missypie

We took our kids to Rome, Florence and Venice this summer. Our son is 15. While in Florence, he was interested in all the references to Dante. Upon our return, he bought the Inferno, then the Purgatorio and the Paradiso. In English class, they have to write a major paper (30+ pages) on a philosopher (loosly defined as someone with a published point of view). Who is my son writing about? Dante, of course.

This is the kid who loves PS2, Game Boy, Harry Potter. It is fun to see him latch onto something to which he was exposed on one of our trips!

Christina

Interesting -- I don't think most high schools assign papers of that length, so it sounds pretty rigorous. In fact, I do some interviewing at my firm of general liberal arts grads from small schools or Ivy League, and it is astounding to me that I've had a few claim they never had to write a paper their entire college career! I'm not kidding, I remember some student from Clinton College in NY saying that, claiming that every assignment was some group project paper or something. She didn't get hired, as I have no patience for someone who can't even produce a writing sample (the job we have involves a lot of writing) of their own work.

Anyway, glad your son got into Dante's inferno. So to speak.

canterbury

On her first trip overseas, our oldest daughter was attracted to the old architecture and art, in general. (We are an extremely UNtalented in arts family.)

This interest surprised us. She ended up taking some Art History classes that she really enjoyed. She was particularly interested in the old cathedrals - something we definitely lack here in SoCal (we have the Missions, but not the same).

PalenqueBob

wished my son was as intrigued when i traveled with him in Europe as a teen - he stuck his nose in a book and was fairly oblivious to it all - just wanting to get back home to his home boys - unfortunately teens i see traveling with families in Europe often seem to exhibit the same unplussed attitude - you both are lucky.

laclaire

30+ pages in high school? Man, I don't care how intelligent your child is, 30 pages on philosophy written by a 15 year old must be about the most grudging thing to read for the professors. But, your child has chosen well and will have a lot to talk about.

As for kids loving Europe, I am doing a project right now with my old high school (in Dallas. . . perhaps the same as your son's). They have sent me a paper doll who will "live" with me for a few months here and collect impressions about Barcelona. The idea is to heighten cultural awareness in a fun way and so far it is going well. Of course, the doll did arrive with a Mexican sombrero that I had to cut off, but that is OK. We all change when we travel, right?

nytraveler

I think it depends on two things:

How mature (not old) your teen is - can they approach any of this intellectually - or do they just want to hang with their friends/play video games

Making sure they have - or generating - some knowledge and intrest before hand.

We started traveling to europe with my stepdaughters when they were 11 and 14, and they loved it. Now naturally they wanted to do more shopping than we did, and a little hanging out - but they truly enjoyed both London and Paris - including some pretty heavy duty church and museum going. But, they both had already been exposed to some art history in school, were taking French (so had a chance to exercise that), and voluntarily went to museums here at home - together or with friends - along with all their other usual teen activities/ hanging out.)

waring

I was talking to a bunch of American boys in London, and the highlight of their trip was that the fact that the police drove BMWs.

PalenqueBob

Many teens may like the low drinking ages - 16 for beer and wine anywhere practically outside of UK and even then not enforced.

annhig

My kids' [aged 15 & 18] self-imposed project in Rome at Easter was to find works by all the "teenage mutant hero turtles"!!!
Never did find donatello, but we've got him lined up for Florence noxt week.

travelgirl2

missypie - What a great experience for your son. And it is wonderful that he can draw upon it for school. I'm impressed with his interest in Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso. Very sophisticated reading for a 15 year old.

tamryn

I have to add that it sometimes takes years to see the impact of these trips (like everything else in parenting!) While my youngest 2 have thrown themselves into our european travels, my oldest DD has always been glued to my side-mostly upset about missing something back home! Now she is soph in college and the onetime girl who would never dream of going "anywhere where they don't speak English" is taking Italian and desperately hoping to get into the Rome program at school! Go figure!

LJ

My husband and I taught at an English speaking high school about an hour and a half out of Rome. The students ranged in age from 14-20 and came from North and South America, Japan and all over Western Europe (military and diplomatic corps offspring).The range of reactions of our students over the period to their European adventure was as individual as any other aspect of their personalities. It ranged from "wow, I can't believe I get to spend 2 years here" to "where is the nearest McDonalds so I never have to experience anything new".

