Geography Deserves Place in Curriculum

Is the Huntington Beach Union High School curriculum committee that has recommended dropping geography as a required course (“Geography Course Backed by Teachers,” Nov. 12) the same committee from the Dark Ages that mandated the reading of that poignant, contemporary novel “Great Expectations” for ninth-grade English?

World geography is one of the few opportunities in a structured, outdated learning environment for our children to be exposed to what is happening in the world today.

Beyond relief and boundary maps, this social science addresses such current issues as population, weather, oceans, wildlife, rain forests and other critical ecological concerns. How can we expect new generations of mankind to cherish this planet if our school administrators adopt an optional approach to teaching them about it?

Has this committee also studied such electives as ceramics, photography, pep/athletic squads and mandatory physical education classes and deemed them more appropriate in educating a society?

BARBARA POWELL

Fountain Valley