The Secret Lives of Students: Points For Good Behavior, But Not Enough For Busch Gardens Field Trip

Breakthrough Miami

Woodolph Myrtil, 12, says he feels like a bad student when he doesn't get selected to go on school field trips.

For today’s installment in our series, The Secret Lives of Students, one student writes about being left out of school field trips.

Editor’s note: This post was written by middle school student Woodolph Myrtil.

By Woodolph Myrtil, 12

One problem at my school is that only the Top 200 PBS (point based system) point leaders get to go to Busch Gardens.

PBS points are an effective system where students get “points” for having positive behavior in class.

Such as when you tuck in your shirt when a grown-up tells you to. Or if the whole class goes wild and you’re the only one being calm.

It’s not fair because the people who are not a part of the Top 200 can’t go on the field trip. Also not getting to go on that trip makes my mom think I’m not doing well when I am being a good student.

After that I got bad grades because I wasn’t the top 200 to get to go on the trip.

Another thing is people who don’t do their work get to go just because they got a lot of points by going to Saturday school.

I know you might think that why I did not go to Saturday school; well I don’t have time during Saturday because I am busy sleeping or I have a doctor’s appointment or I have basketball practice.

They said members from the basketball team would get a free 300 points, but they never did.

So only 200 “lucky” people got to go on the trip in Tampa and I could not do anything about it.

Myrtil is a student at North Miami Middle School. During the summer school program with Breakthrough Miami, she attends the Miami County Day school campus.

All month we’ll hear from students about life in Florida schools. They’ll open up about conflicting home and school rules on fighting, being hungry at school, feeling left out of academic programs, and other aspects of school life.