To ‘cancel’ the trip?

[MotherOfOlafs]

Bit of a backstory. DD14 loves history, has done since she was small, has lots of history books, loves the museums etc. We had parents evening last week and the report from her history teacher was glowing, especially as she can be a class clown at times. So the time has almost come to pick her options. She told us at the weekend that she doesn’t want to choose history now as it’s ‘too much hard work’.

Now the issue I have is that I have already begun to pay off a trip to Auschwitz for Jan 2025. It’s a lot of money hence the school giving us over a year to pay it off. Students who are planning on taking GCSE history were strongly encouraged to join the trip with the school helping out with payments in certain cases. I’ve already paid the deposit and first instalment. To be honest I’m quite disappointed that she’s thinking of not taking it as an option as she wants to take classes that she thinks will be an easier ride and less theory/more practical stuff. So, AIBU to suggest to her that if she doesn’t take history GCSE I’m not willing to pay off any more of the trip? I’ve not said anything yet as I’d like opinions please.

I'd cancel the trip. For several reasons, it may take away from a child who is studying history, there will likely be other trips relating to the subjects she takes which would benefit her more and finally her attitude isn't great, the Spanish trip is an example for starters.

If you could afford to send her on every trip then fine, but it sounds like you can't. So I'd save any trip money for the ones that will directly benefit her GCSEs

I don’t see her attitude to the Spanish trip as a problem tbh, most high school trips are an opportunity to be away in a group with friends. Yes there’s an educational benefit but surely most kids see the fun side of things rather than relishing the opportunity to use their conversational Spanish? That matters to parents to justify the cost of the trip but is not expect my 13 year old to see that as her main driver.

Well, she’s right that history GCSE is a lot of work. GCSEs are a lot of work, even the more practical ones.

A visit to Auschwitz is a salutary experience and I imagine she’d get a lot from it. It does sound as though she wants options that appear to be less work. You need to disabuse her of that notion, because she’s going to have to put in the effort whatever she chooses.

I agree that the options she chooses should reflect what she wants to do post 16, whether that’s A levels or something else.

Thank you for all responses, I can see both sides and majority of replies have been really useful (obviously apart from ‘you’re a shit parent’ - so helpful and not at all pathetically bitchy). I will definitely have a good think about it from all angles.

Going to Auschwitz isn't going to help someone get a better grade in history, so it's not really anything to do with her focus on her studies IMO, that's a separate issue.
It's an interesting, valuable experience for a lot of reasons, but it's not equivalent to a language exchange (which would genuinely help you improve your speaking and comprehension if you made the effort, so I'd understand being annoyed if DC treated it as just a holiday if that's not what you intended). Aside from languages, I doubt any trips will have an impact on her studies/grades so you'd be fine to say no to future ones if you need to, especially if it's a stretch for your budget.

Surely it’s worth going whether she does History or not.

She may want history or travel as a hobby/interest in later life so I would encourage the trip whatever her options are.

No, I wouldn't do it. If DC are not doing the subject, they don't go on the trip for the subject. That said, our trips have only been planned once the subject choices have been made so nobody is paying before (were told the amounts so we can put money aside earlier not we wish). The other thing is that unless it's in a half term (highly unlikely as costs escalate), they'd still have to catch up on all the other subjects missed whilst on the trip.

🤣 Forgot it was still half term in some counties. Such a Kevin answer.

YABU. It will still be very interesting for her.

My DD went on the joint history / German trip to Austria despite having chosen Geography and Spanish for Year 10 instead. She still enjoys history but liked geography more and couldn't do both.

I haven’t actually posted on the thread yet but came here to essentially say if it were any other trip, I’d probably agree with you. A trip to supplement the learning on a particular subject isn’t really relevant if they aren’t taking that subject altho the idea of agreeing to her doing on a trip then essentially deciding she can’t go after all isn’t great. Plus I wouldn’t want her to choose a subject simply because she doesn’t want you to cancel her trip.
However! I am a firm believer that as many people should, if they can, visit auschwitz, or similar. Not everything is about school and qualifications.

@MotherOfOlafs she's already taken you for a mug once, over that Spanish trip, and I think that's an important factor. So this time round yes, I'd say that if she's not going to do history, someone who is should take her place. It might well be that she faked her love of history in the same way she faked her interest in Spanish in order to go on the last trip.

