- 15 September 2009
- 6:46pm
- Filed under
Other
The open road vs book-learnin’ – what’s best for kids?
rosemLonely Planet author
There are all kinds of education, and travelling young can be amongst the best. But is it fair to disrupt your children’s school life to take them on the road?
In the hippie(ish) 70s it was relatively common for parents to pull kids from school, often for months at a time, to give them experience of the world. Even if your parents weren’t the type to pack you into the Winnebago for a cross-country odyssey or whisk you off to savour an Italian spring, chances were you missed school for the odd week or even the occasional summer to join your family on holiday.
In the more conservative 80s and 90s, interrupting a child’s schooling became less acceptable. But are the times a-changin’ back?
With airlines and hotels duking it out to fill off-season seats and beds, parents are being tempted by a deluge of term-time travel bargains. And some parents are biting. In both England and Australia (where yanking your kids out of class for such frivolous reasons is technically illegal), the increasing number of travel truancies is kindling debate about the pros and cons of replacing the school room with the road.
Folk who cherish childhood travel memories may find themselves leaning towards the ‘wandering the pyramids trumps times tables!’ view of things…and you can always do some book learnin’ on the road, right? (I actually learnt a few of my later times tables in a horse-drawn caravan.) Conversely, anyone who’s come back from a family holiday to find they’ve missed out on crucial class-time and even more crucial class bonding may disagree.
But I still remember those horses and that caravan. And my times tables.
I’m not a parent, but I’m not sure I agree with taking your kids out of school to travel. I want to show my children, when i have them, the world as often as possible but their education is even more important. So nothing will clash with that.
Having said that, when I was 16, I did miss one day of school to get the plan to Tenerife.
Yes, travel can be educational – although I suspect that in the majority of cases of parents taking their kids out of school it isn’t (sun, sea and sand rather than wandering the Pyramids) – but that’s what the school holidays are for. I presume that all the parents who do so will compensate for it by giving the kids extra lessons during August when all the rest of us are on hols!
All things in moderation, I think traveling is a great source of education for kids. Seeing a new city and new sites and meeting people of different cultures hands down teaches them more than learning about a place from a textbook. Ideally you can schedule trips around holidays, but when that doesn’t allow I think missing a few days of times tables isn’t the end of the world!
I don’t agree on parents taking out their children from school to go on long trips. I think it’s irresponsible, one thing is to go on vacation periods or a few days missing school and another one is missing weeks or months.
How can parents teach their children to be responsible (for eg, on a future job) if they don’t set the example?
Just my opinion-
Considering the level of the educational system, I think traveling can be a wonderful source of education. Of course, not all the parents would be able to offer this life to their children. They have to be responsible and educated enough to teach themselves.
If it’s for exposure, additional learning, or getting first-hand information about different places in the world, there’s nothing else that beats traveling. But if it’s for the child’s future and for practicality’s sake, parents should invest more on the child’s formal education, especially university. if the parents indulge on traveling often, it will hardly teach the kids the concept of delaying gratification for future satisfaction, since traveling focuses mainly on experiencing pleasure at the present. in my opinion, it is much more beneficial for the parents to schedule traveling during school vacations so that the kids have something to look forward to while in school. let the money that goes on traveling go instead to education that will help the kids become more competitive. competitiveness will translate to better job opportunities and higher pay in the future, which means more traveling for them. in fact, the better the kids are at school, the more chances of traveling abroad for exchange programs.
coming from personal experience, my dad used to work for LP when i was a kid so our whole family would go off on adventures now and then… not too sure but i think a fair few overlapped with school. to all of you saying its bad to take your kids out of school to go travelling, i don’t think my education was adversly affected…
As soon as i finished school (which i did well in) i went off to europe for 6 months. now i’m in 2nd year uni and about to go overseas again. i study full time yet i still manage to save money to go travelling.
net7783, going to uni and getting a good job isnt everything… after all, shouldn’t life be as much about the journey as the destination?
