What Happened to our Field Trips at HITN??

As young school children, we used to get over excited knowing that we would be going on a field trip of some sort.  I think mostly we were happy because, in our minds, we thought that we would be missing a day of school.  Although on the day of the field trip, we still had to wake up early, get dressed and go to school where we would be waiting for everyone to arrive, before starting on our trip.

We never actually thought about the trip or why we were going with our teachers to a certain place or why it was important for us to go.  We just wanted to have a fun day away from school!!

Now that we have grown, and some of us have even become teachers, in one way or another, we became aware of the importance of these field trips.  The aim of the trip wasn't to take the students out of school and go out for fun.  It is all actually for educational reasons. There are so many benefits to these trips for both the students as well as the teachers.

When I first started teaching at HITN, years ago, I do remember going out with students on many interesting field trips.  But, I have noticed that we haven't been going on any for some time, which actually made me go ask the people in charge about this.  What happened to the trips we used to go on  with our students, whether they were Maritime majors, Customs, or any other major for that matter??  These field trips help the students in so many ways as well as easing the pressure off them and their teachers sometimes. 

Getting one on one knowledge and important information is actually one of the benefits of these trips for the student.  When the learner has interaction with the real outside world, he starts to think about things more seriously.  Also, they are able to see everything from a different perspective outside the walls of the school or institute.  By organizing these field trips, you are giving the student a chance to broaden his knowledge outside the atmosphere he is studying in.  He can actually see where he might be working, years to come, after graduation. 

There really is a great purpose to these field trips, since they are actually a teaching method away from the typical methods, as well as educational observation for all.  They are considered a way to research something with out the experiments needed.  So, in the end, I really urge those in charge to reconsider and give us back the chance to organize these field trips for our students to their benefit.