OPTIONS & ALTERNATIVES
A Personal Challenge and a Community of Persons
THE Outward Bound Living and Learning Term is more than just an alternative to the standard pattern of classes and dorm life at Dartmouth. It is an opportunity for direct participation in the real spirit of a liberal education. Jan Sorice '76, a fall-term graduate of the program, describes the experience as "an effort in cooperative living which combines group dynamics with academic life, wilderness experience, and service to the community. The purpose of the term is to live and grow... by cooperation with others and personal challenge."
The presence of Outward Bound at Dartmouth, as part of the Tucker Foundation, dates back to 1969. The purpose of the association was to combine the "experiential" nature of Outward Bound education with academic study in hopes of furthering the concern shared by both for the formation of values and character. Dartmouth was sympathetic to the ideals of Kurt Hahn, the educator who conceived the Outward Bound idea, who wanted "... to impel people into value-forming ex- periences... to insure the undefeatable spirit, tenacity in pursuit, readiness for sensible self-denial, and above all compassion."
The classroom utilized by most Outward Bound schools is some form of a wilderness experience of about a month's duration. Hahn's conviction was that progressive challenges of "meaningful stress" in extreme environments would impel students toward a fuller realization of their capacities as persons. At the Dartmouth Outward Bound center the educational possibilities of the physical, social, and academic environments are all explored toward these ends.
Each student is enrolled in three courses, just as in any other term. Two of these are chosen independently by the student as part of the normal progression in a major, toward completion of distributive requirements, or as free electives. The third course, applicable in some way to the Outward Bound term, is taken by the group in common. This term the students are all investigating the pioneer spirit in "The History of the American West." Other recent core courses were "Leadership and Group Dynamics" and "Food and Hunger."
Students in the Outward Bound program begin the term ten days before the rest of the College comes back to school from vacation. This winter term's participants returned to Hanover immediately after Christmas. They were equipped with tents, stoves, insulated boots, skis, and snowshoes, and spent a couple of days at the Outing Club's Hinman Cabin training in outdoor skills. The basics of keeping warm, first-aid, and skiing were practiced in preparation for the group's first expedition.
The next week was spent skiing, showshoeing, climbing, and camping in the Pemigewasset Wilderness Area in the White Mountains. January 3 saw the students on the summit of 4,647-foot Mt. Carrigan, where sub-zero temperatures and 30 mile-an-hour winds combined for a wind-chill factor of -60. Exclaimed a student of a similar expedition, "When I stop and sit, my physical pain almost instantly reverses into a spiritual euphoria!" Outward Bound obviously provides opportunities for both extremes of experience.
Interspersed throughout the term, during various "long weekends," are additional wilderness experiences. During the first weekend of February each student spent three days and nights alone in the woods on "solo." Given a very limited area in which to stay, and a necessary minimum of food and shelter, the solitary participant has nothing to do but tend a fire, stay warm, keep a journal perhaps, and think. Reactions to solo are varied. For some it is a profoundly worthwhile contemplative exercise. For all it is a new experience to be so completely alone, with no distractions, for so long.
Throughout the current term the students have been sharing, as part of a social service project, their growing knowledge and experience in an outdoor education program at the Canaan and Enfield, New Hampshire, elementary schools. Early in February the group supervised an overnight outing for 30 grade school students at Harris Cabin. Near the end of the term the group undertakes a final five-day expedition of considerable difficulty, mapping its own route and completing all the necessary planning and logistical work.
An important component of the overall program is the communal living arrangement. A residence in Hanover is rented from the College. Students share maintenance chores and cooking and the responsibility for managing the complete budget for the "family" of 11, including the resident Outward Bound instructor and frequent guests. There is a strong and obvious sense of community in spite of the competing demands on time and energy in so busy a term.
Knox Johnstone '67, describes his role as instructor "as that of a safety and resource person. I don't lead from the front, if I can help it. I don't want to get in the way of learning; I try to let my students discover things for themselves - as long as they're safe I am not worried if they're frustrated. Out of that frustration, or fear, can come genuine learning - more permanent and meaningful than if I show them the way to do something."
What does one learn, exactly, and how is it measured? What are the long-range effects on students? These are difficult questions to answer objectively. How does one measure values and character?
Although it is difficult to judge the significance of an immediate experience, the following very subjective response by a student articulates a very real success: "I am feeling very good in what has become a community of persons. I am excited by the lifetime prospects and revelling in the beauty of this experience. There is something to this... I am gaining something which can be applied to the rest of my life."
