Letter of the Day | Put geography back on the map

THE EDITOR, Madam:

As the Caribbean celebrates the release of this year’s CXC examination results, I was disappointed to see geography absent from the highlighted subject statistics for both CSEC and CAPE, at least for some schools.

For those of us who are passionate about geography and its role in Caribbean education, this omission matters. Geography is sometimes mistakenly viewed as a subject concerned primarily with maps, countries, and the memorisation of places. It is far more than that. Geography is a spatial science, concerned with understanding patterns, processes, relationships, and change across space and time.

Consider the challenges confronting Jamaica and the wider Caribbean: climate change, hurricanes, flooding, drought, coastal erosion, urbanisation, migration, food security, natural-resource management, and sustainable development. These are not abstract issues for our region. They affect our communities, economies, and futures, and they are fundamentally geographical.

Through geography, students learn to interpret data, analyse spatial patterns, investigate human-environment relationships, use geographic information systems and other geospatial technologies, conduct field research, and think critically about some of the most pressing problems facing society. These are scientific, analytical, and increasingly valuable skills. This is why visibility matters.

When examination results are released and particular subjects are highlighted, it helps shape public perceptions of what we value educationally. Geography deserves to be part of that conversation at both CSEC and CAPE. Its performance should be highlighted, its students celebrated, and its importance recognised alongside other disciplines.

My concern is not about diminishing the importance of any subject that received attention. Rather, it is about ensuring that geography receives the recognition it deserves.

As a region uniquely exposed to environmental hazards and increasingly affected by global climatic, economic, and demographic changes, the Caribbean needs young people who understand where things happen, why they happen where they do, how places are interconnected, and what those spatial relationships mean for our future. As a result, we should be encouraging more students to study it, strengthening its place in our schools, and recognising the achievements of those who pursue it.

Geography is a science that helps us understand, navigate, and shape that world. It deserves its place in the spotlight.

JUVELLE TAYLOR