Field trip: NEWater plant with NBS and a few KIds. Hadn't counted on there being a primary school group on the same tour, and a bunch of senior high school exchange students from India as well. 80 little monkeys, a handful of trying-to-be-dignified-in-their-blazers-and-ties teenagers, and then there's us and our kids, casual as they come.

The tour, of course, catered to the lowest common denominator; the below-10 crowd. Hence the Barney-style presentation with toilet humor thrown in to keep the small boys happy. But the kids were the life of the tour, regardless of how I usually feel about them. They were lively, responsive, curious, and rambunctious. Without them, and the tour leader displaying remarkable skill, patience and good-nature in dealing with their shenanigans, the tour could have devolved into the #1 cure for insomnia. Well, maybe not. Perhaps the presenter might have been prepared with a repertoire of adult jokes for an older audience?

Oddly enough, there wasn't time in the presentation for a proper Q&A session. Many times the little ones' hands popped up but they were never allowed to ask their questions because the content material just kept steamrolling along. Is that why when they get to college level, noone bothers to ask anything any more? Too much content to memorize because there is no other avenue on which to engage the material? Noone to ask of because "you're supposed to know the answer already! What have I been talking about for the last half-hour?"

Guess that's my key take-away on this trip: the difference between GP and KI. Conventional GP kids make it their job to know the answers. KIds make it their job to regain their curiosity and start asking questions again. Hmm... if that's the case, then perhaps all college kids should have a dose of KI first, since GP seems to be the more advanced stage of this two-step process.