JULY 30, 1952 
 
CHILDREN 
|     ...and            Ourselvets 
A GREAT many teachers and educators, we suppose, often 
find themselves wanting to write of the benefits to the 
young in contact with "Nature"-a propensity which we 
share. What one means by contact with "Nature," how- 
ever, can hardly be expressed adequately in words. We do 
know that children may benefit wonderfully from years 
spent in the mountains, on a farm, or in a small fishing 
town, and perhaps we feel that many subtle forms of 
growth best take place in such environments. But discus- 
sion as to exactly how or why this occurs is difficult. Per- 
haps, instead of attempting to pin the matter down to a 
formulation, we would do better to propose that children 
need to feel at home in the "natural" world if they are to 
acquire adaptability for feeling at home in any other kind 
of world. We seem to want youngsters to know something 
of the meaning of law, both moral and social. And recog- 
nition of the laws or patterns of action and reaction evident 
in the non-man-made world is surely the best preparation 
for comprehension of the fact that a principle of law exists 
in all things. 
A national movement now in progress, led by the states 
of California and Michigan, provides opportunities for 
something called "school camping." During the last school 
year, the children. of 67 of Michigan's schools had at least 
a week of school camping made possible by'a law appro- 
priating necessary funds. It is predicted that half of Cali- 
fornia's schools will make similar provision by 196o. Neil 
M. Clark gives these statistics and a comprehensive descrip- 
tion of a plan for school camping in the Saturday Evening 
Post for March 8, in an article, "Teacher Takes to the 
Woods." This is apparently one of those movements which 
take place chiefly because of an instinctive conviction of 
their value on the part of numerous teachers. Mr. Neil 
comments: 
Convinced school-camping advocates see in camping an 
opportunity to put new life into teaching, make it less dry and 
tetbookish, bring children closer to real-life experiences, 
heighten their interest in many subjects, including the land 
and the need for conserving it, teach work habits, recreational 
habits, social habits, health habits, encourage self-reliance and 
problem solving, prepare them for an adult world, develop 
desirable attitudes toward others and even actually simplify 
and speed up the learning of the three R's. They think of 
going to camp, in fact, not as five days away from school but 
as five days at school in a different environment-a sort of 
laboratory where things can be learned by experience. They 
are strong for learning by doing, and they think that if a child 
has a strong motive, he'll learn faster than if his motive is 
weak. 
We may with some certainty conclude that such oppor- 
tunities cannot do harm and may do a great deal of good, 
especially in providing new criteria for the child's evalua- 
tion of character and personality. Some children who do 
not shine in the classroom become mature and respected 
leaders in an environment where innate resourcefulness 
gains recognition, and where powers of observation are 
turned from books to the total environment. Some of the 
youngsters who are more showy and popular in town are 
 
stripped of pretensions in the hills and mountains. Also, 
the study of forestry contributes much more than a botany 
section in a Junior High School biology text. 
Of course, the best introduction to the beauties and the 
instructiveness of the natural world comes through trans- 
fusion of natural enthusiasm from parent to child. Always 
we may regard the youngster as fortunate who has a par- 
ent desirous of spending some time away from the city- 
and who is able to appreciate and benefit by the contrast 
and quiet provided. The importance of natural "quiet," 
incidentally, can hardly be overestimated, and here the 
school camping programs are likely to fall short of perfec- 
tion. The ideal entrance into woods and fields is either by 
oneself or with only one or two others, and we hope that, 
as the large-scale project develops, all practicable steps 
will be taken to afford this more isolated form of contact. 
Parents can also help to provide some of those subtle and 
important values which the sponsors of "school camping" 
must have in mind by encouraging an interest in books 
which fire the child's imagination in respect to woodland 
adventuring. 
A short time ago, for this reason, we gave special atten- 
tion to Le Grand Cannon's Look to the Mountain, and sug- 
gestions from MANAS readers have added other volumes: 
We should like now to call attention to Swiftwater, A story 
of the Maine woods by Paul Annixter, who is a genuine 
woodsman in his own right. This book (published by A.A. 
Wynn, New York) is one of the few which serve equally 
well for adults and ten-year-olds. Without any of the ex- 
cessive sentimentality which unfortunately marks some 
similar attempts, Swiftwater provides a, glowing picture of 
the sensitive appreciation of a woods existence shared by 
father and son, as well as portraying the gripping adven- 
ture story of a boy becoming a man by surmounting the 
hazards of his surroundingg. The Calloways of Swiftwater 
are hunters and trappers, but they are also lovers of the 
wild things, so that the excitement of the hunt is tempered 
by the desire to conserve life in all ways possible and by an 
even greater desire to understand the beauties and wonders 
of the ways of the wild. (Also excellent, though chiefly 
for older readers, is Conrad Richter's series on frontier ex- 
perience, the first volume of which is currently available in 
a pocket edition of ITh# Trev.) 
We have, naturally, no guarantee that every child will 
find special fascination in this type of story, but it does 
seem likely that any child who lives in a home where appre- 
ciation for such literature is keen will gain something by 
the perspectives which an enthusiastic parent, brother, or 
sister will reflect. It is difficult to keep alive an active appre- 
ciation of the beauties of nature in the midst of city life, so 
that some reading of this type should be a beneficial influ- 
ence in any home. 
Our schools have attempted to study nature "scientifi- 
cally"-one of the less fortunate heritages of the Aristo- 
telian tradition-but the classifying and microscope exam- 
ining of the laboratory is a far cry from entering into the 
heart and soul of Nature's harmonies and beauties. We 
have little doubt that the admirable scenic photography of 
many motion pictures and in Disney productions involving 
wild life, such as Nature's Half Acre and Beaver Valley, 
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