"Trip of a lifetime" half way through A-levels - good plan or not?

[AChickenCalledKorma]

DD1 has the opportunity to sign up for a Camps International trip to Tanzania. It will be for four weeks during the summer holiday after year 12 - ie midway through her A Levels.

She's planning to do Physics and Maths, plus either another science or a humanity - as yet undecided. She will almost certainly also do an EPQ.

We have a few concerns about the trip, one of which is the impact it may have on her studies. There is a massive fundraising commitment which would start now, in year 11 and continue until May of year 12. And then she would be away for two thirds of the long summer holidays. And I have no idea what the expectation is likely to be that she also uses that summer to study and/or complete her EPQ.

She is potentially interested in applying to Cambridge, so A level grades will really matter if she goes ahead with that.

But on the other hand the trip does sound fantastic and it's very likely that at least some of her closest friends will be going.

Just wondered if anyone has any words of wisdom. We intend to talk to the sixth form staff about expectations and whether they think it's a good idea. But as the school is promoting the trip (and it looks great in their marketing material) they may not be entirely unbiased!

So why didn’t local people do those jobs?

Erm, lack of money to pay them to do it perhaps?

reallybadidea so is it not arguable that without what little help the travelling students gave the tasks would not be done at all?

5 grand could pay a lot of local labour.....

True enough Bettrand but there are lots of ways to help including direct donation and including visiting and helping and experiencing the country. The two are not mutually exclusive and the latter is not entirely devoid of value

So focusing more on your DDs subject aspirations - if she is interested in Cambridge science ie Natural Sciences, and it sounds like Physical not biological, can I strongly advise that she needs to read the requirements for Cambridge. She would almost certainly need to do Further Maths unless her school doesn’t offer it. Humanities/EPQ less valuable than this.

Second - Cambridge science labs offer work experience to Y12 students (other universities do too!) and that might be more beneficial if she is really serious about Cambridge etc. The more weeks you can offer them that you are available the more likely you are to get a place. Plus there all the Sutton courses linked above, Headstart etc.

Plus there is a lot of extra work to prepare for the application and the entrance tests - my DD worked quite hard in Y12 summer holidays to prepare for her application and something like this trip would have caused her a challenge.

Finally such a trip would be irrelevant to her Cambridge application where all the focus is on your subject academic ability. My DD was asked precisely no personal questions in her interviews!

So long story short - the wrong question may be being asked! Not - should she do this trip? - but - what will help her achieve her academic aspirations?

I think if she did go then she would be expected to have an opinion on it if she got a Cambridge interview. I’m sure they would ask her about it if she emphasises it in her statement and that would be an opportunity to give a balanced view of the ethics of such a trip and whether they really help.

I was asked questions about economics and about football in mine. Pretty much any topic can be used to show how you think.

So why didn’t local people do those jobs?
Erm, lack of money to pay them to do it perhaps?

I thought of going on a similar charity event as an adult. Someone pointed out to me that without specific skills, the money spent on my airfare could do more good to the community than any two week contribution that I would make.

Volunteering is good, yes, but there is plenty that can be done in this country, which will also lead to personal development.

So what benefit does this influx of 17 year olds confer on the countries they are visiting? Apart from the usual benefits of tourism of course?

bertrand even if there is no benefit to the country beyond tourism isn’t that enough?

WorkingItOut - to be honest, those are exactly the sort of questions we are asking and the more we think about it, the more we think this is the wrong option for her. We both studied in Cambridge so we have a fair idea just how obsessive you have to be to get in to study NatSci!

I had heard about Sutton Trust summer schools, which are definitely of interest, although having two parents who've been there and done that may knock her off the qualifying list! I didn't know that there was any prospect of work experience in Cambridge - that would interest her.

I'm assuming that what's in it for the local communities is the roughly £1500 donation to the projects which Camps International supports. But I'm very willing to be convinced that that money would go further if donated in another way.

I'd love to know how much profit companies like Camps International make out of each trip.

even if there is no benefit to the country beyond tourism isn’t that enough?