I’d definitely cancel. I’ve done the same cancelling a trip as my daughter is no longer doing the GCSE.

This is not going to be popular judging by many of the PP’s but I wouldn’t allow your daughter to have such a free reign on her options either. With mine I told her what she was choosing, I did allow her to have 1 free choice of non-academic/more practical subject. But the rest I chose for her based upon her interests and views of her teachers.

YANBU. She has plenty of life ahead to visit Auchwitz. It’s not going anywhere.

She isn’t taking history so shouldn’t go on the history trip. End of. Parents do need to be more involved in their child’s education and “force” them into certain things otherwise they end up lazy as the statistics are showing.

Did you miss the bit where she lied about really enjoying Spanish and wanting to continue with it, just so she could go on the trip with her mates? Then admitted it, seemingly not thinking it was a big deal.

I think a lot depends on how much of a stretch the trip would for you. If you can afford it without cutting back on other things then I wouldn't necessarily cancel it. If it is a stretch and you were doing it to help her with her studies then it would be absolutely fine to cancel.

At my kids school the Auschwitz trip is open to all children - it’s a full year trip regardless of whether you are doing history, because it is deeply educational and brings home an important aspect of recent history that many families are still touched by. I’d unlink it and encourage her to go anyway - and let her decide in her own time whether she wants to do the GCSE.

That aside, both of mine did GCSE and it really wasn’t that much work - four discrete topics, loads of online resources - she may change her mind. If yo know which exam board, you can look online to see what exactly is covered and how much content there is.

I’m surprised so many think she should still go. If it is a history trip and she’s not taking history, would she actually be able to go? Ds can only go on trips for selected subjects if taken as an option.
Don’t do anything rash. If she has always enjoyed history, she may be just having a brief panic about the workload.

I was taken to see Auschwitz when I was 9. Nearly 6 decades later, I still remember it. Really quite traumatic, such a heavy atmosphere there, not to mention the gas chambers, piles of crutches, heaps of hair and so on. Not sure if this will help you one way or another in your decision

I don't know about this really.
At first I thought she should go. It's important to know about Auschwitz and what happened in the holocaust, even if you don't study history. The trip would be beneficial even if she doesn't do history.
However you then posted about the Spanish trip and she took the piss there a bit - basically just wanting a holiday with her friends and not actually being interested in Spanish. I don't think she should get to go on school trips if she has no genuine interest in the subject and isn't taking the subject (ie. history), taking a place from someone else who is studying it.
Maybe have a serious discussion about what subjects she wants to take for GCSE, pointing out that other supposedly "easier" more practical subjects also involve a lot of work and that she has always enjoyed history and done well so it would be a shame to give it up under the false premise of other subjects being easier. I wouldn't link it to the trip as in, "Take history or forfeit the trip" because that sounds like a threat.
Also maybe ask the school how they feel about non-historians going on the trip and if there is a waiting list of people wanting to go etc. Then pull her out if she doesn't decide to do history.

It might be worth checking with the school what trips are planned - they’ll be in the school diary already as they book them provisionally yeras ahead.

From my current experience - DS in y11 took 3 sciences, Eng, Hist, Geog, maths, comp sci and eSPorts the only one with a compulsory trip was the geography field trip, which was a one day excursion. Everything else was optional (comp sci 3 day trip to Disney Paris for a computing conference for kids). He didn’t do languages but did tag along the French trip to Paris/Belgium had half term though, so you might want to check if she’s doing a language?

Maybe because history is important regardless of whether or not she wants to do it at GCSE....

She might also want a jolly with her friends.....but maybe she can have that alongside learning about an important part of history?

Well it’s the school inadvertently making this difficult for you by making it a ‘sort of’ history trip.

We went to Krakow, but couldnt face Auschwitz - but we know what happened there, and felt we didnt need to go

We went to the chairs, and they were very powerful
It was in Zgody Square that selections would be made; decisions that for the residents of the ghetto meant life or death. Those selected to leave the ghetto were boarded onto trains and sent either to Płaszów, Belzec, or Auschwitz. Some would not even make it to the train; the elderly, sick and young were often executed in the streets, in their homes, or even on the square itself.

No fewer than thirty-three oversized chairs scatter the square - each chair represents a thousand lives.

https://www.hasta-standrews.com/features/2019/2/18/the-empty-chairs-of-krakow