Sir, – Further to Peter Lydon’s letter (“Geography and the core curriculum”, October 31st) describing the decline in the number of students taking geography as a subject at Junior Cycle, I would like to state a case for geography that many students may not have considered.
I studied geography at second level and third level and have worked as professional geographer all my working life.
There is a sector of the IT industry that develops and deploys geographical information systems across industry, commerce and public sector here in Ireland and in nearly every other country.
These software systems are used to plan where we place schools, how to position retail and public services to best service demand, where we grow trees, where we rollout broadband and other infrastructure, how we protect our environment, how we ensure clean water, how we plan development in a sustainable fashion, where we put solar farms, where we place wind turbines, how our parcels get delivered, to name but a few of the things we rely on day to day.
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The professionals building these software systems, deploying them in the relevant business and operating them are, in the main, professional geographers. These geographers have fascinating and rewarding careers and the many that I have encountered all feel that they are making a positive contribution to society using their geographical skills.
The very skills that will continue to decline if, as predicted, student numbers taking geography at Junior Cycle and on into third level also continue to decline.
We are facing into a future in which the decisions around sustainability, climate adaptation, spatial planning and location analysis are going to be ever more important. We need more students and graduates with geographical knowledge and skills to help us make those decisions. – Yours, etc,
EAMONN DOYLE,
Sandymount,
Dublin 4.