LA Times: Schools can't spare time or dimes for field trips

[marmar]

Visits to art, nature and science exhibits are rare as more hours are devoted to studying for required English, math tests. But some venues are adapting their offerings.
By Seema Mehta, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
7:21 PM PDT, May 18, 2008


Scores of second-graders scrambled through the airy Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana, huddling inside simulators to feel the shaking of an earthquake, building mini-ski jumps to learn about speed and shaping wet sand into riverbanks to observe erosion. The hands-on experiences allowed them to test theories they had only read about in textbooks or heard about from teachers.

"A couple of kids have asked me, 'Is this really science?' " said Kathleen Carney, a teacher at Deerfield Elementary School in Irvine.

Sixty percent of teachers surveyed across the nation reported decreased funding for field trips in recent years. In California, that could get worse as school districts grapple with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed budget, which would cut about $4.8 billion in education funding this year and next.

Field trip coordinators, school principals and teachers attribute the decline in student visitors to increased classroom hours devoted to the high-stakes English and math testing required by the No Child Left Behind Act, as well as budget cuts.

'Money is a huge issue'

"Everything is geared toward that testing," said Linda Kahn, a vice president at the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art in Santa Ana. "And money. Money is a huge issue for each and every school."

Between the 2005-06 and the 2006-07 school years, student visits to Bowers' "First Californians" exhibit about mission life dropped nearly 50%, to 880 students, she said.

The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County has seen a sharp decline every year since 2004-05, when 241,075 students visited. Last year, the number dropped to 172,764, which museum officials attribute squarely to increasingly crowded school days and concerns about funding. .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-fieldtrips19-2008may19,0,4381796.story

[Lorien]

1. If the populace is uneducated they are easy to control

however, we'll soon find ourselves in third world conditions if the repug education policies stay in place.

[southerncrone]

2. This is not just a problem in California, I suspect it is nationwide.

Surprising that even California, which has a high expenditure per child compared to most of the country, is having these troubles, too.

Here in Tennessee, because the extreme increase in diesel prices could not be anticipated when this year's budget was submitted, there are school districts that have run out of money to run the buses & are asking for donations & conducting raffles & bake sales, so they can finish out the year!

How sad is that?

* has decimated our schools with NCLB & his destruction of our economy. The local coffers are shrinking because housing prices are falling & operating expenses are rising because of these increased transportation costs.

It's amazing how much destruction one man can cause on so many levels!!:nuke: