Field trips on the weekend? That basically defeats the point of taking a school field trip.

Google defines a field trip as, “A trip made by students or research workers to study something at first hand.”

A field trip is a learning opportunity, not just simply an outing to have fun and take a break from school. During the week is the time that students learn, not on weekends. Students will not participate in field trips on the weekend because weekends are times to relax and have a social life. They will not want to continue school-related events over the two days of break that they get.

Sure, it makes sense that there have been too many trips being taken each year, but that does not mean that field trips should be completely deleted from weekly school calendars. The administration, or teachers, should think through the trip they wish to go on and decide if it’s really only for fun, or if it’s a learning/studying experience. Although students may be willing to take time out of their weekend to attend a field trip to an amusements park, they may not be so likely to do the same for a trip to something such as a battlefield. Because the Antietam trip goes right along with the curriculum, it would be okay to take it during the year because it is learning about the battle, just by firsthand experience.

It does make sense that there have been too many trips taken, but instead of taking away a lot of the field trip experience from school, the trip should just be closely taken into consideration on whether it has educational value or not, then the administration can decide which trips would be worthwhile for students to experience. Field trips are, and always have been, the one part of school that students look forward too; not only because they can be fun, but because they make learning interesting. It is not fair to make students have to take time out of their weekends if they wish to go on a trip.