I don't get it

Sometimes I think I think too much. I'm trying to figure out my principal's response to a recent request, and I just can't.

She recently encouraged us to think of ways to challenge & push our academically-gifted students. I received an email invitation to bring students to a local university for a scientific lecture. The speaker is an expert in herbicides & pesticides, and will present his studies on the links he's found between these chemicals & cancer rates. Chemicals, cancer, and toxicology are all part of grade 8 science curriculum, without stretching or manipulating. The lecture is free, and a teacher even offered to drive a bus in order to eliminate transportation costs. Basically, it's an opportunity for kids to visit a college campus and hear a "real" scientist speak on a current, curriculum-related issue.

When asked about whether we could take a few students to this, our principal responded, "I'm inclined not to do this." End of discussion. (For now, at least. I'm not sure my indignation will allow me to "let it go.")

If she wants to focus on classroom instruction, that's fine; just say so. If she would rather bring speakers in and not take kids off campus, I suppose that's understandable, but she's never said that. I guess the scientist in me always wants to know "why," and when I'm not given a decent explanation, it seems absurd.

What could be wrong with taking a group of interested students to hear a lecture at a university? Don't we want to expose kids to higher learning? I remember very little about grade 8 science, but I know I would have remembered hearing a scientific lecture outside the classroom.

Our principal seems to like events & ideas that she can control. So, if taking kids off campus is too unpredictable, just say so. It's so completley disheartening & makes me feel defeated just to hear a negative response without even a "let me think about this a little more."

Arrrrrrrrrgh.