Center for Geography Assessment

Why would a student wish to become an expert in geography?

In addition to these personal location questions, geography prepares us to cope with basic societal issues. Using sophisticated geographic knowledge and skills, we can determine where to locate waste disposal sites, develop new residential areas, and locate commercial developments and industrial plants. Nearly every decision we make as individuals or members of groups has a geographic element. The questions of geography, however, exist on several levels, or geographic scales.

The world is changing rapidly; instead of being focused primarily on our neighborhoods, towns or counties, we function at the continental and global scales. Our food comes from farms and processing plants in distant states. Our clothes are manufactured in different nations of the world and are delivered to us by complex communication and transportation systems. As our commercial and cultural connections with various parts of the world increase, we adopt a more global perspective. We realize that Earth's resources, while plentiful, are not limitless and that the impact of humans on the environment is far greater than previous generations could imagine.

The skills practiced in geography are used by many professions: urban and regional planners, attorneys, legislators, business leaders, architects, marketing consultants and engineers. Preparation in geography is an ideal stepping stone to a wide range of careers.

Pragmatic as geography is to us all, geography in and of itself is a fascinating realm of knowledge. Most people want to know what is over the next hill and around the next bend on the road. We delight in learning about distant places and people. We marvel at the wonders of the natural environment and cultural monuments, both ancient and modern.

Conversely, a lack of geographic understanding weakens us as individuals and as a nation. We have been born into a world dominated by economic and political competition at a variety of levels. When we cannot answer location questions correctly, we suffer economic, environmental and political consequences. A poorly-located store will go bankrupt. Inaccurately drawn boundaries of a legislative district will disenfranchise a group of voters. An inadequately-located sanitary landfill will pollute our water.

Examples of questions/issues geographers examine are:

how local, regional and global environments are/will be affected by anticipated population growth or decline
why and where people migrate and what the effects are on the places and regions
how diminishing agricultural land can be used more efficiently than in the past
what the extent and severity of acid rain is
why corporations locate their headquarters, branches, subsidiaries, and manufacturing facilities in certain places rather than in others
where illicit drug production affects local agricultural economy and society
where most profitable locations are for new stores
where nuclear weapons are being deployed, and what would be the global consequences of nuclear war
what the consequences would be of changing the natural courses of rivers

The importance of geography as a field of study has been increasing rapidly. The United States Department of Education designated geography one of the Core Subjects and convened the national professional organizations of geographers to publish Geography for Life: The National Geography Standards in 1994. At the same time, the Minnesota Department of Children, Families & Learning published the state's Profile of Learning: High Standards. Together, these national and state standards and curricula of individual school districts provide a guide for students, parents, educators and members of the community interested in the geographic education of their children.

Focus of this framework

Geography is a survival skill. Therefore, the Scholars of Distinction in Applied Human Geography program builds upon skills used in everyday life. The framework focuses on connections between geography and regional, rural and urban planning and other geographic issues significant to life in the next century. This standard requires students to distinguish themselves by their ability to expertly apply advanced geographic knowledge and skill, instead of their ability to recall detailed, isolated geographic facts.

The Scholars of Distinction in Applied Geography framework is rooted in the discipline-based field known as human geography. However, the complexity and breadth of issues addressed by geographers requires them to be knowledgeable in a number of fields of learning. The primary fields related to Scholars of Distinction in Applied Geography are cartography; climatology; economics; demography; urban, rural and regional planning; location analysis; marketing; computer graphics; business; journalism; policy analysis; and environmental management. See our annotated list of careers in geography.