Did you go to dangerous school trips?

[Aeolienne]

It depends on what's considered dangerous. Aged 9 I was the first in my year group to travel to school by public transport, much to the consternation of our headmistress. The route I took (Highbury & Islington to Finchley Road & Frognal) is now on the swanky London Overground network but back in the 80s I had to brave graffiti-strewn stations and slam-door trains, before being faced with a choice between crossing a main road via a pedestrian crossing or using a urine-scented subway bedecked with "support the miners" posters.

Around that time a group of us had to go to Trinity College of Music (now the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance) for a recorder exam. The college was then based in Mandeville Street near Bond Street station - in other words a simple direct tube journey from Finchley Road on the Jubilee line. My father offered to take the afternoon off work to escort us but the Head was having none of this - in her blinkered mindset the Tube was bad enough but being in the company of a strange man was even worse. Instead the mother of an older pupil (whom none of us knew from Adam) was roped in at short notice to drive us there. You couldn't make it up!

 

[Mary Anne]

When I was a teen, start age twelve, the school took us to trips where we climbed mountains on a narrow path. If you fall, that's it... Some places we didn't even have a path and had to climb looking for footholds and places to hold. No ropes. You don't stand a chance if you fall from this height. And there's always a story about a kid who'd fallen to his death last year.

Gosh, where the heck do you live? Here in the states it’s extremely overly safe, and sanitized. I think I would have enjoyed your kind of field trips. I know some places in the world are more dangerous, like in the jungles of South American or India, or China in the mountains. Risks taken just to get to and from school on a daily basis. But here it’s not that way at all.

I actually made my more dangerous in high school as I would take illicit hallucinogenic drugs or amphetamines to make field trips more interesting.

 

[felines are superior]

Gosh, where the heck do you live? Here in the states it’s extremely overly safe, and sanitized. I think I would have enjoyed your kind of field trips. I know some places in the world are more dangerous, like in the jungles of South American or India, or China in the mountains. Risks taken just to get to and from school on a daily basis. But here it’s not that way at all.

I actually made my more dangerous in high school as I would take illicit hallucinogenic drugs or amphetamines to make field trips more interesting.

I live in Israel. People here drive like maniacs, and occasionally violent dogs roam the streets. Not strays, but cases of irresponsible owners.

I used to like danger as a teen, but now I pretty much gotten over it. I worry about my nephews. My sister lives in Ireland with her husband and kids at the moment, but she wants to come back, and that would mean the boys might go on those trips.

 

[Tom]

My school years were in and around NYC. Our school trips were mostly into the city. The biggest problem was from gangs of other school kids, fights, getting shook down, knocked down, hit with smashed glass. 60s to early 70s.

 

[Mary Anne]

I live in Israel. People here drive like maniacs, and occasionally violent dogs roam the streets. Not strays, but cases of irresponsible owners.

I used to like danger as a teen, but now I pretty much gotten over it. I worry about my nephews. My sister lives in Ireland with her husband and kids at the moment, but she wants to come back, and that would mean the boys might go on those trips.

Get a spray bottle and put ammonia water in it. Or bear spray - probably not available in Israel- but they must sell pepper spray for defense? That will take care of violent attacking dogs. My brother used to do these cross country bicycle trips and had problems with wild dogs chasing him. He dealt by spraying them in the face when they got too close.

We also have maniac drivers in the states too. They are everywhere these days.

That being said, realistically, if kids were in that much danger on school trips, I would think the officials would stop those trips. People (usually) love their kids, and Israel is not a third world country. It has education, and infrastructure. Might you just be overly worried?

 

[felines are superior]

Get a spray bottle and put ammonia water in it. Or bear spray - probably not available in Israel- but they must sell pepper spray for defense? That will take care of violent attacking dogs. My brother used to do these cross country bicycle trips and had problems with wild dogs chasing him. He dealt by spraying them in the face when they got too close.

We also have maniac drivers in the states too. They are everywhere these days.

That being said, realistically, if kids were in that much danger on school trips, I would think the officials would stop those trips. People (usually) love their kids, and Israel is not a third world country. It has education, and infrastructure. Might you just be overly worried?

I read that every year, kids drown or fall off cliffs in those trips. And your right. It's not a third world country, and life here is easy and usually safe. Good hospitals, education etc. Still, there's a strange attitude here about danger, especially school trips. Habit, maybe.

Just a few months ago, there was a school trip during a flood warning, and some kids drowned.

Good idea about the pepper spray, but it might get in my eyes too.I think that's what happens when you spray someone, human or beast.

 

[Mary Anne]

I read that every year, kids drown or fall off cliffs in those trips. And your right. It's not a third world country, and life here is easy and usually safe. Good hospitals, education etc. Still, there's a strange attitude here about danger, especially school trips. Habit, maybe.

Just a few months ago, there was a school trip during a flood warning, and some kids drowned.

Good idea about the pepper spray, but it might get in my eyes too.I think that's what happens when you spray someone, human or beast.

Depends on if the wind is blowing and it could wind up back in your face, true. But generally, if the spray is used much lower then your face, even if it’s windy, it will not affect you. You could always practice these defense tactics with the little ones. Everyone should learn how to protect themselves. I used to own a 4 foot long electronic cattle prod. That would stop an attacking dog for sure. But when walking the dog in the woods, there would be coyotes, and attacking off leash dogs, and a spray bottle of ammonia, Or a 5 foot hard wood walking stick does the trick.

 

[pamelaperejil]

Going to school was the dangerous trip.

