The content taught in AP Human geography is so broad, it can be applied to over 70 different career paths. AP Human Geography is a class that involves a lot of aspects of human life and how we interact with the geography around us. It is offered in The Columbus School, and in my opinion is the best class offered here. Everybody should seize the great opportunity the school is offering us and take this class.

This class teaches seven main units, all of them containing a lot of important information about our world right now and its relation to people. Geography is the smallest unit, the other six have about the same amount of content, however, the culture unit takes the most time. Due to the amount of detail and precision this unit requires. It covers; language, religion, material culture, pop vs folk culture, and how culture is influenced by geography.

Often thought of as the most important unit by most people, including myself, and Kaylan Doyle, the teacher of this course. This unit allows you to learn all about how different the world actually is. It exposes you to the reality of different cultures making you less ethnocentric. Making you an overall more global and cultured person. Learning about different cultures is crucial in my opinion, since being ignorant towards most of the world is one of the things holding us back as a society. The importance of this course can be seen in all of its units though, not just culture.

Learning about the world and how it is today seems to me like something everybody should be doing, and something that should have more value for us. Also, the class’ workload is low compared to other AP courses. The teacher, Kaylan, treats us like adults, and gives us freedom regarding how we manage our time. These are skills that we need to learn for our future.

The other units tackle; population, agriculture, organization of space, industrial and economic development and cities. These different topics are just as important. 11% of Americans can’t even pin down their own country on a map. This is disappointing since knowing where one is located in the world seems simple enough. The whole world has similar statistics, showing how lacking geography classes are in the world.

Some people say that taking this class is worthless, since the AP exam is rarely applicable for credit here in Colombia or even in most foreign universities. To that I say, so what. Even if you don’t take the AP exam, I find the content of this class to be something that will be very valuable to your life. No matter what you do in the future. Understanding the world is something that can be very beneficial, and the true value of the class is to learn the content. It isn’t all about this exam.

The world is often not as we view it at first, and even though this course won’t make you an expert geographer, it will open your mind up to a lot of new concepts, new cultures, world theories and models that I believe you may find very interesting. The class is very enjoyable, and you should give it an opportunity.

Works Cited

Course Details. (n.d.). Retrieved April 5, 2019

Kaylan Doyle Interview [Personal interview]. (2019, April 23).

National Geographic Society. (n.d.). AP Human Geography. Retrieved April 8, 2019 Sherwin, G. (n.d.). (11th ed.). Wiley.

Sofia Vasquez Interview [Personal interview]. (2019, April 22).

Trivedi, B. P. (2002, November 20). Survey Reveals Geographic Illiteracy.