Why are the field trips so underwhelming?

[Anonymous]

They are an absolute pain in the butt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are times I feel like that person…

Back in the 80’s and 90’s we had maybe one field trip a year and that was it. I don’t remember any in MS or HS. Field trips are not a necessity, they can be fun and educational but they are not mandatory.

Plenty of schools don’t have enough money to fund field trips and they don’t have PTAs that can run fund raising to provide field trips and after school activities. The PTA cannot do the paperwork associated with the field trip, that paperwork ends up being the backbone for any liability that might arise from the trip. Teachers are over worked as it is, adding on extra things is a lot. Kids behavior has gone downhill which makes field trips even more of a nightmare, do you think it is fun to watch the kids who are nightmares at school at a museum? Or Cox farm? Or any other location?

In my experience title 1 schools have enough funds but not enough manpower. These are the kids who need it the most. Make it happen if you can or advocate for it if you can’t

So you want the people who are already burdened and overextended… to give more?

So it seems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It was incredibly lazy on the part of the teacher(s). No plan.

Somehow I doubt a teacher willing to take on all the paperwork and headache of a field trip is a lazy teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are times I feel like that person…

Back in the 80’s and 90’s we had maybe one field trip a year and that was it. I don’t remember any in MS or HS. Field trips are not a necessity, they can be fun and educational but they are not mandatory.

Plenty of schools don’t have enough money to fund field trips and they don’t have PTAs that can run fund raising to provide field trips and after school activities. The PTA cannot do the paperwork associated with the field trip, that paperwork ends up being the backbone for any liability that might arise from the trip. Teachers are over worked as it is, adding on extra things is a lot. Kids behavior has gone downhill which makes field trips even more of a nightmare, do you think it is fun to watch the kids who are nightmares at school at a museum? Or Cox farm? Or any other location?

In my experience title 1 schools have enough funds but not enough manpower. These are the kids who need it the most. Make it happen if you can or advocate for it if you can’t

So you want the people who are already burdened and overextended… to give more?

So it seems.

I’d like teachers to basically focus on doing what they used to do 10-15 years ago and start resisting the rest rather than resisting the stuff they have always done (field trips are not some crazy new thing) and that impacts the most students. It is not field trips and HW grading that have “broken” teachers yet they are the parts that are getting jettisoned. No - the NEW parts need jettisoned and resisted to try to make teaching doable again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are times I feel like that person…

Back in the 80’s and 90’s we had maybe one field trip a year and that was it. I don’t remember any in MS or HS. Field trips are not a necessity, they can be fun and educational but they are not mandatory.

Plenty of schools don’t have enough money to fund field trips and they don’t have PTAs that can run fund raising to provide field trips and after school activities. The PTA cannot do the paperwork associated with the field trip, that paperwork ends up being the backbone for any liability that might arise from the trip. Teachers are over worked as it is, adding on extra things is a lot. Kids behavior has gone downhill which makes field trips even more of a nightmare, do you think it is fun to watch the kids who are nightmares at school at a museum? Or Cox farm? Or any other location?

In my experience title 1 schools have enough funds but not enough manpower. These are the kids who need it the most. Make it happen if you can or advocate for it if you can’t

So you want the people who are already burdened and overextended… to give more?

So it seems.

I’d like teachers to basically focus on doing what they used to do 10-15 years ago and start resisting the rest rather than resisting the stuff they have always done (field trips are not some crazy new thing) and that impacts the most students. It is not field trips and HW grading that have “broken” teachers yet they are the parts that are getting jettisoned. No - the NEW parts need jettisoned and resisted to try to make teaching doable again.

Are you a teacher?

Because you are dead wrong about what’s breaking the profession. I’ve been teaching almost 25 years. This job is 3, possibly 4, times harder than it used to be. Yes, grading is breaking me. I’ve spent half my break grading papers and ignoring my own family. I could write five more paragraphs about what’s breaking me, but that’s not the subject of this thread.

