At the Morse High School in the Maine, the school punishments They do not always take place in four walls. Since the school counselor Leslie Trundy He proposed a decidedly alternative variant, some students started serving their punishments … walking in the woods.
The idea was born after Trundy participated in one Conference on outdoor education. Since then, he began to propose students the opportunity to choose between traditional detention and one walk through the hilly paths Near Bath. Surprisingly, most of the boys opt for this second option.
During one of the excursions, also followed by a local journalist, a group of students from the first and second year told the reasons for their punishments: who played with the cell phone in the classroom, who raised the voice to a teacher, who jumped a lesson. Nothing out of the ordinary, but The educational response yes.
A controversial but promising alternative
The initiative was not accepted by everyone with enthusiasm. Some contrary parents they have prohibited to the children to participate, believing that a walk in nature real punishment. However, Trundy does not try to sell her idea as a revolutionary: she prefers to observe the effects and let the boys draw conclusions.
Some students admitted that the physical movementthe deep breathing and contact with nature have had an effect calming And centers. Someone, without saying it openly, recognized that the experience has had a positive impact on his mental well -being.
An opportunity to rediscover itself
There are also those who were not there by punishment. A student, for example, spontaneously participated in the walk for “find itself”. Raised in a family of immigrants from Democratic Republic of the Congosaid that “Finding yourself in a forest is easier than doing it in the city“.
Trundy expressed his will to Continue the project Even in the next school year, with the hope that some of the current students can become positive models For newcomers. A small step for school discipline, a big step for theconscious education.
