STAFF EDITORIAL

 

MIMI CABALLERO LYLLI DUONG Staff Writers

 

When students are in a traditional classroom environment, there is only so much a teacher can provide them with in order for them to understand the materials they need to know. Teachers can only speak for a short amount of time before most students tune them out. When a student becomes uninterested in a certain topic, not many can push them to keep trying; there are better options such as field trips.

Students can learn many valuable lessons on field trips, not only about the subject of the trip/lesson, but additionally about how to behave in a professional environment. Most, if not all, field trips are made for each student to learn additional information that would not have been available to them in the everyday classroom environment. Although there are many benefits to taking more field trips, there are some disadvantages as well. For starters, one bus is at least $400. In order to have a field trip, it is required that the teacher file a request for the trip. Depending on the district, waiting for an answer could take months.

Even after a field trip is approved, there can still be the problem of getting chaperones. Even to parents, trips can become a hassle as they would have to have their fingerprints taken, complete other requirements to be a valid chaperone and pay for their kid’s fee. Even during the field trip, there may be potential problems. One of the main concerns would be trying to keep track of students. If the students are younger, the teachers and chaperones would have to keep an intense watch over them and make sure that nothing happens. If the students are older, the teachers and parents may ask the students to form groups with at least one teacher or parent watching them. Since trips are pricey, the student would most likely have to pay, at least for lunch.

This would be a problem for some students that cannot afford it. There is also a chance that if a certain student cannot go on a school field trip, they might be discriminated by their classmates. Additionally, the student may not learn anything on the trip and just use the trip as a day to talk and hang out with their friends. A student could also decide not to go on a trip if they did not want to miss out on their other classes. It is more common that a field trip would last the entire day, and that would cause a student to miss the material that would be taught in class. For certain students, missing a single day of class could end up with them doing a lot of catch-up work.