Some kids say "why we gotta learn geography, when are we going to need that information?"
They assume that if their parents don't use geographic information in their jobs everyday, then they don't need to pay attention during geography lessons.
But there's more to life than just knowing things related to the everyday duties of your specific job!
Your everyday reality is affected by what's going on in other places.
For example, Donald Trump is threatening to go to war with North Korea.
Yet, a bunch of people from the United States can't even locate North Korea on a map
Jimmy Kimmel Live
"How Many Americans Know Where North Korea Is?"
When your country is about to go to war with another country, YOU BETTER KNOW WHERE IT IS?
But more importantly, if you might be sent to fight (and get killed, or at least amputated), you need to know why you're being sent there! There's a context to the situation, wars don't just pop out of nowhere, there's a reason for it!
And it's not just about wars!
Even for peaceful things like trade, you need to know about it!
If those people can't find North Korea on a map, then they can't find South Korea on a map!
South Korea, where all the SamSung products, as well as Hyundai and Kia cars come from! (and yes, K-Pop and Gangnam Style too)
Could you at least have some interest in where the products you or your peers are using come from?
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Knowing geography can also help you learn where the recent immigrants are coming from!
It can also help you understand their situations better.
I mean, why wouldn't you want information that can help you understand the people around you better?
It's embarrassing that many people in Hawaii ( a group of PACIFIC ISLANDS) know almost nothing about OTHER PACIFIC ISLANDS, some of them sources of new immigrants.
If you took the time to learn about other Pacific Islands, you would be more understanding about their situations.
I mean I actually heard people in Hawaii assume that Samoa and Micronesia are in the same part of the Pacific Ocean.
What?
The plane going from Hawaii to Samoa is going a different direction than a plane going from Hawaii to Micronesia.
And to hear people not know there are different island, cultural and language groups within what is Micronesia? Those people actually assume they all speak the same language?
Those islands maybe small (that's why the Europeans called those islands "micro", a Greek term for "small", which unfortunately has become a racial slur used against people from those islands), but they are spread out over a large area, of course that would make a difference in the cultural and linguistic evolution of the people of the islands!
All this is EASILY AVAILABLE INFORMATION!
I remember reading about this from encyclopedias and looking at atlases when I was a kid, ...................which was a few years BEFORE the internet became available to the masses.
But now we have smartphone, which gives you access to the information about the world that can fit into your pocket, but yet people don't even want to learn basic geography?
Come on people!
I'm not expecting everyone to learn every small town and every small pond that exist!
But at least know the continents, countries and major cities!
And if you hear a country's name being mentioned on the news .........LOOK IT UP!
You can do that! So let's do that!
