Field Trips May Soon Be a Thing of the Past

I remember back when I was in elementary school, the first time I heard someone refer to a field trip, I thought that they literally meant we'd be taking a trip to a field (most likely the football field behind the school). That was fine with me since I figured that meant extra recess time. I was even more excited when I realize that the field trip was an actual day-long trip to some place else and that we'd get to go on a school bus. During those years I went to a variety of places such as museums and famous landmarks. I remember getting to school at about 6:00 in the morning in fourth and fifth grade because we were going to be spending the day out of the state. We would drive up to Williamsburg or Philadelphia and do the usual touristy thing. We would see the sites and try to learn a little bit too. They were fun times and best of all, it was a different way to learn. Unfortunately, it seems that in some districts it may soon become a thing of the past.

In the face of rising gas prices and a greater emphasis on standardized testing, more and more schools are opting out of field trips simply because they don't want to fall behind academically. Now the unfortunate thing is that not all students absorb all learning by simply reading. I should know, I'm one of them. I learn a lot by doing and in taking field trips, I was able to see the sites that served in our history or I was able to talk with people who knew so much more about the subject I was interested in. I remember going to the Air & Space Museum in downtown DC back in the third grade. I was so excited I remember going to the library a few days before and asking my mom to help me pick out some books on airplanes. We went through the selection and I wrote down my favorite planes in looking at the books. Then when we go to the museum I was naming them all one after another. I was even more thrilled to speak to one of the docents there who happened to be a pilot.

That type of interaction really solidified my love of the subject. To see the planes that had made history and to talk to someone who had actually flown was so exciting to me that I couldn't believe that I was actually learning since I was having way too much fun. For me it was a chance to expand on my pre-existing love of history and aviation but for some of my classmates, it was the first time many of them had a chance to visit some of these places. Whether because their families were never interested or because they didn't have the means to visit, many of my classmates had never left their city and for them, these trips were something even more special. It gave them a chance to see the world beyond their normal one. Perhaps I'm waxing poetic a bit but still, I can't tell you how often my friends and I would be excited over the fact that we were getting out of school for a day to see something new.

That's not to say that we didn't have standardized testing back then as well. On the contrary, we had plenty of tests back then too. Still, I think over time the emphasis has shifted from teaching kids to give them knowledge to teaching kids to pass an exam. It's commonly referred to as 'teaching the test' and many schools and teachers do it. They will spend weeks and even months teaching students they types of problems they will face and what the expected answers are. I don't mean that they have the answers to the exams but that they teach the students about the most common types of questions and then teach them only the correct answers so that they are more likely to get the question correct on the exam. Why the interest in boosting test scores. Well while for some teachers it is probably for the noble purpose of getting students to do well, it's more often a question of funding.

It's a sad fact that these days schools that don't do well on standardized testing don't get as much in terms of funding for projects or programs in comparison to schools with higher averages. How do you counter it? Simple. By ensuring that your students do the best out of the area in these standardized tests. As a result, so many schools are funneling their efforts into these methods. When you're faced with not having enough funding for new books or materials for students or a trip to the state capital, you begin to see the merits of one versus the other. Still, while I feel standardized testing is important, I don't think it should be seen as the end-all-be-all of everything related to a child's education. Actually going out and seeing the places that you usually only read about in books is what makes it real and easier to understand.