As I mentioned in my last post, my kid is currently in France on a 2 week exchange trip through her high school. The only reason she's on this trip is because she worked her butt off earning the money to participate. The international travel opportunities that high schools offer to students are not free, or paid for by the schools. If students want to go on these trips - they, or their parents, have to come up with big bucks to send them. Since I'm not one of those parents, my daughter Hattie had to work and earn a minimum of $2000 last summer in order to go on the school trip to France.
Most of the kids who typically take advantage of these school trips are the ones who come from economically advantaged families - families that can more easily pony up several thousand dollars to send their kid on a trip to Europe. And frankly, that stinks... and I've let the school know I think it stinks.
The rest of the students stay home. A lot of kids who work while in high school are holding down jobs to help their families out. They're not putting money aside for school trips, their helping their families pay bills, buy food and keep a roof over their heads( if they're lucky enough to have a roof), or just trying to put something aside to help offset the daunting costs of college.
It's infuriating to see multiple high school trips promoted every year with no consideration for making travel accessible to ALL students. If your kid's school is offering these trips, ask the school administrators what they're doing to provide equal access to global travel opportunities for all the students. If they're doing nothing, DEMAND that they make it a priority. All kids deserve the opportunity to be global citizens.
No comments:
Post a Comment