geography's neglected tradition

American students are encouraged to become globally competitive. I argue that in a world plagued by social inequality and environmental mismanagement, students should become globally cooperative. But this position is not new, Nineteenth century geographers such as Peter Kropotkin argued that geographic education should promote cooperation and tolerance of others. This article explores why geographers cast aside this progressive vision for geographic education. It hypothesizes that geography's pursuit of academic and scientific legitimacy prompted it to spurn "value-laden" methods. The article concludes by suggesting that geographers return to their social justice roots by adopting constructivist pedagogical methods of Paulo Freire.