This year, students who take a foreign language have the opportunity to take a trip to Spain.
This ten-day trip over spring break will provide junior and senior students with the chance to explore and immerse themselves in Spanish culture. The trip will be supervised by Spanish teachers Ms. Evelin Joseph and Ms. Debra Korba-Rapp.
This is the second year of the trip, but last year, the trip was reserved only for students studying Spanish. However, the trip this spring has been made accessible to students in other foreign language classes. The only requirement is that the students are either juniors or seniors.
The Schreiber Times believes that only those students taking Spanish should be permitted on the trip.
Field trips in general require a great amount of preparation. There are many issues that need to be addressed when taking students out of the country. Teachers and chaperones must take extensive precautionary measures in order to ensure the safety of all traveling students.
While traveling in a foreign country, students may be highly susceptible to getting lost. In such cases, those who are familiar with the language would have the ability to seek help and eventually find their way. Students who have not learned such skills face greater dangers as they are not able to communicate with locals.
The purpose of the trip is to enrich students’ learning in the classrooms. Those who take a foreign language learn about the culture and customs associated with that language as part of their curriculum. Students who do not take Spanish, may take the spot of students who have been studying the language and would be able to connect what they have seen and learned on the trip to what they are taught in class.
Although students who take a different language will enjoy the excursions, they will most likely not be able to see how the language that they study influences the nation’s culture. It would make more sense for these students to go on field trips related to the cultures that they are studying.
While the intentions of Schreiber teachers are admirable in attempting to promote fairness, The Schreiber Times regards such actions as ineffective.