Deal international trips

[Anonymous]

I don't like the elitist price tag. 5K is nuts.

[Anonymous]

The Costa Rica trip is a very expensive boondoggle. We have not yet found the money to take our own family vacation to Costa Rica but felt incredible pressure to pull together the funds for our kid to do it because there is alot of peer pressure on it.

It is a "growth" experience for the 8th graders in that they are traveling without their parents in a foreign country, they have to navigate the social pressures of being with 200+ other 8th graders for 7 days 24-hours a day, and many have to handle gastrointestinal issues alone for the first time (send Pepto!). I really did not appreciate the 4:00 am call from my 8th grader that he had been throwing up and with diarrhea for hours and the chaperones did nothing for him - they had no medicine to offer AND, because more than 100 kids had the same issues they were stretched to think to offer any individual comfort.

You should know that its not really educational because it is so huge that its easy to go the whole trip without speaking a word of Spanish.

Also, it is run by Deal teachers who feel empowered to do their own social engineering.
My student was forced to room with one of the more difficult students on the trip because the teachers thought the three friends were nice enough to handle it - it ended up being fine, but an additional source of pain and pressure on their experience and at this price I would to think the students could at least select who then room with - but really they can't. The teachers are constantly switching roommates and swapping kids on busses to try to manage the painful social dynamics of the immense group.

Honestly I'm shocked that these trips are still happening - its a crazy expensive burden to put on parents for something that is not very educational. Think of the other things that money could do to support extra curricular activities throughout the entire year at Deal. Maybe the Costa Rica trip was worth it when it was 50 students. Now its just a ridiculous, expense trip that subsidizes vacation for 20+ Deal teachers and staff members.

[Anonymous]

I cannot comment on the Costa Rica trip that most students who are taking Spanish go on - but the smaller Costa Rica trip for kids taking "Spanish Humanities" (who are fluent in Spanish because they come from dual language feeder schools or because they speak Spanish at home) is amazing. They spend half their time doing fun stuff (white water rafting, surfing at the beach, staying at an eco farm) and the other half living doing a home-stay (living with a Costa Rican family in a village / small town and doing community service building bonds with the families, school kids, town mayor etc). It is a much smaller group (20 - 25 kids) and they bonded really well. If a family can afford it, I think it is worth it. (And if a family can't, I think that there are funds to cover the trip).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Costa Rica trip is a very expensive boondoggle. We have not yet found the money to take our own family vacation to Costa Rica but felt incredible pressure to pull together the funds for our kid to do it because there is alot of peer pressure on it.

Honestly I'm shocked that these trips are still happening - its a crazy expensive burden to put on parents for something that is not very educational. Think of the other things that money could do to support extra curricular activities throughout the entire year at Deal. Maybe the Costa Rica trip was worth it when it was 50 students. Now its just a ridiculous, expense trip that subsidizes vacation for 20+ Deal teachers and staff members.

My personal experience is that is doesn't have to be a crazy expensive burden on parents. We started talking about these trips and the associated cost in 6th grade and told our kid that we would pay half and they were responsible for paying the other half + spending money. My kid spent 2.5 years babysitting, petsitting, raking leaves, watering plants and more odd jobs because they were stoked about the trip and wanted to make it happen and they did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Costa Rica trip is a very expensive boondoggle. We have not yet found the money to take our own family vacation to Costa Rica but felt incredible pressure to pull together the funds for our kid to do it because there is alot of peer pressure on it.

Honestly I'm shocked that these trips are still happening - its a crazy expensive burden to put on parents for something that is not very educational. Think of the other things that money could do to support extra curricular activities throughout the entire year at Deal. Maybe the Costa Rica trip was worth it when it was 50 students. Now its just a ridiculous, expense trip that subsidizes vacation for 20+ Deal teachers and staff members.

My personal experience is that is doesn't have to be a crazy expensive burden on parents. We started talking about these trips and the associated cost in 6th grade and told our kid that we would pay half and they were responsible for paying the other half + spending money. My kid spent 2.5 years babysitting, petsitting, raking leaves, watering plants and more odd jobs because they were stoked about the trip and wanted to make it happen and they did.

They also do fundraising and have grants for kids whose families can't afford it. My kids all did Chinese which is smaller but the trip was definitely worth it. One of mine is spending the semester abroad right now in Beijing so they become fluent and minor in Chinese. They were mainly motivated by that trip.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Costa Rica trip is a very expensive boondoggle. We have not yet found the money to take our own family vacation to Costa Rica but felt incredible pressure to pull together the funds for our kid to do it because there is alot of peer pressure on it.

