Field Trips: Beneficial or Waste of Class Time?

Some teachers have shown their interest for field trips, while others have rejected the idea. Everyone wants to know if field trips are that beneficial to miss valuable class time. Sure they give you a chance to explore your surroundings in way you would not be able to on your own, but is the missed classwork and learning material worth it?

Junior Sara Adam believes field trips are necessary because it gives students a break from regular school schedules and gives them something to look forward to. “Fields trips are really great because I feel like they show me something I can possibly do in the future” Adam said.

Although Adam loves field trips, the the negative side is missing class work and having to catch up on seven different classes the next day. Though she believes it opens up new ideas and explorations that students would probably never go to on their own.

History teacher Caitlin Ulmer, however, does not approve of field trips. “It just gives students an excuse to miss school and work for the next day,” Ulmer said. It’s not that she necessarily dislikes field trips but she dislikes the way students handle their missed work.

Although some field trips can be beneficial, Ulmer says elective teachers feel as though they need to go on field trips, when really they just take away from class time. Also, most of the students don’t even know what they learned on the trip. In Ulmer’s opinion, all the students need to do is see their teachers the day before or after to see what they missed, but they fail to follow through.

Science teacher Gregg Gochnour is fully on board with field trips. Gochnour said, “We have so many magnificent places to go in D.C and the students most likely won’t go on their own.” Field trips offer an incentive to future careers because students might find something they are interested in on the field trip.

Gochnour’s favorite field trip was the museum of Health and Medicine which used to be at Walter Reed Hospital. Gouchnour loved how the students raved over it and thought it was incredible. It exposes students they wouldn’t get to have in the classroom.

Whether people like field trips or not entirely depends on the person and the field trip. They can be a great use of time if the students work diligently and effectively. Though if it just an excuse to get out of work then the student will suffer the next day. The effect of the field trip is dependent on the place, the students, and the teacher.