For a long time, field trips were a staple of schools all around the globe. With children using them as ways to explore, and learn about different cultures, ways of life, or even something as simple as art history or science. But here at Edison Intermediate School (EIS), we haven’t been on an official whole class field trip in several years. But why? Field trips don’t provide any negative effects, right?
It’s important to identify if field trips benefit the children in an educational way. Schools spend loads of money on taking their kids on field trips, so if they aren’t positively benefiting the children on it, there is not a point to wasting all of this money. But where do children usually go on field trips? According to Fieldtripdirectory.com, the most common places for middle school kids to go on a field trip are museums, parks, farms, or zoos. EIS eighth grader Cody Politi stated, “I’ve gone on field trips to Sandy Hook Beach, Liberty Science Center, and The Turtle Back Zoo.”
While all these places can be educational if the children make an effort to learn, do they really learn information on field trips? We interviewed 20 different kids who have all been on field trips, and of those students, 18 said they had fun on the field trips, and three students said that they actually learned from them. Eightth grader Harry Lillien said, “I just focus on having fun on field trips, and don’t really try to learn.”
His classmate, eighth grader Gabe Alferoff explained, “Field trips are useless because kids don’t make an effort to learn on them, and instead just fool around and have fun.”
Unless children are actively supervised and given a worksheet to take notes or answer questions, it doesn’t seem like they will truly make an effort to learn, and will not take in the experience and learn about the place they are at.
There are some benefits of field trips, however. Some may argue that even if kids don’t use them as a learning experience, It is nice for kids to have a break from school and have fun with their friends. Eighth grader Nico Rinaldi said, “It is good for schools to run field trips because it helps them bond and grow as people.”
Overall, there are many positives and negatives of field trips, but we believe that the decision for Edison to not run field trips is the right choice, due to kids not making an effort to learn on them.
