The recent incident involving a geography teacher in the Cherry Creek School District stirred emotions and healthy conversations about the nature of teaching, the challenge of conveying perspectives, and the power of the classroom. We do not wish to debate the merits of Jay Bennish’s particular lecture, as it is clear that important lessons were learned in this case about presenting balanced perspectives. We are, however, quite concerned with one aspect of the controversy, namely the nature of the subject matter being taught: geography.
We are geographers at the University of Northern Colorado and coordinate the Colorado Geographic Alliance, a network of teachers at all levels in the state, bringing together K-12 teachers and college and university geographers sharing the goal of improving geography education in Colorado. We are concerned that the nature of our discipline is poorly understood.
Many people think of geography as only the study of locations – “where something is.” Indeed, early forms of geography education took this tradition and made it central, relying on memory to master the “capes and bays” of the world. This common perception of geographic ignorance generally starts – and stops – with the notion that Americans are unable to locate Iraq, Japan, Central America or another place given on any one of myriad quizzes that are periodically administered to demonstrate this failing.
But place names and locations are merely the starting point for geography. Much like historians use dates and chronology to understand relationships between events, geographers use place names and locations as points of departure for understanding the relationships between places.
Traditionally, geography has always been concerned with the nature of places. What are places like? How do they differ? How have people modified places? We start with questions like “Where is it?” and “What is it like?” and extend those to ask relevant questions such as “How are places linked?” and “How do those linkages change places?”
Answers to these questions help us make sense of important world issues. It is noteworthy that Bennish gave his controversial lecture in response to topics raised by President Bush in his State of the Union address. Regardless of one’s opinions about Bush’s policies, it is very clear that the issues covered by the president cannot be understood without knowing geography – the spread of terrorism, energy independence, and the globalization of trade.
Other recent events also reflect geographic issues:
Cartoons are published in Europe and a violent protest about them erupts in many countries in Asia. Geographers study cultures: where they are located; how they spread or shrink; what their important elements are. Knowledge of how and why Islamic radicalism has spread helps students connect the publication of the cartoons and the protests.
A company owned by the United Arab Emirates purchases another company owned in the United Kingdom, and in so doing, buys the rights to manage several ports in the United States. This sort of transaction is nothing new in international trade and finance, yet it causes deep concern in the U.S. about foreign ownership of business. Geography explores economic interdependence: How are products and services that we use in our daily lives connected to other places and peoples?
We could go on: The decline of rural population in the Eastern Plains; the impact of hurricanes and tornadoes on the Gulf Coast and Midwest; the need to improve infrastructure in rapid-growth areas along the Front Range – all of these demonstrate that geographic understanding is essential at both local and global scales.
The geographer’s questions are embedded in our most pressing problems. These problems won’t go away; we’ve had them throughout history and will have them in the future. To ignore them in our classrooms robs our students of opportunities to become aware of the realities of life in the 21st century. A deep awareness of geography empowers Americans to understand the nature of critical world issues. We disagree strongly with any suggestion that a balanced discussion of world issues has no place in a geography class. If a goal of public education is to improve our citizens’ understanding of the world, then geographic issues must have a prominent place in the curriculum.
Phil Klein is associate professor of geography at the University of Northern Colorado. James Dunn is assistant professor of geography at the University of Northern Colorado. They are co-coordinators of the Colorado Geographic Alliance (http://geography.unco.edu/coga/).
