China Trips: Teacher vs. Seniors vs. Dragonfly

Finishing extended essays, starting on internal assessments, documenting CAS and writing college applications are just a few of the many tasks the seniors have to accomplish in this school year. With this in mind, there has been a growing resentment amongst the seniors regarding the necessity of attending China trips. What will we achieve from going on the trip? How will it prepare us for college? How will it help us in the future?

In order to understand the teachers’ perspectives on the topic, I conducted interviews with Mr. Timmerman and Ms. Lindsay. When asked about the importance and the necessity of attending China trips for seniors, Mr. Timmerman stated that this trip is “our last time being together as a whole, our last time to bond and our last time making memories as a class.” On the same question, Ms. Lindsay explained that the China trip “gives students an opportunity to have an intensive outside-of-classroom experience, where they learn to be independent, learn to work in teams and learn to have outdoor experiences” as well as testing their limits once they are outside of their comfort zone, not to mention that this trip also “gives the teachers a window to see who they are outside of classrooms and when they are faced with challenges.” Both Mr. Timmerman and Ms. Lindsay wish for the seniors to “have a good time” perhaps, “even if it is for a little bit, take a break from school,” and to “take on challenges with a positive attitude.”

On the other hand, several seniors, including Thomas Bernards, Michelle Chen, Elizabeth Kim, and Raven Hipolito were interviewed, and openly expressed their thoughts on going to China Trips. Both Bernards and Kim were discontented by the fact that China Trips is a “mandatory activity” that not everyone “enjoys participating,” not to mention the overwhelming amount of schoolwork that needs to be accomplished in addition to college applications. They claimed that China trips do not help further “bond with others” since they themselves can make arrangements to meet up with their friends whenever and wherever they want. “The school doesn’t need to make decisions for me, not on the location and not on the time when I hang out with my peers,” argues Bernards. Contrastingly, Chen and Hipolito, along with a number of other seniors, have exclaimed that they are looking forward to their “last China trip,” since it is our “last chance to spend a week” surrounded by people we are graduating with.

This year’s China trip has caused an uproar among many students. Factors include finalizing extended essays and internal assessments as well as college applications but most importantly, much discontent was directed towards the destination of the trip. The location is the same as the area targeted and visited annually by the Global Issues Network (GIN)—Shaoguan. Originally, Dragonfly had planned to have the seniors travel Guizhou, but due to major construction and transportation challenges in the area, the destination changed to Shaoguan. However, Mr. Timmerman would like to remind us that “being together is more important than where we go,” and since this is our last year as high school students, we should most certainly treasure this opportunity and make the best of it.