Fieldtrip

The field trip we took to Boston's JFK Presidential Library/ Museum was one of the most informative field trips I have ever been on. It was definitely a great experience and it would be something I would love to do again. It was a lot to absorb in one day, although a lot of the information was a repeat of what we had learned in class it was just in greater depth. There were three things that I learned while the educator gave her presentation and while I was waking around the museum itself. Walking through I saw that there were several gifts to John F. Kennedy for his outstanding efforts, and as for today these gifts are now ours to explore and look at. There were so many but there was on piece/ section of the museum that caught my eye; the section was "Hope for Retard Children." There was not much time for me to look at this memorial because we were rushed into watching a video. But my understanding was that mentally challenged children were not tolerated at this time. I took a picture of some sort of belt, and the informative card next to the belt had said that they were used to silence and tame any mentally challenged person. Kennedy quotes. “The care and treatment of mental retardation has been too long neglected....The time has come for a bold new approach." I think that was a great impact on the society. It was in the year 1961; President John F. Kennedy gathered a distinguished panel of experts to develop "A National Plan to Combat Mental Retardation." Also, I enjoyed looking at the coconut shell. The story is when John F. Kennedy and his boat crew were run down by a Japanese warship in World War II. It happened near the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific. Stuck on an island surrounded by Japanese, Kennedy was found by friendly island natives. He picked up a coconut shell and carved into it: “NAURO ISL … COMMANDER … NATIVE KNOWS POS’IT … HE CAN PILOT … 11 ALIVE … NEED SMALL BOAT … KENNEDY” Kennedy gave the note to the natives, who delivered it to the Allies. The next day the future president and his crew were rescued. I thought that it was very interesting. The other part I didn’t realize was his father, his father was a very successful man which I think encouraged Kennedy to do the things he did.

The trip itself was also very interesting. I honestly thought the beginning was a little boring because she was reviewing everything we had learned in class. But as the presentation went on she seemed to teach us more and more. I really liked watching the beginning of the inaugural speech that was set up in the museum. While watching this speech, the presenter pointed out that JFK was not overly concerned about the civil rights, as we saw in the speech he only mentioned one line about the civil rights.

I don’t have many suggestions on how to change the field trip, maybe if she gave us a tour where we all walked together and then if we saw anything we really wanted to go back to then we could go. Because there were a few points where I wanted to ask her a question but she wasn’t there for me to ask.

I myself think that JFK was a great president; I think he brought hope to our country. I think the country was very lucky to have someone like him elected at this time; Nixon would have been a bad choice. My opinion is that as president, Kennedy's greatest achievement was when he ignored the advice of crazy military leaders who wanted a nuclear war and negotiated with the Soviet. If Nixon had been president, we wouldn't be alive right now because he would have dropped the bomb. Kennedy knew that it was going to take time but all he was looking for was a better world, even if sacrifices’ had to be made.