Reply to International trip for 5th graders?

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[quote=Anonymous]The whole point is that there will never be agreement on this topic.  What age is the right age?  What is appropriate in terms of parental participation/travel?  There were complaints when the cost per student was going to be too high (resulting in families not being able to afford to send their kids), now there are complaints that the Board has contributed money).  There were complaints that not enough kids were going (only 1/3)... nobody seems to be happy now that the number has increased significantly.  Complaints that it is during the school year but if it were during the summer, I'm sure people would say it interferes with their family's summer plans, etc.  The bottom line is that the school is trying its best.  There will never be total agreement on what is best though.  Give the administrators and teachers the benefit of the doubt, though.  And also, I totally agree with the pps who have pointed out that the leading edge class always has it the hardest.  All subsequent classes (especially the ones further and further behind) benefit from the leading edge class as the school got to see through their experience with these kids, and others in the first few years, what works best.  One teacher friend when i was considering a brand new charter totally warned me away saying that my kid would be a "guinea pig."  Pioneer is probably a better term, and appropriate in most of the ways.  Those who follow those who trailblaze and go first are indebted to that first wave.  I can't believe the number of complaints about a program that is designed to enhance the educational experience, mainly for the class that goes but for all in the sense that all will go at some point and the fact that this class has gone will generate excitement for the classes behind.  I am sure that there will be a program for sharing info about the experiences with the lower level classes.  I was an exchange student as well as a volunteer for my exchange program after I became an alum.  As the former, I learned from previous exchange students about their experiences (both informally as well as a formal orientation).  As the latter, I helped to prepare and make future exchange students excited about their experience.

And in terms of discussion about the length, that will never be an argument that can be won.  Too short, not enough time to experience, accusations that there won't be a real benefit. Too long, kids are too young, too much time out of school, away from family/home.  I personally think two weeks is ideal and hope that the subsequent trips would be longer, perhaps with the culminating one being a summer.  They will get so much out of this trip... I've done short and long-term experiences (10 days and one year) and I have a ton of vivid memories of the short trip - almost as much as the one-year one.  With something short, everything is intense and stays with you.  [/quote]

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