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A group of ladies were talking and one of them was angry at the local school her son went to. She said learning was in the class room and she was tired of all the field trips that the kids were being sent on. She said that if a permission slip came in asking if her son could go on a school sponsored field trip, she always refused to sign.
As a parent she did not believe that the kids should be gallivanting around the town and wasting valuable instruction time on all these silly field trips. What do you think of her hard edged response?
I remember going on field trips. It broke up the drudgery of everyday routine. It was interesting to learn things outside of the classroom and even gave a new sense of realizing that the teacher could be a real person beyond the walls of the school house.
If this parent wont let the child go with the group, that child will feel like an outcast and not part of the group which may very well trickle back into the classroom itself.
I feel the parent is making a big mistake if the child isn't permitted to go on school field trips.
No kid wants to be singled out as not being able to do what the others do. And as long as there is not a concrete, legitiment reason, no kid should be made to stick out like a sore thumb or deprived of being a part of his group of peers.
A group of ladies were talking and one of them was angry at the local school her son went to. She said learning was in the class room and she was tired of all the field trips that the kids were being sent on. She said that if a permission slip came in asking if her son could go on a school sponsored field trip, she always refused to sign.
As a parent she did not believe that the kids should be gallivanting around the town and wasting valuable instruction time on all these silly field trips. What do you think of her hard edged response?
I think she's wrong.Perhaps she is also resenting the extra costs she is being asked to pay? I agree with everything that Robhu just said. Is her son going to stay home that day? Sit in the classroom by himself? If learning was only in the classroom, apparently we would all be walking around with only what we learned through school and we'd all act like 22 year olds! Learning can be so much more fun and interesting when we experience new environments and situations.There needs to be a balance between hardcore instruction, and some casual learning experiences.
I've never refused my kids to go on a field trip but the elementary school school my kids went to always had a ton of them and the cost gets outrageous by the end of the year. This year my son's class went on 2 big trips costing about $140 a piece, and that was just the big trips they also went on several smaller trips. So I too wonder if she was more concerned with the cost and was just venting. If not, and that's really what she meant, then no that's right. Kids learn all sorts of lessons during these field trips and maybe she should go on one to see.
I think that in many cases, the kids learn more on those field trips than they do spending all of those hours in the classroom. It may be different now, but when I was in school, if a kid wasn't going on a field trip, they just sat in on another class, which may or may not have been on the same lessons as that kid's class. Either that or they just stayed home. I wonder what the woman thinks the child is going to miss out on by leaving the classroom if the rest of his class is on the field trip?
I think it depends on the field trip. Some are very educational. You can show kids pictures in a classroom, but there is nothing like being there to help children really understand something. Some field trips are just a waste of time. If every child in the class has been somewhere with either parents or three previous years of field trips then going again is a waste of valuable classroom time.
As a parent and a teacher, I think field trips have there place but I think they should be limited to two or three per year. As far as what this parent did...She would be more effective if she had talked to the teacher or principal about her concerns. Most schools have a way of paying for children who can not afford to go (if that is the issue). The teacher may have been able to explain why they were going on so many field trips and what educational benefits they expected to accomplish. Just refusing to let her child go does not help the child. It only pulls the child out of his/her class and puts that child in another class for the day.
A group of ladies were talking and one of them was angry at the local school her son went to. She said learning was in the class room and she was tired of all the field trips that the kids were being sent on. She said that if a permission slip came in asking if her son could go on a school sponsored field trip, she always refused to sign.
As a parent she did not believe that the kids should be gallivanting around the town and wasting valuable instruction time on all these silly field trips. What do you think of her hard edged response?
Gee, Weekend, for someone that doesn't have kids, you seem to pose a lot of questions on the parenting forum.
I believe in field trips, this parent doesn't, so be it. What on earth is hard edged about her opinion?
Last edited by jeannie216; 05-16-2009 at 07:45 PM..
Reason: not necessary
Those who've replied have brought up some good points. Sometimes the constant hand out from the school $ for this, $ for that, can get tiresome if a person's income is limited. Other folks are just short-sighted and don't understand the value a field trip might have in reinforcing a class lesson -- education is multi-faceted.
I live in NY and one aspect of the 4th grade cirriculum is NY State History. We are forunate to have a number of places which have Indian and colonial roots, as well as buildings dating back to that era. It is one thing to teach the children the stories of the Culper Spy Ring and our lady spy, Anna Strong; it is another to take the children to the very places where they met. The children visit these historic taverns and learn about the functions of the tavern/ordinary, life styles from that era such as why we say 'sleep tight' -- the children actually tighten an antique bed in addition to dozens of other era appropriate activities.
A few weeks from now my dd's class will be taking a field trip to a forest out on a barrier beach. The forest sits below sea level and is quite the anomaly given it's location. Some folks might write this off as a trip to the beach -- it is anything but. We are lucky, the cost was reasonable: $20 which included the buses and the round trip ferry. I'm crossing my fingers that I am picked as one of the chaperones!
NYC is in our backyard; trips to St Marks Church (we never saw Peter Stuvestant's ghost), the Statue of Liberty, the Intrepid, Wall St, Broadway, the WTC, and the Empire State Bldg were exciting class trips. Post 9/11 many of these trips became history. Many school districts in the area adopted a 'Bridges and Tunnels' policy: If you had to cross a bridge or use a tunnel, the trip was vetoed. Many wonderful field trip opportunities were lost. As the years have passed, the schools have been relaxing this policy.
Going back to my school years, the lessons which where reinforced with field trips are those I remember best today. Listening to my children speak, and seeing their interests form, some of these trips have had an impact on them. Ds is interested in pursuing Marine biology, dd has been showing a strong inclination to the arts.
IMHO our children are blessed to have the educational opportunities that are there for them; why not give them the full experience?
My kids are too young yet for field trips, but I generally agree with them. I think hands on learning stays in a child's memory more, plus like another poster said, it breaks up the routine. However, if a field trip was very expensive, and we truly couldn't afford it, I would explain that to my child and say no. Also if the field trip was to something I vehemently disagreed with (for example a very violent movie- not that that would happen!), I would feel no guilt saying no either.
I remember going on field trips when I was in school. As my family never went on vacation or anywhere for that matter due to financial reasons, i was able to experience, museums, parks, the opera, art galleries, zoos and amusement parks. Thank God for field trips.
I think if a field trip would be counter productive to a families beliefs, it should be skipped. However, that being said, isn't this mother concerned that the only thing her child is going to learn from being denied this experience with his peers is resentment against her? How are his peers going to look at him?
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It may be different now, but when I was in school, if a kid wasn't going on a field trip, they just sat in on another class, which may or may not have been on the same lessons as that kid's class. Either that or they just stayed home. I wonder what the woman thinks the child is going to miss out on by leaving the classroom if the rest of his class is on the field trip?
