Viewpoint: Murfree wants to do what? - WALB.com, Albany News, Weather, Sports

Viewpoint: Murfree wants to do what?

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Dougherty County School Superintendent Dr. Joshua Murfree wants to expand the minds of students and open their eyes to new experiences.

That's an admirable goal, but here's his big idea of how to do that.

He wants to take the entire school system-- all the students, all the teachers, plus chaperones-- on a field trip to Atlanta to tour the Georgia Dome, The World of Coca-Cola, and Centennial Olympic Park.

There are so many things wrong with this hair-brained plan, it's hard to know which to talk about first. How about the cost? The school system doesn't have two extra pennies to rub together right now.

Can you imagine how much it would cost to bus 20,000 people to Atlanta? Dr. Murfree says he'll get donations to pay for the trip, but he hasn't said who he thinks will pony up the hundreds of thousands of dollars that clearly would be needed for such a trip.

And think of the liability issues. Assuming the Georgia Dome and Coke museum could even handle a group so large, how can you safely corral 16,000 kids traipsing through downtown Atlanta. You'd be asking for trouble.

And why those locations? The Georgia Dome is a nice sports arena and Centennial Park is a beautiful park, but will our students' lives be incomplete if they don't see them in person?

We're all for pushing our students to succeed, exposing them to people, places, and ideas that aren't normally a part of their lives. We want our school leaders to think big and aim high, but if this is the best they can come up with, our students are in bigger trouble than we thought.