Soooo Geography is the 'worst taught subject' and 'boring' surely not?!

[Lucycat]

well at least according to those who know nothing aka Ofsted

I have a vested interest here as I do teach the fabulous subject - but what do your children think?

my ds1 is only 8 so no secondary experience. He did ask for a globe of the world for Xmas though

My 2 have always loved geog, and dd, just started at secondary school is loving it at a more in-depth level.

I got as far as O'level and it's the one school subject I wish I'd taken further. Especially liked all that weather and rock formation bit (she said, knowledgably!)

I remember one parents evening my geography teacher telling my parents she wanted to hang herself in the classroom so the bunch of 'bad' kids would find her and be traumatised and it was only good kids (like me and the class I was in - swotty kids) that stopped her from doing it!

That's the part of geography I hated. i cannot someone up enthusiasm for knowing how a glacier formed or what all the different layers of rock are called. I am very interested in human geography but sadly that wasn't part of the geography curriculum when I was at secondary school.

groan all i remember was crop rotations. i'll ask ds(14) when he's home how he likes the subject.

I loved Geography at Secondary school - even applied for a degree in Business Studies and Geography at University.

ds1 hates it. Didn't help that the teacher lost the coursework he'd done for the GCSE. ds is now refusing to redo it and says he doesn't care if he fails Geography.

I liked physical geography - Lulworth cove anyone?

(I have Geography A level - grade A since you ask) [preen]

Iklboo! the woman was surely unhinged?

The problem that I can see us having with the subject is clearly reflected in the new A level syllabi. We have always done the EdExcel exams, but the new exam starting next September is much more 'trendy geography' as far as I can see - leaning towards the 'Extreme Weather' generation (that is the title of one of the Units!) which then will make it even more difficult for students at University level who will miss out on much of the basics needed to take the subject further.

Oh no needmorecoffee that's awful!

If your ds needs any help then please contact me!

well, for me, I hated it!!!

but then, the teacher was appallingly bad and he managed to make me hate history too, and before him I had previously adored history.

he made anything and everything sound so dull and lifeless tho, even when he stood in for an ill teacher in other subjects.

in fact, he was one of those who damn near put me off school full stop, so was the teacher in my experience rather than the subject.

I love looking at google earth now tho, so I do wonder if that had been availiable ack then, whether my interest could have been better fostered IYGWIM.

DD1 and DD2 however equally don't like it now, so maybe it is still boring for them too!

they say tho, that they have an old fuddy duddy man teacher who spouts words at them rather than gets them interested in a practical way.

my conclusion - depends on the teacher and the methods, same as with any other subject (oh, and also the interest of the child course)

ooh look at those rocks

luvverly

ds is refusing point blank to discuss geography. Stroppy 14 yo with Aspergers!
But I don't care if he fails it. He'll get 10 other GCSE's and wants to do science A levels anyhow.

I loved Geography at school - - did S gRade, then Higher then SYS, carried on loving it so did it for 4 years at uni!

I ditched the human geography of school though and did cultural geography - managed to get an A for one essay on how Muriel's WEdding and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert were indicative of Australia's search for national identity

If I ever do my PGCE then it'll be Geography teaching.

in some ways that is reassuring psychomum, that it's the teacher not the subject, but it's such a shame that your dd's don't like it - it's such a relevant subject to everyday life - will they have a different teacher next year do you think?

I'm just charging up the camcorder batteries to tape my year 8 presenting a groupwork discussion tomorrow about the possible expansion of a football stadium!

Get them to take a look at www.Geographyatthemoveies.co.uk - it's great!

DS1 took it for GCSE, DS2 taking it for AS - but doesn't like river systems. I took it for A Level (also got an A) and think it is a really interesting subject. What subjects are "popular" then and is there a market in academic subjects where some will fail and disappear and others succeed?

I did a geography degree. It made me really sad today to read that a lot of kids aren't being taught by specialists - it's no wonder they don't know what a great subject it is if a lot of the teachers aren't even geographers. It has a really bad image problem - people at university always used to joke that i spent my time coluring in maps and that I was going to spend my life planning mini-roundabouts - but it is a wonderful subject. I actually thought this morning about retraining as a geography teacher just so I could do my bit to help rectify the situation

In this day and age, what more relevant subject is there for kids to study than a subject that covers environmental change, poverty, disease, immigration etc.? It's not just the subject matter though - I have learnt so many skills that are relevant to my career. It is actually a really rigorous academic subject, and geographers end up in a huge variety of careers. And we're all very cool people too - no spoddy fleeces and compasses amongst my geography friends

Oh this story depresses me but a big hurrah to teachers like you Lucycat!

I'm 30 weeks pg with our first baby, and both DH (another geographer) and I are going to be really upset if he doesn't love geography! We're trying to do our best to avoid this - just bought a world map for his nursery wall and also buying him this!!

HQueen - I'm glad you enjoyed Geography too - it was all I wanted to do at uni, until I rad the coursework and realised that I could combine it with Film studies. My cultural lecturers were begging me to stay on and do ,y Phd cos they were just getting into film and geography too.

We watched some really odd stuff in our lectures! Feminist Geography anyone? Fab stuff!

I constantly tell my GCSE group how usefully Geography can be combined with other subjects and how if you have a sound understanding of certain aspects of physical geography for instance, then it will aid their science subjects greatly.

The lack of specialists is a definate concern, some schools even teach 'Humanities' for a whole term so every teacher has to teach one of the 3 subjects and while I have taught GCSE History, I only feel 'alive' in the classroom when I'm teaching Geography. Does that make sense?

lucycat....no idea but I suspect not, unless he retires.

I really wish that these types of subjects were taught by teachers with a passion for what they were teaching. Passion comes thro to teens I find, and they respond more willingly.

Plus, if the teacher puts in a lot of effort to make the subject interesting and fun, that also pays off.

All I remember from my schooling, was sheets on the subject handed out, old knackered book with doodling all over the pages, and a teacher with the most dull voice in the world who seemed to speak in one tone only, and that tone was one that would send most to sleep!

hurrah for you trying to make the subject you love appeal

bobsmum - my lectures were brilliant - yep, had quite a few feminist geographers in my dept and also had a lecturer who gave a series of lectures on why Islamic fundamentalism was going to be the equivalent of the 'cold war' in the early 21st century. This was 6 years before 9/11 and he died before that happened, and I always think about how right he was and how he was way ahead of everyone else in that regard. I also did a great paper on HIV/AIDS which encompassed such topics as gay politics in the US, access to medicines in sub-Saharan Africa and the problem of promoting the use of condoms in countries where the Catholic Church held sway. I had a couple of random lectures on e.g. stone age farming and I was never really a physical geographer, but overall not only was it fascinating at the time but it has given me a great appreciation of current affairs and global issues which can only be a good thing for kids today.

I had to drop physical geography at uni because I didn't have either physics or chemistry to support it, so only got as far as 2nd year; 3rd and 4th were human geography. But my uni did offer a basic Geology first year option in the Arts faculty which was great. I wish we'd done more geology at school - that was fascinating. But it was glaciers and corrie formation in every exam!

DS has just phoned to say he got an A in his Geography mock, and came top in his group. He LOVES Geography (for today at least!!)

lucycat - you sound fab. Please can I send my (not-yet-born!) DS to your school so he ends up a geographer like his mum, dad and two uncles (yep, whatever genes it takes to make geographers, both my parents and my DH's parents had them so we're hoping we have them too!)

ds really enjoys geography Lucycat. He's had a mixed bag of teachers for it so I think it's the subject he likes.