美国大学区域地理教育的发展与变迁--以亚洲地理教育为例

区域地理是地理学教育与研究的一个重要组成。在当今经济与环境的全球化过程中,对区域地理课程的需求有了明显上升。区域地理教育的重要性也引起了方面的重视。美国大学区域地理教育的发展与变迁主要受两方面的影响：一是地理教育在国民教育中的地位;二是某个区域在国际事务中的重要性以及与美国的关系。在过去３０年中,随着近年来亚洲经济的高速发展和它在国际中的地位日益提高,以及亚洲与美国贸易额的的迅速增长,亚洲地理课在

Transition of Regional Geographic Education in American Universities: Case Study of Asian Geography Courses

Regional geography is one important part of geographic education and research. In the Era of globalization, the demands for regional geographic courses have increased significantly. The importance of regional geographic education has drawn much more attention, especially. Those regions of emerging economies such as Asia. This paper exams the transition of regional Educationin American universities during the last three decades (1965~1998) using Asian geography courses as a case study. Transition and development of regional education in the United States are influenced by two major factors: position of geographic education in the over all higher education, and the importance of the region in the world and the relationship with the United States. Asia is one of the most dynamic regions in the world and draws increasing attention in the last 30 years. Asia has become the largest trade partner of the United States since the late 1980s. These changes have brought a rapid increase in enrollment of Asian geography courses during the past ten years. Compared with other regional courses, such as Europe and South America, this research studies the transition and spatial distribution of Asian geography courses in American universities.