lazuliangel

hsmithcr, I think I can sum it up in two words: private school. We're not a public school so our parents are, hmmm, how to put this, quite well off. And, being quite well off, they expect five-star accommodations no matter where we go or what we go. Very few of them are truly well-heeled travellers in that they understand that American five-star DOES NOT EQUAL European five-star or South American five-star. To them, Costa Rica = third-world country. No matter how much I fought for it and told them that it is one of the hottest tourist destinations currently around, they were immovable. It came back down to the 'Hmm, yes, where will we stay?' question. It didn't matter that their children were going to tour a jungle canopy, go ziplining, visit a working biosphere and ride horses on the beach. Dear GOD! They may actually HAVE FUN!! We can't have that, now, can we? No, no, no: they must have history, culture, museums! Not FUN!

Case in point: last year's Italy trip. We took a seven-day tour of Italian highlights, beginning in Naples and ending in Venice/Lido. Having been to the Veneto a number of times, I was actually quite impressed with our hotels. Our parents, however, were not. Many complained about tiny bathrooms, tiny showers, chipped facades ... and that's when I wanted to look at them and say to them, "And you claim to have been in Europe before?" Each museum we visited was a fiasco, too. The students wanted to see the paintings that interested them, but the parents were pushing the tour guides to show the Botticellis, the Michelangelo sketches, the this-that-and-the-other great Italian works.

I don't mean to offend anyone here and I apologise if I have done. Many private school parents are wonderful people who care deeply about their children's education. Many choose private school simply for smaller class size and varied content. But there are a few for whom the term 'academy' is a badge of honour, and some of those are ones with whom we'll be travelling.

Notice, for instance, we're returning to Europe this year?

I wonder what they would've said were I to have seriously pushed my desire to take the students to South Africa? After all, it would tie in with my curriculum (I teach Cry, the Beloved Country).