And yes, field trips are harder now. There’s more paperwork and more rules. Students and parents aren’t nearly as easy to work with, either. I have to tell chaperones not to do things; I have to monitor adults just as much as the kids. And I’m doing all of this work that takes away from the Mount Everest-sized pile of work back at school.

Things aren’t like they used to be 10-15 years ago. Not even close.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are times I feel like that person…

Back in the 80’s and 90’s we had maybe one field trip a year and that was it. I don’t remember any in MS or HS. Field trips are not a necessity, they can be fun and educational but they are not mandatory.

Plenty of schools don’t have enough money to fund field trips and they don’t have PTAs that can run fund raising to provide field trips and after school activities. The PTA cannot do the paperwork associated with the field trip, that paperwork ends up being the backbone for any liability that might arise from the trip. Teachers are over worked as it is, adding on extra things is a lot. Kids behavior has gone downhill which makes field trips even more of a nightmare, do you think it is fun to watch the kids who are nightmares at school at a museum? Or Cox farm? Or any other location?

In my experience title 1 schools have enough funds but not enough manpower. These are the kids who need it the most. Make it happen if you can or advocate for it if you can’t

So you want the people who are already burdened and overextended… to give more?

So it seems.

I’d like teachers to basically focus on doing what they used to do 10-15 years ago and start resisting the rest rather than resisting the stuff they have always done (field trips are not some crazy new thing) and that impacts the most students. It is not field trips and HW grading that have “broken” teachers yet they are the parts that are getting jettisoned. No - the NEW parts need jettisoned and resisted to try to make teaching doable again.

Are you a teacher?

Because you are dead wrong about what’s breaking the profession. I’ve been teaching almost 25 years. This job is 3, possibly 4, times harder than it used to be. Yes, grading is breaking me. I’ve spent half my break grading papers and ignoring my own family. I could write five more paragraphs about what’s breaking me, but that’s not the subject of this thread.

And yes, field trips are harder now. There’s more paperwork and more rules. Students and parents aren’t nearly as easy to work with, either. I have to tell chaperones not to do things; I have to monitor adults just as much as the kids. And I’m doing all of this work that takes away from the Mount Everest-sized pile of work back at school.

Things aren’t like they used to be 10-15 years ago. Not even close.

Also teacher for 20+ years, it’s the behavior of the adults and kids that make me not want to go.

[Anonymous]

Former teacher and parent who went to the American History museum as a chaperone for a small group. Another mom allowed her group to go screaming and running through the First Ladies' exhibit. No effort to stop it.

I still do not understand the idea that field trips are important.

I taught Title I kids--they were an asset for them. But, simple is better.

UMC kids going to the American History museum with their class----not an asset.

I posted this earlier:
when I was in fourth grade, we went to a bank and the newspaper. Both were real learning experiences which would not be readily available except as a school trip. In other words, individuals are not able to take their kids behind the scenes to see a newspaper printed as it was then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Former teacher and parent who went to the American History museum as a chaperone for a small group. Another mom allowed her group to go screaming and running through the First Ladies' exhibit. No effort to stop it.

I still do not understand the idea that field trips are important.

I taught Title I kids--they were an asset for them. But, simple is better.

UMC kids going to the American History museum with their class----not an asset.

I posted this earlier:
when I was in fourth grade, we went to a bank and the newspaper. Both were real learning experiences which would not be readily available except as a school trip. In other words, individuals are not able to take their kids behind the scenes to see a newspaper printed as it was then.

Just wanted to address the bolded: I have chaperoned many of my kids' field trips. One in particular was at the American History museum where I was in charge of about six 3rd grade boys. Two of the boys decided to run away from my group - literally, run away and through the museum. I panicked, not knowing whether to chase after them or not, knowing I couldn't just abandon the other kids to do that. I wound up staying with the remaining four boys and flagging down the teacher. By then, I was practically in tears. I told her what happened and she ran to find the other two boys. They were in a HUGE amount of trouble by the time she caught up with them, and the teacher personally escorted them for the rest of the trip. But I was so shaken by that experience. I guess I'm just saying, don't judge the chaperone because they may be doing the best they can with a very disruptive group.

