A parent's call

I got another phone call from a father of a student in my class yesterday afternoon. This is a long story, but I will try to make it short. We will go on a visiting trip this Saturday. The places we will visit are the Eslite Bookstore in Shin-Yi District, the Palace Museum and Bei-tou Library. The second and third destinations were decided by our school adminstration while the first one (Eslite Bookstore) was proposed by me. I chose this place because this bookstore is really a marvel. I say so because Eslite is now not only a shop which sells books and some stationery, it has also become a cultural token of Taiwan. It represents a taste and a lifestyle which the middle class is pursuing. Where else in the world can we find another bookstore like this? Anyway, I am always impressed by this Eslite Bookstore wonder created by the founder. This is also why I would like my students to take a tour in the largest Eslite Bookstore in Taiwan. I presumed that only a very few students have been there. However, to my surprise, when I told my students about this destination we would visit, nearly one-third of them told me that they had been there. (Oops, I am off my topic again.) Back to the father who called me. He didn't allow his daugher to join in this visiting trip. So, I called the girl's mother to ask about the reason in the morning. I thought that after talking with her mother, this case was closed. However, in the afternoon, her father called. At first, he told me why he wouldn't let his daugher attend this trip. The reasons sound to me somewhat absurd, such as that he was afraid his daugher would just go there for fun without learning anything. He also told me that he didn't let his daugher attend the graduation trip in junior high because "bus drivers are prone to doze off when driving, which is very dangerous." Then, he started to give his "intellectual speech" to me. He gave his suggestions on how we should arrange this kind of visiting trip. He said a visiting trip was worthless if it didn't serve some purpose of education. I told him that we had already asked students to write a report after the trip. But he still stuck with his own opinions on what an education-oriented visiting trip should be like. Actually, at the beginning of our talk, I had already known that this father just wanted to show off his knowledge. I could have ended this converstion if I wanted to. But somehow, I was very curious about what he wanted to say and I also wanted to fight back if I got any chance. So, during the conversation, I was acting like I was very involved in this "exchange of ideas" so that he could spill more to me to reveal his own weakness. I knew that I was evil. But that's the way I deal with a parent who is offensive and does nothing constructive but criticize. As for my response to this father, I indeed got a chance to express my opinions to fight against his twisted concept of education. (But this is another long story.) After the talk, I started to pity his daugher. She is a very intelligent and creative girl. But from the beginning of this semester, I've already noticed some problems in her and also talked to her about that several times. However, what can I do? I think I can only wish her luck.