Desde fines del siglo XX, se han acentuado los estudios sobre la ensenanza de la geografia escolar en Venezuela. Los resultados inquietan pues denuncian que se preserva una actividad cotidiana de acento transmisivo, enciclopedista, rutinario y circunscrita al aula, donde los conocimientos y practicas fortalecen la reproduccion y la memorizacion de contenidos programaticos de poca transferencia para comprender la compleja realidad geografica. Eso determino estructurar un planteamiento teorico que explique la vigencia de la tradicion geografica y las razones que justifican su presencia escolar. En respuesta, se promueven fundamentos para mejorar la transmision de contenidos, y promover en el aula la elaboracion de puntos de vista razonados y criticos sobre la realidad geografica. ABSTRACT: Since the end of the twentieth century, studies on the teaching of school geography in Venezuela have increased in number. The results are worrying because they denounce that a daily activity of a merely transmissive emphasis is being preserved, an enciclopedic, and routinary study circumscribed only to the classroom, where the knowledge and practices fortify the reproduction and the memorization of programmatic contents with little transference to understand the complex geographic reality. This observation determined the need to review bibliographical sources and to structure a theoretical exposition that explains the value of the use of the geographic tradition and the reasons that justify its presence in our schools. As a result, foundations are promoted to improve the transmission of contents and to promote the elaboration of reasoned and critical points of view about the geographic reality in the classroom.