Are Teacher-Made China Trips Groups Really That Bad?

Teacher-made China trip groups. One of the most controversial topics in the High School is whether or not teacher coordinators should be in charge of making China trip groups. While the teachers consistently state that they make groups to give students a chance to bond with people who they don’t usually hang out with, many students have a different view on the situation.

Even though there are some students like Tiffany C, who said that she ” had [her] friends, and so [she] was fine,” there are also people like Jason H who stated that they “think [they] had one or two friends,” clarifying that rather than friends, they were simply “people who [he] had talked to before.” Maybe this means that students don’t necessarily need their “best” or “closest” friends during China trips, and rather just some people who they have talked to before and are relatively comfortable with. Sung A K stated that although she “was with [her] friends, [and she] was fine,” she thinks teacher-made groups are good “for new people.” Being a new student at any school can be a difficult time and having China trip groups being sorted by teachers can help ease some of the stress.

Before China trips, many students complain about the groups and talk about how they should get to choose, however, once students return from October Break, refreshed and clean, they have different thoughts about it. Even Jimin L who only said that her group “was okay,” said that “if [she] could pick the groups, [she] would want to.” Sehun K agreed with Jimin commenting that he “would want to pick the groups, if [he] could.”

Just as there were some students who would have wanted to pick the groups, there were also some people who didn’t mind having the teachers pick the groups as long as they had a friend or someone who they were relatively comfortable with. Cindy W explains this: “I don’t mind having some new people who I don’t know but I mostly want my friend group.” Additionally, Richard A suggests that “it would be better if we could pick a small group of people who we are comfortable with and then join with a group of people who we aren’t comfortable with.” This way, even if the groups are kind of mixed and somewhat teacher-made, the students would have some input in the choice of groups. Jason establishes this desire by stating that he “would like to pick some of the people in his group, not all of them.”

Overall, it seems that for now, most students are okay with keeping teacher-made China trip groups, as long as they get some input. This is quite lucky because there don’t seem to be any plans to change the system.