It is a "growth" experience for the 8th graders in that they are traveling without their parents in a foreign country, they have to navigate the social pressures of being with 200+ other 8th graders for 7 days 24-hours a day, and many have to handle gastrointestinal issues alone for the first time (send Pepto!). I really did not appreciate the 4:00 am call from my 8th grader that he had been throwing up and with diarrhea for hours and the chaperones did nothing for him - they had no medicine to offer AND, because more than 100 kids had the same issues they were stretched to think to offer any individual comfort.

You should know that its not really educational because it is so huge that its easy to go the whole trip without speaking a word of Spanish.

Also, it is run by Deal teachers who feel empowered to do their own social engineering.
My student was forced to room with one of the more difficult students on the trip because the teachers thought the three friends were nice enough to handle it - it ended up being fine, but an additional source of pain and pressure on their experience and at this price I would to think the students could at least select who then room with - but really they can't. The teachers are constantly switching roommates and swapping kids on busses to try to manage the painful social dynamics of the immense group.

Honestly I'm shocked that these trips are still happening - its a crazy expensive burden to put on parents for something that is not very educational. Think of the other things that money could do to support extra curricular activities throughout the entire year at Deal. Maybe the Costa Rica trip was worth it when it was 50 students. Now its just a ridiculous, expense trip that subsidizes vacation for 20+ Deal teachers and staff members.

You think watching hundreds of children is vacation? I’m a teacher who refuses to go on any trips like this because of how exhausting they’d be. I want an actual vacation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Costa Rica trip is a very expensive boondoggle. We have not yet found the money to take our own family vacation to Costa Rica but felt incredible pressure to pull together the funds for our kid to do it because there is alot of peer pressure on it.

It is a "growth" experience for the 8th graders in that they are traveling without their parents in a foreign country, they have to navigate the social pressures of being with 200+ other 8th graders for 7 days 24-hours a day, and many have to handle gastrointestinal issues alone for the first time (send Pepto!). I really did not appreciate the 4:00 am call from my 8th grader that he had been throwing up and with diarrhea for hours and the chaperones did nothing for him - they had no medicine to offer AND, because more than 100 kids had the same issues they were stretched to think to offer any individual comfort.

You should know that its not really educational because it is so huge that its easy to go the whole trip without speaking a word of Spanish.

Also, it is run by Deal teachers who feel empowered to do their own social engineering.
My student was forced to room with one of the more difficult students on the trip because the teachers thought the three friends were nice enough to handle it - it ended up being fine, but an additional source of pain and pressure on their experience and at this price I would to think the students could at least select who then room with - but really they can't. The teachers are constantly switching roommates and swapping kids on busses to try to manage the painful social dynamics of the immense group.

Honestly I'm shocked that these trips are still happening - its a crazy expensive burden to put on parents for something that is not very educational. Think of the other things that money could do to support extra curricular activities throughout the entire year at Deal. Maybe the Costa Rica trip was worth it when it was 50 students. Now its just a ridiculous, expense trip that subsidizes vacation for 20+ Deal teachers and staff members.

You think watching hundreds of children is vacation? I’m a teacher who refuses to go on any trips like this because of how exhausting they’d be. I want an actual vacation.

Not just hundreds of children. Hundreds of MIDDLE SCHOOL children in another country for two weeks. As a former middle school teacher, I'd rather herd squirrels across a minefield.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Costa Rica trip is a very expensive boondoggle. We have not yet found the money to take our own family vacation to Costa Rica but felt incredible pressure to pull together the funds for our kid to do it because there is alot of peer pressure on it.

Honestly I'm shocked that these trips are still happening - its a crazy expensive burden to put on parents for something that is not very educational. Think of the other things that money could do to support extra curricular activities throughout the entire year at Deal. Maybe the Costa Rica trip was worth it when it was 50 students. Now its just a ridiculous, expense trip that subsidizes vacation for 20+ Deal teachers and staff members.

My personal experience is that is doesn't have to be a crazy expensive burden on parents. We started talking about these trips and the associated cost in 6th grade and told our kid that we would pay half and they were responsible for paying the other half + spending money. My kid spent 2.5 years babysitting, petsitting, raking leaves, watering plants and more odd jobs because they were stoked about the trip and wanted to make it happen and they did.

I don't get it, why spend so much on a short trip that doesn't even involve language immersion? We sent 15-year-old to Taiwan for a month for immersion language study with homestay for 4K.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't like the elitist price tag. 5K is nuts.

