School Trips. Possibly the most debated topic amongst students and teachers.
I'm here to tell you my point of view as a student, who is a firm believer in gaining real-life experiences. In my opinion, school isn't used to its fullest potential. And there are certain experiences you can't learn within the four walls of a classroom- hence the "box" in this analogy. School trips are often perceived as a waste of time or a day to go off-timetable. But how many time has a child learned social skills from sitting in that same chair, potentially staring out of the window, zoning out to Act 3 Scene 5 of Macbeth?
School trips consist of a day where students can let their creative minds flow and gain knowledge from the outside world. How many times has your child been taught how to pay for their food from a restaurant?
Not all education has to be academic.
Whether it's a voyage to "Thorpe Park" or "The Science Museum", I demand the right for students to experience an outing just to escape the realms of the classroom walls, Often, the argument is that schools only provide trips that are "educational", therefore, my trip to "The London Dungeon" was cancelled since it offered no purpose to my curriculum.
That's it.
"Educational". Such a broad term for a narrow thought process. The dictionary definition is "intended or serving to educate or enlighten." Surprisingly, I disagree with this statement because it does saturate the pure simplicity of the word "educational". Education for me is learning how to cope with people I don't know, how to manage my time when it comes to teachers giving me a rendezvous. These things mean education. I apologise but due to this negligence, students are deprived of their creative process and restricted to only thinking academically. I urge you to change your mindset or they'll start to ban creative subjects like Art and Photography and possibly even Music and Drama because it is not classified as "academic"
Written by Jahnavi Sharma