 

[Aeolienne]

In Year 10 our French teacher arranged for us to attend a "colonie de vacancies" (summer camp) near Savines-le-Lac in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur - an activity holiday with all the instruction in French. Less than a month before departure, the headmistress stepped in and cancelled it, claiming that it had been arranged without her consent. One of her objections was we would be in mortal danger if we were unable to understand rapid-fire instructions when participating in a high-octane activity (whitewater rafting, water skiing and kayaking being on the agenda). Had she bothered to ask, someone could have reassured her that all the instructors spoke English well enough to issue instructions in case of emergency. In any case the vocabulary required to steer a whitewater raft or a kayak is fairly basic - left / right / forward / back / faster / slower covers most bases - especially if you have done those activities before, which all of us had. Two years earlier we had participated in a more conventional activity holiday (i.e. instructions in English) near Embrun in the same region of France.

Despite the headmistress's intervention, an intrepid six of us managed to go. One of the pupils' fathers nobly drove us all the way from London to Paris (this was in the days before the Channel Tunnel), where we were introduced to our fellow campers on the Alps-bound train, and after that we were left to the care of the French camp counsellors.

It was 3 people to each tent and initially I shared with two of my schoolmates. However after a couple of days I got talked into moving to a different team in which I was the only English kid. This was a bold move, perhaps too bold. It was definitely the best opportunity I ever had to improve my French, but I didn't get on that well with the French kids. Teenagers are not renowned for their diplomacy. Despite being surrounded by the vast open spaces of the Alps and the wide expanse of the Lac de Serre-Ponçon (said to be the largest reservoir in Europe, albeit a bit reduced in capacity due to drought), I still felt trapped. I remember the last night, when there was a disco and I wandered down to the lakeside to escape the snogging song. (It was actually Phil Collins's Another Day in Paradise which is a song about homelessness, not a romantic ballad - the bloody French couldn't understand the lyrics.) I ended up having a long conversation with one of the camp counsellors about how difficult I'd found the camp. Having to describe my feelings in French made me feel better - the nasal sounds and guttural Rs are great stress relievers, I've found.

The decision I made to isolate myself from my fellow English speakers in order to improve my language skills was one I made again when I attempted a disastrous Erasmus exchange in Stockholm (see earlier posting). Before I went I had heard so many accounts of students on Erasmus exchanges who spent the best part of their first term trying to escape their halls of residence that I insisted on being lodged with a family. Although this "family" turned out to be a recently divorced woman who'd lost custody of her kids and who eavesdropped on my phone conversations and insisted on lecturing me on how to live my life. What with my choice of accommodation, the absence of any other Erasmus students in my subject areas and the impossibility of getting involved in clubs, I rarely met any fellow overseas students. Maybe if I had been in contact with other Erasmus students I would have realised far sooner that I'd been the victim of a monumental misunderstanding. But I was left to stew in my own juice.

Looking back on both those experiences - the French summer camp and the Erasmus exchange - I see my decision to prioritise improving my languages ahead of normal social contact as a trait of Asperger's. Not that I would have said that I had no need of social contact back then, but my rationale was that "I'm mostly on my own anyway, so what does it matter if I do my own thing".

 

[Progster]

I see my decision to prioritise improving my languages ahead of normal social contact as a trait of Asperger's. Not that I would have said that I had no need of social contact back then, but my rationale was that "I'm mostly on my own anyway, so what does it matter if I do my own thing".

I did something bold too. I was really desperate to improve my German and I really, really wanted to visit Germany, so I accepted a place on a school trip of another school! Needless to say, I knew no one, didn't make friends or even talk to the other students beyond a polite 'hello', I was totally on my own. I was only interested in seeing Germany and learning German. I took loads of photos, nearly all of things or places in Germany, and not of the other students - it didn't occur to me, they didn't interest me at all.

 

[Aeolienne]

I often wonder how different the Stockholm experience might have been if I'd been diagnosed with Asperger's back then. Assuming that I'd been assigned a support worker, would they have told me "You won't be able to cope with the upheavals of studying abroad - you shouldn't go"? That's more than a bit defeatist. Even now, I have been unable to get a definite answer as to what support would be offered to an autistic student spending part of their degree abroad.

As for the French caper - I'm told that France is way behind the rest of Europe (if not the world) in terms of attitudes towards autism spectrum conditions. Apparently the refrigerator mother theory still has traction there. Perhaps the camp organisers would have rejected my application out of hand on the grounds that I would harm the group dynamic. I do recall a special needs question of sorts on the application form, if you'll pardon a little TMI: they wanted to know if I'd started my periods. Why on earth?!

 

[felines are superior]

I did something bold too. I was really desperate to improve my German and I really, really wanted to visit Germany, so I accepted a place on a school trip of another school! Needless to say, I knew no one, didn't make friends or even talk to the other students beyond a polite 'hello', I was totally on my own. I was only interested in seeing Germany and learning German. I took loads of photos, nearly all of things or places in Germany, and not of the other students - it didn't occur to me, they didn't interest me at all.

I never was interested in getting to know people or talking to people, and I've always loved nature. But I'd be way too self conscious to take a trip with complete strangers. Alone would be better.

 

[GrownupGirl]

I remember as a kid about once a month we'd go to a public pool to swim. That was kind of dangerous because we could have drowned even with life guards watching over us.

And we also went ice skating, usually during the winter at a local hockey rink. That was probably dangerous because ice is hard and it hurts when you fall down. Also the blades on our skates were sharp.

And sometimes afterwards we'd go to McDonald's for lunch. And we all know how horribly dangerous the food is.


I'm just goofing around. Compared to a lot of the stuff I've been reading here, just about everything where I live is almost too safe, probably even more now than when I was a kid.