Re: extravagant student ensemble trips


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Posted by Joe Baker (long) on June 02, 2003 at 12:09:41:

In Reply to: extravagant student ensemble trips posted by js on June 01, 2003 at 13:09:25:

Wow, I went away for a day and my gripe of last week came back up. Very interesting!

As I read the posts, I see that the vast majority of the people posting in favor of the exotic trips are still quite young. At that tender young age, I don't think we older folks should expect you to fully grasp the big picture, but I'm going to try to paint it for you.

Raising kids is EXPENSIVE. Food, clothing, shelter, sure. Doctors. Orthodontists. Glasses & contact lenses. Cars. Insurance. Car REPAIRS. Musical instruments. Private lessons. COLLEGE! Oh, yeah, and my wife and I need to eat, too. It all takes a HUGE toll on the family income, just doing the 'typical' stuff.

Now, imagine that you've got THREE kids. This year I have one in college, and two in H.S. If I were Bill Gates, no problem; but I'm not, so our budget is already tight. I CANNOT afford to send them on these very expensive trips, and I make pretty good money.

So, we have a band program that is organized around 'the trip', and a trip that is too expensive for average income and below. That means, in effect, that only the rich kids can fully participate in the band! And that's supposed to bring MORE kids in?? Please! That's gotta be a bad joke.

Another factor is that the trips I've seen were SO much more expensive than they needed to be. My daughter's choir, for example, flew from Dallas to Houston instead of taking a bus (or cars, for that matter). Then they stayed in a luxury hotel instead of a Motel 6. I could have supported that trip at a price of $200, but they wanted $600 for two nights in Houston! Travel can be less expensive. Three years ago, my family took a two-week trip from Dallas, driving through Memphis, Mammoth Caves KY, Washington DC, New York, then back down through North Carolina, and across the southern states to Dallas. We went to a broadway show, saw all the sights, went to Coney Island -- price tag for 5 people for 14 nights: $2000.

But we're also ignoring the fact that this is just part of a broader trend. Has anyone else been noticing how out-of-hand the old Sr. Prom has gotten? Families are taking out second mortgages to pay for horse-drawn carriages, and renting banquet halls for 'after-prom parties'. I read where the AVERAGE price for a prom dress is $300! And don't even get me started on weddings, new cars for 16th birthdays, etc. We are teaching our kids to pretend to be wealthy, even when they are not. We are giving them lessons in living beyond their means. It is a moral outrage to do this and claim you are doing it 'for your kids'.

If you are a parent, PLEASE rise up and REFUSE to send your kids on a trip you can't afford, and refuse to SUPPORT a program built around a trip.

One last note: travel is a great thing, and I believe in it. If a school wants to sponsor a travel club, I'm all for it -- I might even sign my kids up for a trip within our price range. But requiring them to travel to Europe in order to play in the band is like requiring them to learn Spanish in order to join the chess club. It's not that the activity isn't worthwhile, it's just not really related.

Joe Baker, who sends his kids to school to learn, not to become globe-trotting candle salesmen.
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P.S. re: the notion that parents shouldn't send their kids on a trip they cannot afford to go on themselves:

This is a TOTALLY reasonable position. If seeing Hawaii is important for my son, why is it not important for ME? So let's say that one of us is going to go now, and the other is going to go twenty years from now. If he goes now, he'll be 14 (not old enough to fully appreciate it) and when I go 20 years from now I'll be 62 (too old to fully enjoy it). But if I go now, when I'm 42, I can fully enjoy it; when he goes 20 years from now, when he's 34, HE can fully enjoy it. This makes much more sense for both of us.

The only argument in favor of him going now: he gets INSTANT GRATIFICATION, the highest deity of our time.



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