Children benefitting from the activities conducted by Rustic Pathways program participants. RUSTIC PATHWAYS
Ever since John Dewey wrote Experience and Education in 1938, the idea of organizing school curriculum to highlight experience as the central role in education has been at the centre of debate. Even nationally recognized practices like Outdoor Education, Youth Empowerment, and Active Learning still rely on what Dewey would call an authoritarian, strict, preordained knowledge approach; one that is too concerned with delivering knowledge and not allowing students to create knowledge through experience. Many educators find that with state-mandated curriculum and strict graduation requirements, implementing experiential education can be difficult.
Organizations like Rustic Pathways have picked up the mantle in helping provide these experiences. While not all of the 120+ programs offered are purely experiential education-based, the company is making large strides in that direction. One program, for example, takes students to rural Cambodia where they work to solve a real problem within a local community. As a team, students must design, propose, and budget a service initiative as well as work side-by-side with community members to complete the project. Another program places students in charge of a ten-day day camp for impoverished Costa Rican children. Students organize and lead educational activities to complement the Costa Rican’s normal curriculum. Many of the other programs offered by Rustic Pathways implement methods of experiential education, and new programs are constantly being developed to meet this ever-growing need.
While the complete transition of practices from traditional education to experiential education will take time, organizations like Rustic Pathways are rising to the challenge.
For more information about Rustic Pathways, visit http://www.rusticpathways.com. For more information about experiential education, check out works by John Dewey including, Experience and Education, Democracy and Education, The Child and the Curriculum, and The School and Society. — WILLIAM HAYNES