One of the great reasons to take children travelling is if the destination speaks a foreign language. Children (and even adults), of course, pick up languages quickly when they are submerged in the local culture. This can put them far ahead of their class mates.
I think, especially in the younger years, these opportunities shouldn’t be passed up if they come up. We spent a year living in a foreign country as kids for my father’s work, and while there, regularly missed school to travel europe, something not possible on a regular basis from Australia. I’m now hoping to be able to do the same with our (now prep) son in a few years. He is now bilingual but to maintain that we need to spend a year living in Europe where he can go experience a different type of schooling and lifestyle and again, the opportunity to travel.
I think under no circumstances should parents take kids away from normal school days for holidays as schools have planned curriculum for their students. In the case of school holidays, I think kids can only learn from their travels when parents are also inquisitive and willing to learn from their journey. If parents are only going for a sip on a deck chair under the sun, what can the kids learn?
Well, I don’t agree with the school room being the only or best place to educate your kids.
I did take my young kids travelling for a year, we travelled around a hub in France…and they attended school there.
Neither of them spoke a word of french at the beginning and it was stressful for both of them ( and their teachers) for a few months. But after the year they speak french well and have an understanding of diversity and nationality.
My aunt travelled extensively with her two young kids in the 80s and they have grown up to be fantastic adults, who succeeded in university in the careers of their choice.
Depending on where you live, the education offered to children can be very narrow and academic and of course biased. It’s great to have them experience difference.
Interestingly I was told by the french teacher that my son’s writing was very poor and the Irish teacher told me yesterday, how good his writing is!
Different standards I suspect, rather than a sudden improvement on sonny’s behalf.
I’m a teacher in a secondary school and I wouldn’t hesitate to take me kids (when I have them) out for a year. There is nothing they learn in Key Stage 3 (years 7, 8 and 9 in England) that the experience of travel won’t teach them in a better and more memorable way. The only thing that may be difficult is fitting back in with the other kids when they return. Though I’m sure they’ll have plenty of stories to win friends with.
One thing that hasn’t been mentioned is that a lot of families simply cannot financially afford to take their kids away on holiday (I’m talking two-three weeks max) during the summer holiday period. Taking a family of four away during peak time can be up to twice as much as earlier/later in the year.
When I was 14, I was pulled out of school for two weeks in November so we could take our first holiday abroad as a family simply because my parents could not afford it during the summer. It would then be the parent and child’s responsibility to ensure that they catch up on anything important they missed whilst away. The rules over here in the UK are incredibly insulting and I think it’s sad that there are families missing out on some wonderful experiences, especially with young inquisitive children in tow.
I am both a teacher and a long-term traveler. In my experience, it is not an “either-or” deal (either Pyramids or times tables). It is irresponsible to take kids out of school without making special arrangements with the school, but once that has been done, then a child’s education need not suffer. Consultations with the teachers involved before and after the travel are crucial, and the parents must be ready to enforce the necessary measures recommended by the teachers. That said, the parents should also consider whether the travel will benefit the child — travel for a week at the beach in a touristy environment may be fun but does not teach anything; but interaction with local cultures can teach the child the kind of tolerance and world understanding that no school will teach her.
I ’speak’ as a mum of three kids under 8, currently residing overseas on a 2 year contract, and with the hindsite of having been the eldest of three children that spent 3 years living in 3 countries as a child (under age 11).
From my experiences, the advantages are that I returned to schooling ‘at home’ for college with vastly broadened horizons, with awareness and knowledge of cultures far removed from my own. This set me apart form class mates who had not travelled, and whose minds were less open to the (fantastic) differences that are in the world.
The disadvantages involved not having a sense of belonging within my peer group, who had been together for years (though when I told a friend that 10 years later she said I was daft!!).
