RateItAll: The Opinion Network

ummm i jus lyk knowin bout different places...

It's really boring..

all i need to say is i droped it

Loved it! And I had Mr. DeSoto so all my girlfriends were jealous :P
(Apparently he was a hottie, but I just thought of him as a good teacher)

This was a favorite for me. For today's students it must be a non-starter. Most can't tell you where Iraq is, for instance.

I loved Geography. There was a time in school that I was able to draw the whole world map, with all countries in it, by heart. Now, I doubt it. Can still draw the map, but with so many new countries, no way.

I always liked Geography....we need to know things and places outside of our own little world.

I liked the physical geography side of it better than the political, but both were interesting.

At least in earlier grades, this seemed to be taught by people who thought having you make a travel poster was a great homework project. I once drew an assignment to do a travel poster to Latvia. This was in about 1968, and even as an early teen it struck me as ludicrous to be doing a fantasy tourist poster for a place most residents were trying to flee.

I was good at it, and I got good grades without putting in much effort.

I was always very interested in this subject. It remains my favorite category on Trivial Pursuit.

I loved Geography. State capitals, countries, rivers, mountains...I loved all of that stuff. Most of it just becomes trivia as you get older, but it does help you learn a bit more about the world.

Was always one of my fav. subjects in school, right along with History and other such classes.

Didn't have it. Came close with history tho.

Indispensible for anyone who wants to understand the news on TV.

It should be taught in conjunction with history and culture for context, but so often kids are just asked to memorize capitols and boring stats.

Geography came easily to me. As a child I was always into learning about other countries, their population, language, traditions, so to start somewhere, I needed to know where is particular country was before I let myself indulge in it. I knew every capitol in the world and could win any contest involving geography. Geography teacher adored my unstopable interest in geography and passed me with flying colors. That was quite a memory.

I always enjoyed geography; most of what was taught to me in school I learned in elementary as opposed to secondary school. My four-year old daughter received a LeapPad for Christmas that had a map of the US with it that you have to identify the states by touching them. Her older cousin, a bright seventeen year old, who will be going to university this fall, as a Junior with a 4.0, was playing along with her. Now she can easily discuss the laws of entropy, but she could only identify half of the states. Since she is wise as well as bright, she found a world atlas to brush up on her lack of geography skills. I agree that it should be at the top of this list in academics.

I dont think I had Geography as an exclusive subject. The subject was touched on in a Social Studies Class but I never studied it extensively. In general it sounds like a quality subject. I dont know how extensive it gets.

Geography's important because location is a very signifcant concept for the human species, like other animals. Of course, the environment has an enormous impact on people both individually and collectively. Society is largely resource driven. The US is rich because of our moderate climate, good soil, fairly abundant water supplies and resources. Other areas like the Middle East and Africa are less developed because they don't have an abundance of these resources. Geography provides insights about why international actors behave the way they do.

Know your planet, great subject....

What some people have to realize is, geography isn't just about memorizing the names of cities and pointing to countries on a map. Geography is all about the cultures of the world, the languages and religions of people, learning about what makes up the earth (islands, mountains, deserts), learning about climate and weather disasters, learning about the third world, learning how governments work (democracy, etc.), and how countries interact with each other (like trade and immigration). Geography incorporates all sorts of subjects like Languages, Science, Math, and The Arts. I think more students should be taught it in school.

I find it sad when 17% of American teenagers can't find USA on a map. While geography isn't a core subject anymore in high school (it's incorporated with history), it is an important thing to learn. German high schoolers know all the American states, German provinces and Russian provinces. I think America could work on their geography skills a little bit.

While not always one of my favorites, I think Geography is a very important subject. People should really have a basic knowledge of where places are in the world. I recently overheard two people talking about their upcoming vacation to Europe and one of the women asked the other if France and Italy were also part of Europe.

fabulous...Just fabulous!!

Social Studies as we cll it. I always liked the geography part of it. I was never much for history. I find it boring. But I like studing the world and finding different provinces and states also other countries. It's just something I enjoy.

Certainly an important subject in which to have knowledge, but not as critical as learning how to read, write, punctuate, spell or use numbers. And also less important than learning something about our history or culture. I do agree with the opinion of many posters here, that it's disgraceful that most children in school today can't even identify their home country on a map, but that's not surprising: these children are pretty lame when it comes to English and Mathematics, as well, and it's not entirely their fault. Maybe some of these non-teaching teachers should be put out to pasture, and these braindead administrators and local Board of Education members ditto. And maybe parents should take a more active role in their childrens' educations and turn off that retarded television set every one and awhile. Or better yet, put the television, VCR and/or DVD player out in the garbage.

I'm a total map nerd, and I spend huge amounts of time looking at maps. I've been that way since I was a tiny kid... geography is a great subject, and utterly important to any understanding of what is going on in the world today. Quick, what do the Czech Republic, Laos, and Afghanistan have in common?

From childhood, I loved maps. In particular, I loved road atlas. I remember when I was little and knew the states and their capitals (something many adults can't do!!!). The sad state is, there is a percent of the population that can't pick out the US on a map (probably dumb jocks and MTV fans), but maps are cool. I even create my own.

I hate geography! I'm bad with measurements, which are very important in geography, and I find it very boring.

Geography was always one of my easiest subjects. I always found it so easy to memorize what continent each country was on, each country's capital, major landforms, etc. It was one of the few subjects in school that I ever got straight A's in.

Interesting, but extremely easy. As a college major it almost seems like a waste because there's not much one can do with Geography degree. I like Geography nonetheless.

we don't have this class in my school and i think we really need it. a lot of our students are completely uneducated with geography. some of them don't know where mexico is or even know our capital. pretty damn sad

This year of school I had geography for a major subject and every time we had a map test I dreded the thought, but I enjoyed that class alot. At the end of the year the teacher told us that we were anawful class and he hoped he would never have a class like us again. We all enjoyed that class alot.

If there's anything I love more than History its probably maps and travel. Whenever we go on a trip, I'm always the one who volunteers to plan the route. I know the highways and cities of this country like the back of my hand. I took Geography this year as a Freshman, and it was an incredible learning experiance for me, as in light of the tension in all parts of the world, I was very interested in exactly where the tension was taking place. I learned a lot this year about the different regions of the world, and have learned the location of many countries that I did not know previously. Geography is fun to me, and as twinmom101 said, when 50% of high school students cannot find Iraq, a country that over the last few months, on a map, then we have a problem. If taught in a fun and unique fashion, this subject can be fun.

In junior high and high school it was ok because it was so easy and required little actual thinking to understand. But when I had it in college it was absolutely pointless and boring. I dreaded going to it every Tues./Thurs. And plus my teacher was from Nigeria and hardly spoke a word of english....that really didn't help the class either.

Another important subject and crucial to understanding a great deal about politics. I'm self-taught since my school did not offer this, and I'm glad I did since I used geography a lot in college. Considering that a recent survey showed that over half of high-school students could not find Iraq or Afghanistan on a map, maybe this should be emphasized more.

Geography rules. I can name almost every countryin the world, most with major capitals or one major city in them.