Post-War Field Trips
Minneapolis school children from Hay and Willard Elementary schools, as well as a South St. Paul group, wait at the Great Northern railroad station to board a train for St. Paul. Schools around the city have started taking field trips again after ceasing during war-time. As many as 450 children a day are touring farms, trains, zoos, industries, and historic sites.-- Minneapolis Morning Tribune, April 25, 1947
From the Stuff About Minneapolis tumblr.
I have fond memories of field trips from my childhood, when a day spent touring a factory was deemed as important to education as a day in a classroom. I think it's important for young children to see - in person, not on film - a working assembly line, an animal barn, a railroad train etc etc etc.
I don't know to what extent such trips are undertaken nowadays (readers...?). I would concede that it must be a headache for a businessperson to host dozens of unrestrained fourth-graders, but I think if such ventures are not taken, a learning experience is omitted.