| Opinion
& Essays - Jun, 1990 Issue |
Why Wilderness?
Lon Woodbury
The wilderness experience
was discovered by America in a massive way in the 1970s. It was quickly
found that the wilderness experience was an effective tool for working
with young people with behavior problems. How is it that those children
who are unable to learn the lessons of responsibility at home or at
school, can learn those lessons by leaving civilization behind for a
while?
I think part of the reason
was well expressed by the 19th century American lawyer and orator Robert
Ingersoll: "In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments - there
are consequences."
Our society, to a large extent,
is based on a many layered system of rewards and punishments. This works
reasonably well with children who have the self-confidence to foresee
consequences and understand the reasons and desirability of taking on
responsibility. But, to the behavior problem child who has a low self-image
and finds it difficult to trust anyone, this system of rewards and punishments
is usually seen as arbitrary decisions by authority figures. Many of
these children see manipulation of others as the way to get rewards,
and punishment as something to talk your way out of. In their view,
there are no consequences, only negotiations, and often the favored
tactic is to confuse the issue.
For example, if storm clouds
appear at home over low grades, the issue might well become the unfairness
of the teacher. If storm clouds appear in the wilderness, an accusation
of the unfairness of nature just does not fly. In the wilderness, the
consequences are clear and easily seen. The choice is simple. The child
must take responsible action to stay warm and dry, or not take responsible
action and be cold, wet, and hungry.
This common occurrence in
the wilderness, when nature is the initiator, teaches the child consequences
(they cannot talk their way out of it), setting goals (their comfort
is within their power), to make decisions (what they decide to do obviously
determines how the experience turns out), the need for action (it won't
happen unless they make it happen), and teaches him or her to take responsibility
for themselves (nobody else is going to do it for them). It breaks down
the mind-set that everything can be manipulated, and teaches that some
things just are. The way it often is presented is: "A storm is coming
in. What are you going to do about it?" When the child successfully
handles this problem, his or her self-image gets a boost. The same and
similar lessons are taught in a multitude of other wilderness events.
Hiking farther than they thought possible to a distant campsite can
expand their self-imposed limitations; crossing a river can teach trust
and teamwork; and preparing a meal can teach discipline and patience.
Basic and vital lessons are practiced every day in the wilderness.
One important advantage the
wilderness has is the choices are limited, and consequences are clear,
immediate, and objective. Back in a more complex society such as home
or school, the choices are sometimes unlimited, and consequences are
frequently unclear, often far in the future, and can be rationalized
as arbitrary or unfair. When a child is lagging in his or her emotional
growth, sometimes a well structured wilderness experience can change
attitudes where everything else has failed.
Copyright
© 1990, Woodbury Reports, Inc. (This article may be reproduced without
prior approval if the copyright notice and proper publication and author
attribution accompanies the copy.) |
