Why learn Geography
The question of why one should study geography is an important question. Many in Jamaica and around the world do not understand the real benefits of studying geography. Many students think that those who study geography have no career options in the field because most people do not know anyone who has the job title of “geographer.”
Nonetheless, geography is a diverse discipline that can lead to a great many career options in areas ranging from business location systems to emergency management.
Top 10 Reasons to Study Geography
Nonetheless, geography is a diverse discipline that can lead to a great many career options in areas ranging from business location systems to emergency management.
Top 10 Reasons to Study Geography
- To understand basic physical systems that affect everyday life (e.g. earth-sun relationships, water cycles, wind and ocean currents).
- To learn the location of places and the physical and cultural characteristics of those places in order to function more effectively in our increasingly interdependent world.
- To understand the geography of past times and how geography has played important roles in the evolution of people, their ideas, places and environments.
- To develop a mental map of your community, province or territory, country and the world so that you can understand the “where” of places and events.
- To explain how the processes of human and physical systems have arranged and sometimes changed the surface of the Earth.
- To understand the spatial organization of society and see order in what often appears to be random scattering of people and places.
- To recognize spatial distributions at all scales — local and worldwide — in order to understand the complex connectivity of people and places.
- To be able to make sensible judgements about matters involving relationships between the physical environment and society.
- To appreciate Earth as the homeland of humankind and provide insight for wise management decisions about how the planet’s resources should be used.