Earth Sciences in the secondary education of Bulgaria

About 50 years ago, the study of geology has been removed from the curricula of the Bulgarian secondary education system. The young generations have to receive from the Geography textbooks (centred more on Human Geography) only unsystematic knowledge about some physical geographical features related to geological processes and structures, as the generalized Earth’s shape and structure, volcanoes, earthquakes, the geomorphology, and the elementary knowledge of plate tectonics as the basic paradigm of modern Earth sciences. Even basic knowledge of minerals, crystals and symmetry, rocks, and fossils was evicted not to speak about the sedimentation, igneous and metamorphic rocks, formations, and processes. With the present paper a short review of the secondary (high school) education in European and American schools is made. On its basis together with the rich experience in former textbooks of Geography and Geology (before 1970), suggestions are made for the replacement of the curricula and textbooks of Geography for the 8th to 10th classes (grades) by curricula and textbooks of Earth Sciences based on the modern knowledge of the Planet Earth System.