Time To Reconsider The 85% Rule

To the Editor:

Thank you Mary Taylor for your letters to the editor concerning the cancellation of the Middle School field trips (The Bee, September 28 and October,19, 2001). You voiced so eloquently what I, and I suspect other eighth grade parents, have been feeling. As a parent of a child in the Discovery program, I was dismayed to have had to tell my son that the trip to the Disney Institute that he had been anticipating for four years had been canceled. Beyond my disappointment for my child, was a personal sense of outrage. My outrage stemmed from the fact that the trip was being scrapped because the 24 families that were willing to continue with the trip constituted roughly 80 percent participation, leaving us 5 percent short of the current guidelines for field trips. As it stands now, the board requires 85 percent participation to sanction a field trip.

It is my opinion that this 85 percent rule, which is arbitrary to begin with, will continue to rear its head and vex the possibility of field trips that fall outside the range of what a minority may believe to be acceptable. Considering the fact that we live approximately 75 miles from ground zero, where then might we draw the lines of perceived safety? As we all know this is quite literally a new era in American history, that will most certainly require new guidelines to ensure not only everyone’s safety but also everyone’s freedom. Perhaps this 85 percent rule is one that may prove antiquated in our new circumstances.

Leaving out the most basic tenets of right and wrong, it would seem next to impossible to achieve an 85 percent consensus on anything. In American politics for example, we consider 65 percent a landslide. One thing we can agree upon in this great country is our right to disagree. We afford for disagreement not only in our political system and our free press but in our social order. Americans are remarkably different from each other and yet somehow beautifully unified in our individuality. There is no typical American. There is no single, “normal” way to conduct one’s life. Thankfully those are individual decisions we must all make for ourselves. While I fully respect the decisions of those who wish to stay close to home, I merely ask that my own decision to continue to travel be respected as well. I also question the sense of the wishes of the majority being obscured by that of a minority as was the case with the Discovery trip.

Incidentally, staying at home, as we on Queen Street found out last Saturday, does not guarantee protection from the menace of fear. None of us knows what lies ahead, but I for one do not intend to spend my free time second guessing madmen.

The American spirit is a dual nature which mutually celebrates a love of home as well as a love of adventure and exploration. We have always tended to be a kinetic people, drawn to open roads and new experiences. We cherish our freedom of movement and the wondrous discoveries that freedom allow. What a shame it will be if we as a community, as a nation, voluntarily surrender that freedom to fear of terrorism.

Unfortunately most Americans do agree that this will be a prolonged struggle and we will most probably see future casualties. We fool ourselves if we think that next year or the year after will bring us back to “normal.” It is therefore necessary to consider that what may have been appropriate to our lives prior to September 11 may no longer work for us. Rules that may have made sense, may no longer be legitimate. I believe the 85 percent participation guideline for field trips may be one such rule that requires adjustment to the times. In doing so we allow everyone the opportunity to make their own choices.

Jill E. Coyne

Queen Street, Newtown                                           October 24, 2001