Remember getting on those gross yellow buses as little elementary schoolers? Singing Rock the Bus, packing our paper bag lunches, and visiting all sorts of cool places: museums, memorials, nature preserves, historical landmarks, colleges, etc. Somehow, we’ve missed the fact that growing up meant losing those experiences and excitement; we weren’t prepared for that. 

Although loading 500 kids onto the metro in groups of 20 may seem ambitious and a little destructive, we want class field trips back! Trust us when we say field trips are more than just a day off. They allow students to further explore what they learn in the classroom, see future career or educational opportunities, and make connections with their fellow students. 

Classroom learning shows us concepts and teaches us the basics – formulas, background, how to read – but field trips are what allow us to cement that learning as well as show students why it’s actually worthwhile to learn the content. Providing insight as to potential job opportunities is another reason for learning, a light at the end of the tunnel! A lot of the things we learn in school can feel irrelevant to our real lives. Imagine how much more open to English class we would be if we could see someone using that knowledge in a successful and interesting way. 

Many JR students continue to go on field trips through their sports, clubs, and especially academies. These opportunities don’t extend to the students outside of them and despite the goal of encouraging people to join, they often leave people feeling left out. 

Not many students get opportunities to visit places like the Smithsonian, the National Mall, or have access to all the infamous buildings downtown. By allowing for class field trips, it would create equal opportunities across the entire student body instead of relying on academies and extracurriculars. Providing field trips for the entire grade also makes sure that they are not all concentrated in one area; we experience the benefits of field trips in all our school subjects. 

Although we recognize the challenges of orchestrating several hundred high school students to behave in a respectable fashion in public, and all end up in the same place at the same time, we think they’re well worth it. Perhaps splitting by classes would be more manageable, or going to places we can’t be banned from! We hope to see more class field trips here at JR in the future and are looking forward to it! •