Why on Earth is geography a ‘soft option for the rich’?

IT has been studied by such luminaries as Prince William, Theresa May and Mother Teresa.

But a leading Oxford professor says geography has ‘become a soft option’ for teenagers from wealthy backgrounds who do not have the sharpest brains.

Professor Danny Dorling claimed geography departments ‘have some of the narrowest and poshest social profiles’ at universities.

The academic, a fellow at St Peter’s College, said undergraduates may have gained high grades at school but ‘are often not good at maths, writing or imagination’.

He insisted: ‘Geography... has become a soft option for from upper-middle class families.’

Professor Dorling said its link with the ‘English upper classes’ can be traced back to the late 1970s.

Writing in the journal Emotion, Space and Society, the academic said of students: ‘They were more and more usually seen by their peers as not having done that well and hence having had to apply to study geography.’

The 51-year-old, who went to state schools, also attacked the careers that geography graduates embark on. He said: ‘Many of them can then take their degrees and head out to banking, advertising and management and make the world an even worse place.’

He claimed it was ‘the favourite subject of those who create hostile environments for immigrants, who create political parties that border on the fascist, of warmongers, bankers and imperialists’.

He said climate change and growing global inequality has helped revive interest in the subject.

But he also criticised the exams system, saying: ‘As educators we are left in Britain with the very tricky job of explaining to students who may have been awarded an A or A* at maths or English that this does not mean that they are brilliant at these subjects and will be able to think imaginatively about data or write engagingly about a topic.

‘It usually just means they were taught how to jump through the hoops of the British marking system well.’

Yesterday, Professor Dorling conceded that the outlook for geography is ‘beginning to change’.

But he stressed: ‘We could do, nationally, with a far wider range of applicants.’