If there’s ever been a student who’s been on too many field trips, I’m it. How much is too much? Well, just first semester of my senior year alone I have been on 15 days worth of field trips. This comes out to .9% of periods missed just because of field trips: 92 periods.

And I don’t care one bit about those 92 absences.  I love the experiences I’m having because I am so involved. I’ve been given opportunities I would never have deemed possible for myself a few years ago. Some might object to my field trips, especially considering that some weren’t connected to any of my classes. For example, I recently went on a trip to Bettendorf, IA to shadow a student from her school to look at its extra curricular leadership/ student voice program. While on this field trip, I missed two days of school, which caused me to be behind on my school work. Later that week I was also playing in a softball tournament in St Louis which caused me to miss even more school. But by working with my teachers, I was able to get a hold of my work early and to get it done while on the road

The fact of the matter is, field trips are not a waste of time. Every single kid who is taken on a trip will have had the ability to take at least one thing away from it. Whether it is good or bad, the information still has the ability to make a difference by creating ideas. The main issue with missing so much school is all the makeup work that needs to be done. A big controversy with field trips is whether the student or the teacher should be responsible for adjusting. Personally, I believe that it is the student’s obligation to go to his or her teachers to find out what they have missed, get any missing work, etc. Even better, make that contact before leaving to find out what you’ll miss and avoid being a bother in the next class.

Students need to understand that it is not the teacher’s job to make sure that you come in before or after school to get your work, to catch you up on notes, or to respond to desperate emails the night before a deadline. Maybe it was in middle school, but now teachers have to begin preparing us for college. Teachers work with about 100 plus students every day and do not have the time to worry about one student’s “misfortune” of missing class due to a field trip. It would be wonderful if it were that easy, but as high school students that will soon be independent adults, we need to “grow up” and learn how to interact with adults: as an adult.

Going out of your comfort zone and trying new activities that you have never tried before can help give you a different perspective of what other people do and why. This is the reason why students become so well-rounded and known throughout the school. Having the ability to grow as a person and somehow change the lives of other students is an honor and should be taken seriously. These are the benefits of field trips, and students should have the ability to freely take on as many as they please as long as they are academically sound and meet their parents consent. If one feels as though a student is not worthy enough to go on a field trip, they should then be held back. This will create a baseline for students to know that they need to succeed in classes in order to enjoy the luxury of a field trip. If a student wants to challenge a teacher on their remarks, then they should be able to bring their position to a higher official to talk about the situation further.