The Minnesota Zoo has programs where high school kids come with their class, and a guide will give them a tour in a non-English language, so lots of Spanish/German/French classes go. One of our Spanish teachers is taking her classes this year.

She tells her kids that if they cannot go, then they will have to do a presentation in class on some topic to make up “the points”. I’m not exactly sure how many of these points the kids going on the field trip are going to get, or how much more work a presentation is than going to the zoo, but that is another topic.

Lots of her kids decide that they aren’t going to go because they don’t want to miss their other classes. It turns out that this really is lots of kids. So the Spanish teacher rescinds her idea of the presentation because it would take too long for the presentation. She tells the kids that if they can’t go, they’ll just have to lose the points.

I’m not sure what will come of it. Hopefully a parent will call and get things straightened out. Some kids don’t want to miss all their other classes, whether lectures, debates, quizzes, or exams, so that they don’t fall behind – in other words, they feel that they could get more out of a day at school than out of a day at the zoo. Good for them – most kids would be thankful for a day at the zoo just to get out of school. And now these kids will be punished for making the right choice.