to think it's not appropriate for school trip to include a visit to a bullring?

[Merula]

Interested to hear your views. Our school have announced a trip to Madrid, which will include a visit to a bullring. Obviously it will not be while a bull fight is occurring, but there is a fee to visit the bullring, so in effect, by paying for my child to attend, we will be supporting bullfighting. A previous trip to Spain included a visit to a dolphinarium. Would you be ok with this or would you question the appropriateness with the school?

Agree with @QPWO
I do understand the issue with bull fighting, and sympathize with OP and this dilemma.
but, as a similarly wishy washy vegetarian, the bullfight is ONE COW.

How many cows does an average meat eater have killed for their enjoyment each year?

Why is one cow not important but a bull is? To me personally it feels hypocritical to oppose bullfighting but eat a burger. Let’s not pretend that the death in an abattoir is any less painful or distressing than a bullfight.
so I’m not radically opposed to bullfighting or blood sports because I don’t really feel I have a leg to stand on.

I guess I see it similar to going to church.

IME (again as an ex staunch church goer) those who go to church don't generally care why others go, whether it's to get a kid into a school, get christened, or just for the tea and chat, we (now them) we're just happy to see people there, getting involved and coming together in the community, whatever the reason.

For me, if a meat eater is opposed to bull fighting (for e.g ) that's great isn't it, one more person caring? Yes they eat meat and support that industry, but I don't think that should discount them from opposing other areas of animal cruelty. Otherwise the alternative is total apathy towards any animal cruelty, which then means even less people caring, which feels like (us vegans) cutting our noses off to spite our face.

It depends on the age of the DC I think. When I went on a school (college, 16+) trip to Amsterdam we walked through the red light district and there was a visit to the Anne Frank museum.

The red light district was intended to be a sort of "this is a different culture, see what it is like" IIRC. Though honestly, looking back as an adult, it seems like a very strange thing to do! And I remember my female teacher saying she felt uncomfortable leading a group of teenage, mostly girls there.

That is definitely weirder than a bullring visit! Although it was wandering through the red light district at a similar age while interrailing and meeting the eye of a girl who looked my age in a shop window and how sad and completely defeated she looked that turned me instantly from a one-of-the-guys-cool-girl completely against the sex industry in all its guises. So that would be an argument for letting teenagers see the world a bit as part of them making sense of things and forming their own values. Perhaps thinking about the brutality of a bullfight will create an animal rights activist or two! I do think it’s important that the question isn’t one of a personal boycott - I don’t think I would go, but of making that decision on behalf of an adolescent.

Yes exactly that. I think it was supposed to be thought provoking, rather than being something that you just have a theoretical opinion about, actually see it and make the judgement for yourself.

Perhaps for the boys they hoped that going through sober and being fully cognizant to see the reality would provide a counter to an experience where they might get very drunk and end up there on a stag do etc.

Plus of course we went at about 10am on a wet grey Tuesday or something like that, so it wasn't like it was full of leery drunk men.

@Twoshoesnewshoes I think if my burger was produced by first chasing a terrified animal to exhaustion round a large ring in front of many thousands of people shouting and screaming,whilst several men slowly stick a variety of sharp implements into its back until it eventually bleeds to death, then I might decline it.

I'm not sure how you equate that with a UK slaughterhouse. I've been round one as part of my job. It wasn't like a Spanish bull ring, safe to say. Yes the animal ends up dead but there was no prolonged torment for sport and entertainment.

@Lifeinlists i don’t want to divert from the OP’s thread. Just to say I grew up and currently live in farming communities.
I can hear the cows wailing when their calves are taken.
Did you see a wagon of cattle unloaded and brought into the abbatoir? Have you witnessed the panic as they smell fear and death?
There’s a great documentary called ‘Cow’ which is worth a watch .
im not saying anyone should care or prioritise these animals experiences. I don’t particularly. But equally I wouldn’t be very anti a bullfight either, cos to me animal cruelty is animal cruelty.

If you don’t understand the difference between animal slaughter for food, and torturing and prolonging an animal’s death purely for entertainment, then I’m not sure anyone here can help you.

I don't think it is. You should question this.

If the school won't change the itinerary, at the very least they should provide for children to opt out and do something else.