Part 6
You are going to read an article about trips for school children. Six sentences have been removed from the article. Choose from the sentences A-G the one which fits each gap (37-42). There is one extra sentence which you do not need to use.
Field trips for school children
For many years, school children in the US have been taken on ‘field trips’ to cultural institutions such as museums of art and of science, as well as theatres, zoos and historical sites.
Despite these trips involving some expense and disruption to class timetables, educators arrange them in the belief that schools exist not only to teach economically useful skills, but also to produce civilised young people who appreciate the arts and culture. 37 . So you could say that taking school students on field trips is a means of giving everyone equal access to their cultural heritage.
However, there have been increasing signs in recent years that the attitude towards field trips is changing, with the number of tours organised for school groups falling significantly in museums all around the country. Take the Field Museum in Chicago, for example. It used to have over 300,000 students each year through its doors. That number has dropped to below 200,000 more recently. 38 . A survey exploring the trend carried out by a group of school administrators found that over half the schools they asked had decided to cancel trips planned for the next academic year.
So what are the reasons for this change? The most obvious one is the issue of finance. Because there are increasing demands on their funds (computers and sports facilities aren’t cheap), schools are forced to make a difficult choice about how to spend the limited money they have. 39 . A significant number of school heads also consider days spent away from school a waste of time, believing that the only worthwhile use of students’ time is spent preparing for exams in the classroom.
Although school trips do still happen, the nature of these field days is also changing. Schools increasingly use trips as a treat for students who work hard, rather than as an opportunity for cultural learning. They are taken to amusement parks or sporting events instead of to museums and historical sites. 40 . In a recent survey, 500 Arkansas teachers were asked about the purpose of trips they organised. Older teachers were significantly more likely to believe the primary purpose of a field trip was to provide a learning experience than younger teachers, who mostly saw the main point of a trip as fun.
But why should anybody worry if school children go on fewer trips? Those that believe this is a negative development in education would say that cultural field trips contribute to the development of students into well-educated adults who have a healthy interest in history and the arts. 41 .
One exception is the research led by Jay P. Greene at Arkansas University. His team found that students who received a tour of an art museum significantly improved their knowledge of and ability to think critically about art. 42 . The researchers warn that if schools cut field trips or switch from ‘reward’ trips to less educational destinations, then valuable opportunities to broaden and enrich children’s learning experiences are lost.
A. This shift to ‘reward’ field trips could have a basis in generational differences between teachers’ reasons for organising days out of school.
B. However, there is little evidence to support this argument, as few studies into the effect of field trips have been done.
C. An online tour of the museum, during which they viewed and discussed five paintings, made little impact on students.
D. Faced with this dilemma, field trips are an obvious thing to cut since they are seen by many as a luxury.
E. While there are parents who will take their children to cultural places and events in their free time, there are plenty of other children who will never have this kind of opportunity unless schools offer it
F. They also displayed stronger historical empathy and were more likely to visit cultural institutions in the future.
G. A similar pattern is emerging in many other areas of the country, and is set to continue.
For this task: Answers with explanations :: Vocabulary