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| Photo by: Kevin |
Journal Entry #2
The
lessons learned within a classroom provide a foundation of knowledge that is indispensable. One must know how to read, write, and perform basic arithmetic.
While in the classroom I learned all these basics of life, but it was the
experiences outside of the classroom that truly shaped who I have become. You
cannot be taught how to interact with the world around you; this must be
learned through experience.
Within the walls of a traditional
classroom I learned how to interact with authority that was not my parents and
learned that there were rules to follow that were not the same as it was at
home. I learned to follow instructions and manage my time. While each of these
lessons provided the necessary structure that must be achieved to function
within a society. The lessons I learned after school have proved to be the most
valuable.
Reflecting
upon Richard Louv’s work, I had for the first time taken the time to
categorically compare my childhood experiences to that of my children. My
reflections provided to be quite startling. As a child I had the liberty to explore
in a way that my children have never experienced. Not until reading Louv’s work
had I realized the importance of the freedom I experienced in childhood and how
it shaped the person I have become.
I
was absolutely startled by the increase in students being medicated for ADHD
symptoms according to Louv it has, “increased 600 percent between 1990 and
1995” (p.3). Combining this with my own knowledge in the change in children’s
life experiences it seems very plausible that there may be some kind of
relationship between the lack of contact with nature and the increase in
students with ADHD symptoms. He points out how as a society we have moved from
an agriculture society to an urban society, this shift has resulted in a change
of perspective, when we were an agriculture society, “energetic boys were
particularly prized for their strength, speed, and agility” (Louve, p. 4).
These once “prized boys” are now being medicate to undo what thousands of years
of nature has created within these boys.
I
can remember the playground from my elementary school as though I were standing
in it today. The only playground equipment was a set of 10 or so swings the top
of the swings were approximately 18 feet, I can remember their relationship to
the building as they were at the top of the windows to the second floor
classrooms. The rest of the playground consisted of a small tennis and
basketball court along with a wide open field that you were free to run and
play in. The field was at least as long as a football field with the
swings at the far end. All of the teachers would stay on the small concrete pad
near the doors to return to class at the opposite end of the field. There were
no fences to keep us in, the far end of the playground had an imaginary fence
that you were not allowed to go beyond, the edge of the building and the side
of the playground was flanked by a large field leading up to a rolling hill
with a few stately homes perched on top looking over the entire school yard. No
one ever really seemed to get hurt the worst thing was that you would come back
in with mud on your shoes and maybe a grass stain. In the winter we could play
in the snow and have snowball fights and when you got hit in the head with a
snow ball you just shock it off and kept playing. It was not until sitting down
to write this paper that I realized what made recess our time, it was that we
were free. The teachers did not breathe down your neck they could not hear
every word said and you learned how to interact on your own. They monitored
from a distance and only rarely emerged from their concrete pad on the rare
instant a teacher would venture off their concrete perch, everything on the
playground would go still and watch as the teacher approached a situation.
Reading
Richard Louv’s expert from Last Child in the Woods, I was struck by his
comment on the state of children’s interaction with nature.”Ironically, the
detachment of education from the physical world not only coincided with the
dramatic rise in life-threatening childhood obesity but also with a growing
body of evidence that links physical exercise and experience in nature to
mental acuity and concentration”(p.2). With reflecting upon my childhood
experiences on the playground at school I cannot help but to consider them in
relationship to the experience my children are having. Their playground at
school has the modern school jungle gym of course no swings as that could pose
a safety risk. The playground is solid concrete with a fence higher than the
one at the Naples Zoo that is used to keep the lions in their cages. The
teachers are never out of ear shot. There is not a natural thing to be touched,
even the mulch is recycled car tires. Even a small fall can send a child to the
nurse’s office. Recently, my daughter was accidentally knocked over by another
student playing ball. As a result she had her knee and elbow scrapped up to the
point that the blood ran all the way from her knee to her socks. On my
playground as a child I would have not even gotten a scratch from such an
instance. Now children cannot even run on the playground or play on the monkey bars
as they pose liability risks. This new system of recess has taken away the
feeling of freedom that was once experience by children on the playground, they
no longer have a few moments to leave their school work behind and enjoy
childhood.
My experience of freedom as a child
extended beyond the playground and encompassed all of my free time. Upon
arriving home from school I was quick to do my homework, as I knew I only had
till dark to be outside. Instead, I would spend all of my time outside
exploring the world around me. I did not have any fancy world exploring kit or
other fancy tools. I had my bike and a sense of adventure. I can remember as
early as second grade spending my afternoons exploring the woods around my
house with the neighborhood children. There were no adults to watch over our
shoulders just ourselves. We had to watch out for each other and make sure we
stuck together so no one got left alone in the woods. The thought of my second
grader even being out of my sight for a moment outside puts me into a pure
state of panic.
All of the kids I grew up around
played outside all weekend. As a child my mother would spend Saturday cleaning
our house from top to bottom. While I never looked forward to cleaning; I knew
my chores and I got up and quickly got them done, so I could head outside to
play. I would only rarely venture in before sunset. If I did it was only for a
quick snack. If you were thirsty you went to the water house or creek for a
drink. It was a time of innocence when you could accept a cookie from the
grandmotherly in the neighborhood, which always seemed to have a snack for the
neighborhood children. The weather had little effect on whether we would play
outside. If it was too cold to play outside we had to be told so, as we would
have never felt it was. The first really good snow of the year was one of the
best times to be had, it was a winter wonderland to all of the children.
While we may have been out of our
mother’s sight we were never unwatched. If you had been somewhere you should
not have been your mother would know before you even arrived home and you would
be greeted at the door with a disproving look. If you did not venture out to
play after school it meant you had gotten a really bad note home from your
teacher. Further, if you did not venture out on a Saturday you must be really
sick or in a lot of trouble. If you did not come out there would be a parade of
children at the front door seeing what the matter was. If you were in trouble
this usually worked in your favor, because your mother was busy and had little
to time to keep explaining why you were not allowed outside and eventually you
would be freed from the confines of the house.
Reading
Louv’s story of The Last Child in the
Woods, I realized that I am one of the children to venture out of the
woods, leaving our play forts abandoned with only the ghost of our past and no
new children to venture in and discover what we had left behind. Instead all of
the children are inside watching television or playing video games. The streets
are no longer filled with the simple pleasures of childhood.
From stories like Louv’s we must
learn about the importance of our connection to the environment around us.
Classes such as this Colloquium are an important way to connect those who have
never had that personal connection with the environment and remind those who have
forgotten it about the importance of a personal connection with the
environment. Through this connection we can preserve the environment for the
next generation. Without the connection, environment is just an inanimate
object with no real place in our daily lives. People are always willing to
protect the things that are important in their lives and if we are to protect
the environment we must have a connection with it.
My experiences both inside the
classroom and outside have shaped my character and sense of self. Both have
been an integral part of developing me into the person I am today. A strong
foundation in academics and discipline has guided me through my professional
career. While a sense of adventure and a free spirit to explore have shaped my
personality. I hope this course will allow me to reconnect with nature as I
experienced it as a child and allow me to instill in my children the love of
nature.
References
Louv,
Richard. “Last Child in the Woods.” A University Colloquium: A Sustainable
Future.
Copley
Custom Textbooks. Acton, 2011. 1-14
Photo Retrieved from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevincollins/77344844/
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