High School Geography

Today a short video of one of my Ferguson High School teachers popped up on Facebook.

In the FB clip, geography aficionado, Gil Crippen (“Mr. Crippen” to me), was enthusiastically discussing a student trip to the Mideast. He was waving an indigo head covering (not blue, specifically “indigo,” possibly dyed using the local indigo plants) that the desert dwellers would wrap around their heads for protection from sun and sand.

In my 1970 memories, seldom a sentence was spoken by Mr. Crippen without a prop and a big map. Among other things, he taught us how the land, water, and weather intertwined, and why it was critical that we care for the land and water. It was my introduction to caring about the environment, although I didn’t realize it at the time.

We learned how rivers built trade, how trade created cities, how cities expanded economies on that river and far beyond. I probably learned more about practical economics in his class than I did in graduate-level econ.

In tenth grade, I enjoyed Mr. Crippen’s class but I didn’t care much about geography. Much to my surprise! those lessons lasted long beyond the final exam. Now I believe that geography is one of the most useful classes I ever took. Certainly, for this English major, it was more practical than calculus (apologies to Mr. Lebold).

Even with GPS, we use geography every day. On a normal work day, we use it to estimate lengths of commutes and the most efficient traffic routes. Knowing how to read a map helps us understand where our out-of-town grammies live in relation to our own houses. (“Are we there yet, Dad?” “NO! Look at the map!”)

Geography helps us prepare for bad weather, such as our recent Hurricane Isaias. Which neighborhoods are most likely to flood in our towns? Should we buy a less expensive house on this low land or a more expensive one higher up? Checking a topographical map prevents us from ruining our vacations with hikes that are too long or arduous for our couch-bound bodies.

We can’t grasp the daily news without a good grasp of geography. Why is the Mideast so important and fraught with antagonism? It’s what’s underneath the sand. Why is Afghanistan so difficult to get control of? Have you looked at that craggy, unforgiving terrain? Why do people disagree so vehemently about underwater drilling in AK and windmills off the NC beaches? It’s about how trade and the environment collide.

History is ALL about geography. About who lives near whom and which of them has oil versus lithium versus food. Some nations are protected from aggressors by immense mountains or deserts. Others are separated only by rivers or plains so they’re easier to access when one country becomes envious of the other.

Read Guns, Germs, and Steel, by Jared Diamond, if you think your clan is naturally smarter than the others. Don’t get cocky – it’s not the people, it’s the geography that allowed one civilization to take the historical lead over another.

So thank you, Mr. Crippen, for giving me and thousands of other young minds an appreciation of our world’s geography. You did it with joy and enthusiasm and with the realization that someday we’d transform some of that 10th grade information into adult knowledge.