[Anonymous]

^ and the other takeaway should be, don’t judge the TEACHERS for not wanting to take students out in public when they behave that way. We are with these kids all day at school, we know how they act. Some classes are full of kids that are nightmares at school, let alone in a busy public museum, and we are not allowed to exclude kids from attending because of behavior . There are some years I have great students and try to plan field trips for them and some years where I have absolutely refused to be responsible for those kids in a public space.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are times I feel like that person…

Back in the 80’s and 90’s we had maybe one field trip a year and that was it. I don’t remember any in MS or HS. Field trips are not a necessity, they can be fun and educational but they are not mandatory.

Plenty of schools don’t have enough money to fund field trips and they don’t have PTAs that can run fund raising to provide field trips and after school activities. The PTA cannot do the paperwork associated with the field trip, that paperwork ends up being the backbone for any liability that might arise from the trip. Teachers are over worked as it is, adding on extra things is a lot. Kids behavior has gone downhill which makes field trips even more of a nightmare, do you think it is fun to watch the kids who are nightmares at school at a museum? Or Cox farm? Or any other location?

In my experience title 1 schools have enough funds but not enough manpower. These are the kids who need it the most. Make it happen if you can or advocate for it if you can’t

So you want the people who are already burdened and overextended… to give more?

So it seems.

I’d like teachers to basically focus on doing what they used to do 10-15 years ago and start resisting the rest rather than resisting the stuff they have always done (field trips are not some crazy new thing) and that impacts the most students. It is not field trips and HW grading that have “broken” teachers yet they are the parts that are getting jettisoned. No - the NEW parts need jettisoned and resisted to try to make teaching doable again.

Please explicitly name what you think we should be “resisting.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are times I feel like that person…

Back in the 80’s and 90’s we had maybe one field trip a year and that was it. I don’t remember any in MS or HS. Field trips are not a necessity, they can be fun and educational but they are not mandatory.

Plenty of schools don’t have enough money to fund field trips and they don’t have PTAs that can run fund raising to provide field trips and after school activities. The PTA cannot do the paperwork associated with the field trip, that paperwork ends up being the backbone for any liability that might arise from the trip. Teachers are over worked as it is, adding on extra things is a lot. Kids behavior has gone downhill which makes field trips even more of a nightmare, do you think it is fun to watch the kids who are nightmares at school at a museum? Or Cox farm? Or any other location?

In my experience title 1 schools have enough funds but not enough manpower. These are the kids who need it the most. Make it happen if you can or advocate for it if you can’t

So you want the people who are already burdened and overextended… to give more?

So it seems.

I’d like teachers to basically focus on doing what they used to do 10-15 years ago and start resisting the rest rather than resisting the stuff they have always done (field trips are not some crazy new thing) and that impacts the most students. It is not field trips and HW grading that have “broken” teachers yet they are the parts that are getting jettisoned. No - the NEW parts need jettisoned and resisted to try to make teaching doable again.

Please explicitly name what you think we should be “resisting.”

I do not know because I am not a teacher. But it does not sound like the job was always as impossible as it is now and HW and field trips are not new pieces of the job.

I hear the teachers above about out if control kids. I think part of the problem definitely is the inability to leave some kids at school for chronic misbehavior .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are times I feel like that person…

Back in the 80’s and 90’s we had maybe one field trip a year and that was it. I don’t remember any in MS or HS. Field trips are not a necessity, they can be fun and educational but they are not mandatory.

Plenty of schools don’t have enough money to fund field trips and they don’t have PTAs that can run fund raising to provide field trips and after school activities. The PTA cannot do the paperwork associated with the field trip, that paperwork ends up being the backbone for any liability that might arise from the trip. Teachers are over worked as it is, adding on extra things is a lot. Kids behavior has gone downhill which makes field trips even more of a nightmare, do you think it is fun to watch the kids who are nightmares at school at a museum? Or Cox farm? Or any other location?

