The new face of childhood education

Say buh-bye to Field Trips... Damn, I really looked forward to these when I was in grade school. Every other month, we would be bundled into busses and taken out to various engineering and chemical research centers (I grew up in Pittsburgh and Westinghouse, GE and several of the steel-makers had major facilities close by) or museums and historical places like the Old Economy Shaker Village. It was recreational for sure to be out of the classroom but it also broadened my experiences and made me realize that my 'culture' was only part of the big picture. For the engineering labs, it provided a good taste of what an Engineer or a Chemist did for a living and was helpful when it came to choosing my own career. From Courant:

Field Trips Fading Fast In An Age Of Testing
Mark Proffitt still remembers the thrill of being sprung from school for class outings to Old Sturbridge Village or the state Capitol. "You couldn't wait to go on field trips," recalled Proffitt, now an elementary school principal in Middletown.

For today's students, such experiences are increasingly elusive. Tight budgets and rising gas prices, concerns about safety and the sheer hassle of taking kids out into the world are leading some schools to reduce or eliminate field trips.

And now there's a powerful new force keeping students in their seats during the school day: the drive to boost performance on standardized tests. That has led principals to jettison "extras" such as field trips in their quest to wring every minute of instructional time from an already crammed school day.

In other words, an afternoon spent gazing at masterpieces in an art museum is getting harder to justify.

"We have a limited amount of time for instruction," said Karen List, an assistant superintendent in West Hartford. "Given all the demands that are placed upon us these days, we want to make sure every single moment is a valuable moment."

The pressure to improve student performance is especially intense in urban school systems struggling beneath the weight of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. James Thompson, the assistant superintendent in Hartford, said his district is reviewing its field trip policy to make sure every excursion connects to a classroom lesson.

A shame really -- the education system in the US has gotten so dumbed down.