Honestly no. It is a scandal the damage this CV enhancement can cause. Families broken up to provide a pipeline of 'orphans' for western teenagers' selfies and CVs. Artificial building tasks which are then recreated for the next group of iphone wielding tourists to do up.

Look at reports from proper volunteering organisations such as VSO (who will have nothing to do with it) or JK Rowling's comments form Lumos and some of the reports from groups such as Amnesty.

If you really want a teen to travel then help them earn the money to travel. If you want to volunteer then gain some useful skills and do it properly. If you want to help a cause donate the money directly to the cause. The only beneficiaries of this stuff are the companies running the schemes.

homebythesea
Staying on Zanzibar yup it was a pretty full on holiday we were struck by the atronomical level of youth unemployment.
It is insulting that white kids come over and take jobs from the locals.

Each posh Brit pays around £5,000 for a couple of weeks "experience"
in a country where monthly incomes are around £50 a month

Surely it would be better to pay the locals that money to do the work that needs doing ....

Oh and Camp International have a very complex company structure that involves LLPs and tax havens. I wonder why ....

These 'trips if a lifetime' usually aren't. I went away to a third world country half way through my last year of school for a month. It was interesting but not exactly life changing.

"bertrand even if there is no benefit to the country beyond tourism isn’t that enough?"

No. Particularly when it's pretending to be something else.

What's the govt summer scheme called? That's popular at the grammar school near me - local community focused fundraising and help and self sufficiency skills etc It sounds brilliant!

I'd do that AND as you have the money so a trip as a family to somewhere amazing

even if there is no benefit to the country beyond tourism isn’t that enough
No.
And it's not tourism, it's voluntourism.

This isn't about helping developing countries develop a tourist economy. It is about keeping developing countries poor so some rich westerners can take selfies and create poverty porn for their instagram feeds.

I've considered doing overseas volunteering. The organisations I looked into wanted experienced and qualified professionals. To do the teaching one you needed to be a qualified teacher with a minimum of 3 years experience. Same for the nurses and medic ones. The point of people going over there was to support facilities, help train staff etc.

I don't mind expeditions to developing countries as long as they are clearly expeditions which support the tourist economy. The img is the cost of these expeditions is often expensive so companies claim it is a charity trip, whack in a couple of afternoons at an orphanage and then it gives people a green light to have others pay for their holiday.

I feel exactly the same way about university fundraising events. E.g. Raise money by climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. But by the time they've taken their flights etc out of the fundraising the charity gets very little. It's just an excuse to get other people to pay you to do something fun.

cappucino
What's the govt summer scheme called?
NCS : National Citizenship service.

David Cameron's "legacy.
It has so far cost around £2 bn of taxpayer money that was removed from other youth services.

Great for the kids to do it.
An absolute cash cow for the schools that run it.
A nightmare for the kids whose core provision has been cut.

PS
DD is going back to Tanzania in the spring with her University
but
Its a field trip. I just had to pay the air fares. The University cover the rest as its curriculum.
That WILL be an amazing trip for her.
DH and I are well jealous

I was told by a friend’s dad who took part that VSO costs the Uk around £5000 to send someone. It comes out of the Foreign Aid budget. Not sure that is much better than the volunteer tourism being discussed here.
NCS was valuable to the participants and also saw benefits to different charities locally.

I matriculated for natsci in 2012, so fairly recent but I'm not up to date with the latest changes to a levels.

I spent my year twelve summer working and having fun but also reading a variety of books to extend from a level and consolidating my maths. I went up to be a phys natsci with 5as at a level with 99% in physics (plus an a in general studies) and still struggled. Others with other grades struggled less but most find it hard. I was really glad I had biology so I could shift out of the physics side of it. Others side step into geology etc.

I'd deffo agree re looking into work experience in a lab if that can be achieved.

I think consolidation of year twelve work, solidifying her maths, extending her reading beyond the syllabus etc would be much more use than the grand tour! (But still with plenty of time off too!) Could she go on a really good holiday after a levels and maybe volunteer on a guides or brownies trip in the summer or something instead, so she still felt like she was doing some good?

Sorry to hijack but are there any good ethical versions of these type of trips ( for unqualified people)