Geography – It's Not All Crayola: A Response

The article published yesterday defending geography degrees has done the complete opposite. It’s very difficult to write a response article without looking like I’m attacking the writer, thus I would like to enforce from the start that this is not intended-  criticising the content is the aim.

GeogSoc President, Jamie Hemingway, writes that geography degrees aren’t just colouring in (here), yet his article displays that his interpretations do see it that way. As a second year physical geographer, I haven’t done a single piece of colouring in (except in an optional SOES module). Jamie’s degree differs immensely from mine. He does human geography (think cities, people and development) whilst I do physical geography (rivers, glaciers, remote sensing and landscape evolution). But despite these two major differences in disciplines, there has been disagreement from both types of geographers over claims that geography is easy. Jamie’s article has done nothing to remove the stereotype that geography is a doss degree.

Having recently returned from a fieldcourse in Tenerife, it was far from the holiday I was expecting. 16 hour days of fieldwork and learning, with some part spent out in 35 degree heat. Data collection in the day meant returning to the hotel to analyse and discuss results which were then presented to the cohort and assessed, with some days not finishing until nearly midnight. Like with all subjects, there is an opportunity to have fun, so of course we took advantage of the two hotel swimming pools and the town’s nightlife. We now return to complete a long write-up as well as several other coursework assignments, all alongside revising for looming exams.

Universities, including Southampton, are so concerned about their reputation and applicant numbers that any bad press can be taken seriously, and as students of the institutions, we have a responsibility to promote the name. As said by a senior academic within Geography, is “denigrating your own degree” really the best thing to do? Probably not. There’s having a laugh and then there is portraying a degree, which many students work hard for, as a joke. Unfortunately, the latter is mentioned in the original article.

As with all subjects, not just Geography, there are those students who work and those who don’t. Dave Arnold, Academic President and final year human geography student, said:

When you look deeper into it, the work levels are comparable to other subjects across the university. It’s not easy to excel and get first class marks in Geography. As for the easy modules, employers can and will look at modules you’ve done, not everything is about your overall classification.

Jamie’s article is not only an insult to geography students but also to Southampton academics who are field leaders in specific disciplines of geography. Many students, across all degree areas, work very hard with aims to achieve the highest of grades and slanderous views painting a course very differently to what it actually is does nothing to improve a reputation of a discipline which is already the target for banter.

It’s great to see students writing about their degree, but when it’s displayed as something completely different to reality, the uproar from both students and staff prove how far from the truth the original writing can be.