The kids that were most open-minded and successful had families that loved to travel and were excited for them. It didn't matter that the parents themselves had never been away from Toronto-Minneapolis-Mexico City-Brussels; it was their ongoing curiousity expressed in letters, phone calls and emails that made the difference. If Mom back home is breathless with anticipation hearing about the school trip to Florence or Munich, then the teens themselves are much more likely to find it a thrill.

On the other hand, kids that bombed out, or stayed without joy invariably had parents on the other end who either didn't care at all or whose concern expressed itself in anxiety and fear: "are you sick yet?", "don't speak to strangers!" , "don't waste your time learning a foreign language, you'll never live in Italy again."

I would be willing to bet that missypie's (lucky) son has a big fan club at home for his adventures in Purgatory! (and bravo to the teaching staff that has the guts to assign a 30 page ISU, though it is not unheard of in IB programmes.)

PatrickLondon

I defer to LJ's experience, but with some teenagers a bit of reverse psychology might do the trick. Tell them they're going to be sick, everyone's going to rob them blind, never to travel on the metro or whatever, and they might just be tempted to explore to prove you wrong!

WLS

Teens are experts at looking miserable, disinterested, and bored. Sometimes they are and sometimes they are taking it all in by osmosis. I have 2 very normal kids. They are not always a joy to travel with but I do it anyway. My moto is that just being "there" is enough. My kids, now 18 and 13, have been traveling to Europe, Mexico, and Canada for 8 years. Sometimes it takes months before I have any idea of what specifics my kids have gained from an adventure. But one thing I know for sure. My kids are aware that there is a whole world out there to explore....new foods, new languages, new ways of life, new aquaintences to be made. They know what a passport is, how to exchange money into foreign currency, and that it is essential to learn at least how to say please and thankyou in the language of every country they visit. They can read maps, guide books, phrase books and dictionaries. They even know how to pack light! My daughter has been participating in Scottish Highland dance for 7 years now (ever since she was inspired by what she saw on our trip to Scotland). My 13 year old son has Van Gogh's Starry Night hanging above his bed because of a love of Van Gogh paintings he developed in Amsterdam. I truly believe that all of us (even oblivious teens) are enriched and perhaps sometimes changed through travel.

ira

Hi M,

>This is the kid who loves PS2, Game Boy, Harry Potter.<

I also like Harry Potter. I'm currently rereading "The Chamber of Secrets".

Seamus

It is so reassuring to know that there are still schools where a 30 page paper is not seen as a death sentence that elicits parent complaints. One of the reasons kids do not have the skills to really get the most out of travel (or other experiences for that matter) is that they have become accustomed to the sound bite and PowerPoint approach to just about everything, to the detriment of critical thinking and thorough (or at least more than superficial) analysis. That said, adolescents can be remarkably spongelike in absorbing an experience but just not show it externally - espceially to parents, whom as we all know become incredibly stupid around the child's 13th birthday and remain so until the kid has a little bit of time in the real grown up world.

missypie

Seamus, you wrote, "they have become accustomed to the sound bite and PowerPoint approach to just about everything." So funny that you would mention Power Point. I am a partner in a large law firm, and every five years or so, our management hires some high priced consultants to help us formulate a "strategic plan." The most recent version was only on Power Point; the bound copy of the Plan that was distributed was actually only photocopies of the slides. We all have taken to calling it our "Strategic Power Point."

My son's class is a combination of pre-AP English II and AP World History. There are maybe 80 kids taking the course and I don't think a single parent would complain about the assignment of a major paper. Even though the kids are very bright, I do pity the teacher having to read all of the papers. She did make a point of showing papers from prior years, where a 35 page paper got an A and a 200 page paper got an A-. I told my son that if I was the teacher and got a 200 page paper, I'd take points off.

Pegontheroad

A number of years ago, I was in a group during a summer program that included some high-school age students. One boy, a big, athletic 16 year old tennis player absolutely fell in love with the cathedral in Köln (Cologne). He was so amazed by it that he decided that he had to come back and live in Germany. He spent the next year in an exchange program in Germany.

I think we'd already seen the castle at Marburg, but it was the cathedral that impressed him.

Dukey

What concerns me is that someone has (apparently arbitrarily) decided that "30 pages" are required to do the subject justice.

Why not 29? Why not 34? Of greater importance, IMO, would be emphasis on development of an outline and the decision-making process in determining what should and should not be included.

Arbitrarily deciding on a certain length regardless of subject matter sometimes fosters mastery of the ability to pad, pad, pad.

lizziea06

More savvy high school authors know that Courier New font will give you an extra 1/2 page vs. Times New Roman.