KiasuParents - Parenting in Singapore

DS going to Germany this July organised by his school. Cost $3k+.

He did not do well in CA1, shd i use this $$ for tuition instead? Times are not really good for us and hoping $$ put to good use.

Anyone been to such trips thinks it is worth and shd not miss?

Thanks

Why is the trip so expensive? What will he be learning in Germany? How old is your DS?

Wow. What level? Secondary school?

School trip to Germany sounds so interesting..

No school subsidies?
Can offset some amount with Edusave?
How many days is this trip and what does $3k include?

This sounds like daylight robbery to me.

Must hear the other side of the story first.
We don't have details yet.

That's why i asked what the $3k covers.

Tks for the replies.

DS is in sec 3. Its a 10 days trip.

He cannot use edusave anymore cos can only use once for sch oversea trip and he used it last year for Bali.

I think the trip is for them to understand the cultures and history of europe.

I wonder how many parents can affort or be willing to spend for such trips.

Do you think this is important in regards to his education?

innocent wrote:Tks for the replies.

DS is in sec 3. Its a 10 days trip.

He cannot use edusave anymore cos can only use once for sch oversea trip and he used it last year for Bali.

I think the trip is for them to understand the cultures and history of europe.

I wonder how many parents can affort or be willing to spend for such trips.

Do you think this is important in regards to his education?

I must say the price $3k is steep. Given the uncertainty in our economic climate now, is best to find out more from the teachers organising this trip and also get some feedbacks from other parents. Must also find out if this is relating to any of his subjects' matters.

Well, I have already told my kids that we cannot afford such trips. I think that it's only a small proportion of students who go on such trips, and they are not compulsory anyway. Of course, affordibility depends on family circumstances, but we cannot be spending half the family's monthly income on 1 trip for 1 child. Such trips are nice-to-haves, not necessities, so I would say 'no' to going. They can learn about the history and culture from other sources - books, videos etc. It's not as good as being there, maybe, but the cost of the trip is just too much. Anyway, my family did a 2-week European trip for 4 people for $11K last year, so $3K for 10 days does sound steep.

$3K for a 10day Europe trip actually not too expensive - but to me, this is a luxury item, not a must have.

I'm probably out of syllabus (long time ago, I took history in sec and JC) but we only covered SEA region in sec school leh. it was only in JC then I got to cover European history and even then it was by choice. And to narrow the scope that we had to study, teacher covered German history in detail (plus some other stuff). Despite that, I don't feel much enlightened by the Germany trip I did via backpack years back

Not quite sure why such trips deemed necessary for kids in sec school. Without knowing what's in the itinerary, I'm of the opinion this is pretty frivolous.

Then again, if money is no issue, go ahead. If there is better use for the money, then probably not.