PART ONE

When education comes together with the natural environment, the most profound discoveries emanate. I was lucky enough to witness some of these discoveries as a chaperone for the fifth grade class of a Ventura elementary school on a three-day outdoor education trip to Ojai. Each day had wonderful activities that included: hiking, learning some basic environmental science, native basket weaving and of course, the mandatory zip line. I'm not sure exactly what the zip line has to do with teaching kids about the environment, but hey, every parent knows that bribes are a crucial aspect to behavior maintenance in their children, and the organizers of outdoor education curricula are evidently in tune with this technique as well. You have to wonder if some of these devoutly religious parents would have let their kids go if they knew they would be flying through the air one hundred feet above the ground. Some could barely let their kids leave the house for the first time. It was emotional for both the kids and the parents. The kids could feel this was one of those big steps that we all go through in life, where we begin to grow up, become autonomous, and eventually take care of ourselves. The parents felt this as well, and there were ample tears shed before the big trip and upon the return of the big yellow school bus. By the way, the total travel time from Ventura -- 15 minutes. Not exactly searching for mountain gorillas in Rwanda, but hey, it's a start.




Many of my assumptions about these fifth graders were dispelled. First, I had assumed that everyone had been on a hike before, even if it was just a small city park trail. Wrong. So many kids live in urban settings today that it is shocking how far removed our young human beings are from the natural world that birthed us all. SUVs (or broken Pintos depending on what school district you are talking about) come sweeping up at the end of the school day, snatching the children and bringing them directly out of the path of perceived dangers and straight back to the humble abode -- which more often than not contains a television and video games of some sort. I forget how lucky I was to be raised at the bottom of the flowing locks of the princess of Tamalpais in the Bay Area. Redwoods groves with pure flowing streams, springtime wildflowers, wintertime crashing waves on beaches - there were so many outdoor possibilities. Is it something that is passed on and molded into children by their parents, this love of nature, of playing, outside? I cannot remember a single day where I did not show up early at school. Why? To get in as many games of Seals as possible before the bell rang. One of those awful "full-contact-throw-a racquet-ball-at-people's-heads-kind-of-game." Our principal had to come out and requisition the ball on a regular basis to stop the riots. He wouldn't even try to bust us, just wait in the hall where we couldn't quite see him and hide it in time, then boom! He would jump out grab the ball, demonstratively put it in his pocket and walk slowly back into the main building. Although today there is a marked drop in the number of physically fit and optimum weight children compared to even twenty years ago, it is good to know that there still are some kids who exercise non-stop like we did when I was growing up. And they even play Seals at recess at the school where I teach. Twenty-five years later and four hundred miles away in a total different part of California, they are playing Seals. I couldn't believe it! I was like: "What did you guys just call that game?" They look at me, and pause; as if to wonder whether or not they should divulge any details, then say: " Seals. It's a game where . . ." Then I burst in, "SEALS! Yeah, I know that game! I used to play that game with my friends . . . when I was your guys' age. That's when you try to . . ." And then the light bulb goes off. Oh yeah, not really what you would qualify as a 'safe' game, exactly. Well, no it's pretty much dangerous. If the main objective is to try to beam someone in the head with a ball at close range, that pretty much qualifies as dangerous. I smile knowingly to the boys and then turn and watch them run off to the ball wall. What? Stop kids from exercising just because it's not safe? That's un-American, what about Evil Kenevil? I figured that since we all played it as kids, and we all have our sight and unbent noses today, that it can't be that bad.

ER Harris

Part 1/2