Friday, June 19, 2009

The Educational Value of Travel

I have recently been wondering about the role of travel in education. In the olden days, "society" people didn't consider there education complete until they had been to Europe and possibly some major American cities like New York City. But that was then.

There are some families that still value travel as part of education. This family for example spent a whole year travelling the country in a motor home as part of their homeschool experience. On the other hand, some people (like my mom), think that travel should be practical and used for things like visiting family and going on mission trips. (In fact, she is in Africa all summer.) Her mom was raised by a dad that wanted educated daughters (in a day when this was laughed at). He wanted his daughters to see more of the world than just the corner of West Texas were they lived. He took them to the Grand Canyon and Mexico City (and probably other places) so they could see something of the world.

So what do you think? How important is travel to a well-rounded education?

2 comments:

ablur said...

My family often traveled when I was growing up. I would sit in the car and watch the world go by for hours on end. Sometimes it was boring other times we had a game in it.

When I graduated from High School I started taking car trips on my own or with family or friends around the US. Sometimes I was only gone for a week other times I was gone for a month.

In my travels I have seen 48 of the 50 states, with Maine and Florida left. I can not describe how personally enriching it is to see so much. State/National parks and museums were always on my list.

I can't wait to start doing this with my family, but the cost of gas and our current political climate may keep this from happening.

Frances Clements said...

Welcome ablur,
I think I recognize you from Needs to Be Said. I am glad you made it to my corner of the world. I have always enjoyed seeing different places. I do hope to take my kids some cool places one of these days. I have only been to about 30 states myself. I would love to go to them all one day.