In my experience title 1 schools have enough funds but not enough manpower. These are the kids who need it the most. Make it happen if you can or advocate for it if you can’t

So you want the people who are already burdened and overextended… to give more?

So it seems.

I’d like teachers to basically focus on doing what they used to do 10-15 years ago and start resisting the rest rather than resisting the stuff they have always done (field trips are not some crazy new thing) and that impacts the most students. It is not field trips and HW grading that have “broken” teachers yet they are the parts that are getting jettisoned. No - the NEW parts need jettisoned and resisted to try to make teaching doable again.

Please explicitly name what you think we should be “resisting.”

I do not know because I am not a teacher. But it does not sound like the job was always as impossible as it is now and HW and field trips are not new pieces of the job.

I hear the teachers above about out if control kids. I think part of the problem definitely is the inability to leave some kids at school for chronic misbehavior .

You really had the nerve to tell teachers they need to resist stuff but you didn’t even know what it was you wanted them to resist 😂😂 every court needs its jester I suppose

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are times I feel like that person…

Back in the 80’s and 90’s we had maybe one field trip a year and that was it. I don’t remember any in MS or HS. Field trips are not a necessity, they can be fun and educational but they are not mandatory.

Plenty of schools don’t have enough money to fund field trips and they don’t have PTAs that can run fund raising to provide field trips and after school activities. The PTA cannot do the paperwork associated with the field trip, that paperwork ends up being the backbone for any liability that might arise from the trip. Teachers are over worked as it is, adding on extra things is a lot. Kids behavior has gone downhill which makes field trips even more of a nightmare, do you think it is fun to watch the kids who are nightmares at school at a museum? Or Cox farm? Or any other location?

In my experience title 1 schools have enough funds but not enough manpower. These are the kids who need it the most. Make it happen if you can or advocate for it if you can’t

So you want the people who are already burdened and overextended… to give more?

So it seems.

I’d like teachers to basically focus on doing what they used to do 10-15 years ago and start resisting the rest rather than resisting the stuff they have always done (field trips are not some crazy new thing) and that impacts the most students. It is not field trips and HW grading that have “broken” teachers yet they are the parts that are getting jettisoned. No - the NEW parts need jettisoned and resisted to try to make teaching doable again.

Please explicitly name what you think we should be “resisting.”

I do not know because I am not a teacher. But it does not sound like the job was always as impossible as it is now and HW and field trips are not new pieces of the job.

I hear the teachers above about out if control kids. I think part of the problem definitely is the inability to leave some kids at school for chronic misbehavior .

You really had the nerve to tell teachers they need to resist stuff but you didn’t even know what it was you wanted them to resist 😂😂 every court needs its jester I suppose

I had a hard time figuring out what “new” parts of the job I should be resisting.

I don’t think it’s “new” parts… it’s that all the “old” parts are exponentially more complicated now and I’m given way less time to get it all done.

Off to grade papers… on my break…

[Anonymous]

This is school dependent. I am a teacher and have 2 kids, who are both teens now. Mine had a lot of field trips in FCPS every year BUT they were very expensive. Many cost hundreds of dollars each in elementary because of the charter buses. They went on 2-4 field trips every year.

In middle school, they had the opportunity to go to NYC for day trips even if they didn’t take theater. One of mine loved those trips. The other didn’t go. Again, very expensive. There were other smaller trips too.

They had the opportunity to travel internationally in middle school. Same in HS. Now they cost thousands. Neither have gone on these yet and I’m not sure they will.

[Anonymous]

I would still like to know what about field trips is so important to OP-and others.

No one has yet explained the value of these trips.

I do think field trips are helpful for Title I kids. Others, not so much. At least not those that go places most of the kids have already visited.