Do other DCPS middle schools offer this kind of opportunity? Or is it just for Deal kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't like the elitist price tag. 5K is nuts.

Do other DCPS middle schools offer this kind of opportunity? Or is it just for Deal kids?

At Wells 8th graders can apply to go abroad for 10-12 days in a small group, and it's completely free via DCPS (even the passport fees and luggage if needed). Last year they went to Spain and Morocco.

There's also a domestic option for kids who can't go abroad (immigration status, etc).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Costa Rica trip is a very expensive boondoggle. We have not yet found the money to take our own family vacation to Costa Rica but felt incredible pressure to pull together the funds for our kid to do it because there is alot of peer pressure on it.

It is a "growth" experience for the 8th graders in that they are traveling without their parents in a foreign country, they have to navigate the social pressures of being with 200+ other 8th graders for 7 days 24-hours a day, and many have to handle gastrointestinal issues alone for the first time (send Pepto!). I really did not appreciate the 4:00 am call from my 8th grader that he had been throwing up and with diarrhea for hours and the chaperones did nothing for him - they had no medicine to offer AND, because more than 100 kids had the same issues they were stretched to think to offer any individual comfort.

You should know that its not really educational because it is so huge that its easy to go the whole trip without speaking a word of Spanish.

Also, it is run by Deal teachers who feel empowered to do their own social engineering.
My student was forced to room with one of the more difficult students on the trip because the teachers thought the three friends were nice enough to handle it - it ended up being fine, but an additional source of pain and pressure on their experience and at this price I would to think the students could at least select who then room with - but really they can't. The teachers are constantly switching roommates and swapping kids on busses to try to manage the painful social dynamics of the immense group.

Honestly I'm shocked that these trips are still happening - its a crazy expensive burden to put on parents for something that is not very educational. Think of the other things that money could do to support extra curricular activities throughout the entire year at Deal. Maybe the Costa Rica trip was worth it when it was 50 students. Now its just a ridiculous, expense trip that subsidizes vacation for 20+ Deal teachers and staff members.

You think watching hundreds of children is vacation? I’m a teacher who refuses to go on any trips like this because of how exhausting they’d be. I want an actual vacation.

Not just hundreds of children. Hundreds of MIDDLE SCHOOL children in another country for two weeks. As a former middle school teacher, I'd rather herd squirrels across a minefield.

I believe you are assuming a level of supervision that just did not happen. Some chaperones were very attentive. Many were not.

[Anonymous]

My child is only in 6th grade, but because of disabilities, she isn't taking a foreign language. But she will be completely capable of taking a trip with the same level of supervision as everyone else. Will she not be eligible because no foreign language?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't like the elitist price tag. 5K is nuts.

Do other DCPS middle schools offer this kind of opportunity? Or is it just for Deal kids?

Hardy does as well. A few countries a year, I think both through the language programs and the travel club. Not sure which this year since we’re still at a feeder and not there yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Costa Rica trip is a very expensive boondoggle. We have not yet found the money to take our own family vacation to Costa Rica but felt incredible pressure to pull together the funds for our kid to do it because there is alot of peer pressure on it.

Honestly I'm shocked that these trips are still happening - its a crazy expensive burden to put on parents for something that is not very educational. Think of the other things that money could do to support extra curricular activities throughout the entire year at Deal. Maybe the Costa Rica trip was worth it when it was 50 students. Now its just a ridiculous, expense trip that subsidizes vacation for 20+ Deal teachers and staff members.

My personal experience is that is doesn't have to be a crazy expensive burden on parents. We started talking about these trips and the associated cost in 6th grade and told our kid that we would pay half and they were responsible for paying the other half + spending money. My kid spent 2.5 years babysitting, petsitting, raking leaves, watering plants and more odd jobs because they were stoked about the trip and wanted to make it happen and they did.

We did the same thing. It was a motivator. And we also found DC didn’t spend as much money in Costa Rica because they had earned it and understood what it took to be there. Some of this is kid dependent. Our kid loved the trip and learned a ton about another country and culture. But that’s how they are usually. If that’s not your kid, it may not be the right choice. And that’s ok too. Each family can decide what works for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't like the elitist price tag. 5K is nuts.

Do other DCPS middle schools offer this kind of opportunity? Or is it just for Deal kids?

At Wells 8th graders can apply to go abroad for 10-12 days in a small group, and it's completely free via DCPS (even the passport fees and luggage if needed). Last year they went to Spain and Morocco.

There's also a domestic option for kids who can't go abroad (immigration status, etc).

Free? That is different from Deal.