by laura beth
My niece, Melanie, is a 13-year-old 7th grader. Her science teacher planned a 3 day field trip, but was short one female chaperon. No chaperon, no trip. My sister Melissa (Melanie's mom) would have gone, but she had to work (she's a nurse and it was too late to change her schedule). So with the sacrifice of a long-planned girls trip out of town, I said I would do it. I couldn't stand the thought of those kids missing out on a fun field trip at the end of the school year.
The trip was to
Malheur Field Station and surrounding area.
Michael Cummings, a professor at Portland State University and geologist, not only spearheaded the grant that enabled the kids to go, but he came with us. He organized the whole thing. Some of the main areas of study included using a GPS device, geology, and wildlife. I got on the bus around 8:30 AM. By 9:00 I was ready to go home. We met Michael in nearby Seneca for some GPS activities. During the 45 minutes we were there, the extremely patient and mild-mannered professor threatened to send the entire busload of kids back home. Twice. So started 3 days of hell.
It wasn't the typical 13-year-old kid behavior. It was the complete and total lack of disrespect and manners, the open defiance, the flippant vulgarity. They talked over the professor, turned their backs on him while he was talking, took off without telling anyone. They broke all the rules and didn't care about consequences. There is only so much you can do as a chaperon. You can talk, guide, instruct, but when the kids are indifferent, you can't beat them. And the thing was,
it was actually interesting stuff. Michael talked about water systems, volcanoes, geographical changes, plant life. We visited a wildlife refuge with hundreds of amazing bird species. We explored lava flows and caves.
The kids were concerned with their cell phone service ("I only have 2 bars!") and members of the of the opposite sex, but not much else. The girls opened the windows in the dorm bathroom so the boys could watch them shower. They complained about wanting to go home from hour one, yet they drug out every activity by not showing up on time or by goofing off way too much. I am very much into kids being kids and having a good time, but come on! I have been around kids of all ages my entire life. I've been a Young Life leader and even worked with inner-city homeless youth and predatory gang members. I have never seen such terrible creatures as these kids. I am actually afraid of the adults they will become. Utter self-centeredness and manipulation.
I held it together until I got home, and then I lost it, crying for an hour. I told my mom to pull my 11-year-old sister, who will be in the 6th grade this year, out of public school solely because of the horrific peer groups at the Jr. High. I wasn't even angry so much as sad at the idea that it will take nothing short of miracles for these kids to change their altitudes and habits in order to become anything resembling endearing adults. Take it or leave it-my advice as a non-parent: Instill in your offspring, in any way you can, the basics of decency. Or don't get pregnant. Believe me, I am far from perfect, but I find the Fruit of the Holy Spirit in the Bible, Galatians 5:22 & 23 to be a great place to start. Wikipedia actually has a good explanation
here. And it wouldn't hurt to throw in some lessons on mercy, grace, and wisdom to boot.
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."
On the bright side I love owls and other various birds, so I was super excited to see a great horned owl in the tree above me in broad daylight. We also toured a museum of dead birds and although I dislike taxidermied (is that a word) animals, It was great to see some of my favorites close up.
