1.
Children, who are usually too young to know better, are being forced to choose between history and geography because these subjects have been taken out of the core curriculum at Junior Cycle.

This will rob the nation’s students of the valuable knowledge and skills to be active citizens in an increasingly globalised world. They will miss out on the knowledge and skills that are available only through a course of study in geography such as synthesis, geographic information systems, the threat to the environment from pressing issues such as climate change, sustainability, development, gender equality, and population dynamics.

2.
The solution is to return geography to the core curriculum. The Minister for Education is already discussing history. But geography should be included in the review of the core curriculum. The rationale for a geographical education is stronger than simply some people want it. A geogrpahical education is an key aspect of everyone’s personal development.

If history is returned to the core curriculum in the absence of geography, the threat to geography education is even greater.

There is no better place to see the effects of a weak geographical education than the United States and the President Trump’s views on climate change and the environment; and in the UK where an ignorance of the geography of the EU has been a contributory factor in the passage of the Brexit referendum.

3.
We can’t take chances with the foundational education the nation’s children. An increasingly globalised and intercultural world creates challenges that require all children to be able to navigate them in order to strive.

Signing this petition shows you know how important it is going to be for all children to be able to find their place and path in the world. It shows you want the Minister for Education to ensure all of the nation’s children get their entitlement to a geographical education.