Knowing this, I made an informed decision (with hubby) to expose our children to different cultures for prolonged periods, as the difficulties a new country brings as much as the joys develop the little people that they are (and the family that we are together).
As a teacher a a father I agree with taking my boys, 7 and 9, away to learn. No they’re not learning spelling and maths but they have learned new words in new languages, about different foods and cultures, about the reasons for wars and how religion affects different cultures. I believe this has made them more rounded, tolerant and understanding people and they’re still doing well at school. Plus they have cool stuff to take to show and tell!
As a school employee, I do not hesitate to pull my 7yo daughter out of school for a trip. IMHO what can be learned in the classroom can also be studied in a hotel room. What can be learned in a foreign country can NEVER be taught in a classroom. The language, the culture, the people are a total different experince than reading a textbook.
Perhaps I get this from my parents who regularly pulled us out for trips overseas. It broadened our horizions far more than sitting in classroom between 4 walls.
From early on, my daughter is/was the only one in her classroom to know where Ulaanbatar is located. That includes the teacher. With that said, I rest my case.
No formal education in the school classroom can substitute the experiences a kid can have while on the road. But it all depends on the attitudes those accompanying the child have towards travelling. If travelling just means sunbathing or great food and wine, then it’s better to leave your kids within the classroom walls doing their maths and history lessons. But if a travel experience combines cultural visits with folk festivals, walking and trekking with discovery, geography with history, then it will become the best open-air learning lesson. The love for travelling is the most cherished inheritance you may ever leave to your children since it lasts throughout their lifetime.
I think the difference comes down to if you will be truly ‘traveling’ with your children (immersion in the local culture, language, etc) versus being just a ‘tourist’ (sitting on a beach at a resort). The former being worthwhile to take your children out of class to experience.
Travel is the best way to expand your mind to include more tolerance and understanding of differences between cultures and countries. That being said, what children – as well as adults – can learn from travel cannot be taught in a classroom. And IMO, can be even more valuable than a traditional education, which of course is still valuable and important.
My parents didn’t take us traveling when we were young and I wish they had. It wasn’t until I was in college that I was exposed to the wonders of travel and have continued to grow as a person each time I travel.
I have 4 children. I have never hesitated to take them out of school for travel – whether for a few days or weeks. The key is to plan…schedule school work time on the holidays, connect with teachers before leaving to arrange work or create special assignments. Different grade levels = different topics/expectations covered while travelling. It enriched our travelling experiences and required different critical thinking skills to be learned. Exposure to different cultures, history and ways of being are invaluable for creating the life skills of tolerance, compassion and flexibility as well as increasing the academic learnings through direct exposure. Our kids speak of being more interested in learning (with direct exposure vs. textbook), recalling more informtion and being able to share that information in their classes once they return to school. As each child ages they become responsible for planning some part of the trip (how to meet schoolwork needs, budget, routes etc..). Definately has worked for us!!
Markbroadhead wrote that immersing your kids in a foreign place can help with their ability to learn a language.
It is a fact that if you put your kid in a local school (aged up to approx 12) they will be fluent after around 3 months.
They won’t be at home in school lessons will they?
I have a friend who lives in Spain, i want our daughter to go to school there when she is about 5, just for the summer, see what happens??
I was one of the kids pulled out of school in the late seventies! My brother and I had nearly a year travelling Greece, UK and Europe with our parents. We came back to a completely different school in a different suburb and we were both WAY ahead of our peers, both socially and “educationally” I ended up dux of my primary school… In addition the “world view” afforded us by the trip changed me as a person.
The downside? Turned us both into inveterate travellers!!!! Can’t wait to take my two girls for their extended European Vacation!
Great. Now i can say thank you!,
My husband and I are both teachers so we get good holiday breaks. We’ve just decided to send our children to a cheaper high school so we can travel during our holidays. I believe travel & holiday memories are just as important as school memories. People who don’t have holidays (adventures) don’t have much to talk about.
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