Posted by Rick Denney on June 04, 2003 at 11:44:43:
In Reply to: Re: extravagant student ensemble trips posted by GC on June 03, 2003 at 07:33:10:
This is a general comment to all responses like yours, not to you personally.
Let's start with the stated objective and see where that leads us. If we feel that our kids don't have enough cultural awareness outside our own region, then what might we do to expand their horizons? I can think of a bunch of things, starting with reading books (which used to be required in schools). My school went to hear the local symphony when I was in grade school, and taught a music appreciation course. We took field trips to museums of all sorts. All of these will bring the world to people who are open to it for a lot less than the cost of hauling a band to Europe.
Do these trips actually expose kids to perspectives that are useful to them? Has the band director ever evaluated the results of the trips to see if it accomplished with any reaonable efficiency the objective he outlined in his pitch? Does taking the Staten Island Ferry or walking down Times Square or hearing a choral group from San Angelo, Texas or getting panhandled by a street bum behind Carnegie Hall provide any useful experiences that would make someone want to move away from rural Florida or Alabama? I doubt it. Does riding the E-ticket rides at Disneyworld expand one's horizons? I can't think of how. If the band director is serious about his sales pitch, then is the Big Band Trip the way to achieve it?
For some kids, travel to exotic places would have that effect, and that was the idea behind the travel club mentioned by others in this thread. For many kids, though, such a trip is an opportunity to be free of parental supervision for a few days so they can explore the limits of how much trouble they can get into. Believe me, I've heard all the stories. They just aren't ready to have their horizons expanded yet, or to do so without their parents being with them.
And what's wrong with where they grew up? Before it makes a lot of sense that going Somewhere Else will cause them to expect more out of life, you have to define what it is about life where they are that doesn't meet the expectations of a good life. If you do that, you might be able to fix it in place.
Frankly, these sales pitches from band directors sound just like that--sales pitches thought up so that they can justify the trip they want to take for whatever other reason.
Rick "who thinks band directors should be professional music educators instead of amateur horizon-expanders" Denney