Memoirs of an Amnesiac

I am a firm believer that if you really want to learn the most out of any experience, you should travel. For this year alone, I have had the opportunity to travel in an area in Mindanao just to conduct a seminar to a group of teachers. Travelling serves more for education rather than leisure. It is in travelling that one learns cultures, adjust to body temperatures brought about by capricious weather as one travels, adapt to varying etiquette and traditions.

Thus, schools organize field trips to further enhance book knowledge and four-wall discussions. It is in educational field trips (apart from the leisure ones) that students get an extension of learning and experience (as it is the best teacher), concepts that have been previously planted in their brains. It is no longer an alienable concept among administrators and teachers alike to incorporate field trips in their school calendars.

But exactly how does one really set the demarcations for field trips? An incident that happened some weeks ago to a group of students who went to a far-flung town in Manila just to conduct not just a field trip but a worthy outreach program has been considered tragic. When parents send their children to schools, they have imbued the schools with their unadulterated trust that their children will be placed in good hands. Security had always been the prime concern of schools. For fields trips, I have known that it is Standard Operating Procedure for schools to let parents sign waivers to insure that the teachers and the school will not be held responsible for any untoward incident that might be met during the course of the trip. It is a message that when translated into simple words would mean, "JOIN AT YOUR OWN RISK."

Still the teachers and administration should make sure that the student's security will be made top priority. Itineraries should also be made clear to the parents, together with the permits that would be signed by them. Strictly there should be no "side trips." Proper choice of venue for the field trip should also be considered and they should go hand in hand with whatever formal instruction is included within a certain school year. Thus, concretizing the purpose of field trips as "enhancement" to learning.

We can't undo what has been done and put back to life what has been lost. Yet we can still make sure the rest won't fall into the same fate. God forbid.