Explaining the value of camp.

As individuals and as a society, we are in the midst of a series of crises: crises of hunger, violence, war, ill health, new epidemics, and environmental disaster. New or more widely available technology is not the answer, because we already have the technology to solve these problems, and we have the money.

No, as E.F. Schumacher (1977) said almost 20 years ago, "There is no economic problem, and, in a sense, there never has been. But there is a moral problem." These crises are problems of human values and human will; they are crises of courage, hope and love.

I celebrate camp, because camp can make a difference in the crises of courage, hope and love, and ultimately, in the crises of hunger, violence, and environmental disaster. Camp nurtures the human spirit, and through the uplifting of the human spirit, we have reason to hope.

The purpose of this paper is to help camp professionals and those who use and support camp to solve an immediate practical problem, that of explaining and justifying camp experiences to decision makers. In doing so, we can help to solve two immediate, grand scale societal problems, those of stopping and reversing the degradation of the environment and the degradation of human conduct.

Good camp experiences demonstrate the real possibility of a good and peaceful society living in harmony with the environment. Substantial, valid research supports this position, though it may not state it exactly that way. Children know it; you know it intuitively. In a research study Gale Orford and I conducted in 1989 (Chenery, 1991), an eight-year-old camper was asked what she thought were the messages that her camp was trying to teach her. She replied, "Peace." This was the second day of camp.

How could this child possibly have gotten that message? This was her first year at camp, and in the two days we had been observing, we had not noticed any overt teaching about peace.

We asked the camper, "How do you know that camp is trying to teach you peace?" Her reply, "Listen to the songs we sing." And we looked back on the songs sung at mealtimes and around the campfire: "Peace I Ask of Thee O River," "Kumbayah," "Rainbow Army," "Canadian Wilderness," "Make New Friends." She knew on the second day that that particular camp was about peace.

Crafting a Philosophy of Camping

But how do we explain the value of camp to decision makers -- notably parents, but also agency boards, camp committees, school boards, and governmental departments -- who influence whether we have the opportunity to serve children and adults through camp programs? Some of the questions they ask include:

* Is it worth the cost in dollars,

staff time, and disruption to family

and school?

* Is it educationally sound?

* Is it safe?

* Is it necessary?

* What do camps do that time at a

playground program or a good

day-care program or school

doesn't do, except give the kids

a break?

To answer these questions, you need a philosophy of camping and a theory about how camps work. My thesis, and my philosophy, is that camping is a unique, positive educational experience that makes an important contribution to individuals and to society. It leads to outcomes that are different from those achieved in most schools, most nonresidential recreational programs, most day-care programs, and most families. In a well-run program, a camp achieves these outcomes for a large proportion of its campers.

Camping has the potential to accelerate change and growth in individuals through its 24-hour intensity and the conditions unique to its setting and processes. As Dan Dustin (1989) said to ACA members at the 1989 national conference, camp is inherently powerful, but not inherently good; we must make sure that its power is used for good.

Camps enable campers to see the consequences of their actions and to learn that they may make a difference in the world. The small, human-scale community created in camp allows campers, in Dustin's words, "To taste the possibility for the human family, ...to sense their connectedness to other living things, ...to have a glimpse of what can be, to come home eager and enthusiastic, ready to take on the world" (Dustin, 1989).(1)

A philosophy of camping is a systematic set of values and beliefs about what a camp can and should do for the people it serves. The statement of philosophy, whatever its form, is the basic framework upon which program is built; it is the source for guidance as you consider decisions to be made about every aspect of camp. Your camp's philosophy tells you whether to have round tables or square ones in the dining hall, and whether to offer daylong programs or week-long programs or both. It inspires the maintenance work as well as the staff hiring. And it tells you what songs to sing.

The camp philosophy addresses the following questions: 1. What values do I wish to teach

and nurture through the camp

program? 2. What are the outcomes I wish

to see in the campers (and perhaps

in the staff and in the land)? 3. What, then, are the educational

goals of the camp program (or

camp site)?

In preparing a philosophy, consider also what the essential elements are that make a camp program truly a camp, as distinct from a holiday away from family or school, or a residential recreation program, or a school at a campsite. Some key elements can be found in the American Camping Association's definition of organized camping:

[Organized camping is] a

sustained experience which

provides a creative, recreational

and educational

opportunity in group living in

the out-of-doors. It uses trained

leadership and the resources of

the natural surroundings to

contribute to each camper's

mental, physical, social, and

spiritual growth (ACA, 1990).

Identifying Benefits

The research study mentioned above examined the outcomes and dynamics in 18 different camps by interviewing over 300 campers, staff, directors, and camp alumni/ae. The study is titled I Am Somebody: The Messages and Methods of Organized Camping for Youth Development (Chenery, 1991). The title reflects the powerful sense of self-worth which many camps nurture in young people.

From this research we have hundreds of stories of the impact of camp on young people. We talked to 80-year-old former Boy Scouts who had come to a camp reunion. They recalled camp experiences from the years just before World War I, and described how those experiences had effects on the rest of their lives. We heard of the most basic successes, the campers who by the end of camp did not scream in terror when a spider walked across the picnic table, and the most far-reaching, complex ones, the camper who was sent home from a camp, taking and leaving learning with him.

We were given a letter from parent who wrote:

Year after year my kids

come home from camp blooming 

with good will and self

confidence. You have taught

my serious responsible child to

laugh and my happy laid-back

child how to be a responsible

leader. I wish you could bottle

and sell your formula to our schools.

The primary question studied by the research project was: How does participation in an organized resident camp program contribute to the development of positive attitudes and skills and of caring social behaviors in youth?

The camps visited included ones owned by churches, social and youth-serving agencies, private foundations, and private individuals. They served boys and girls, either in single-sex groups or in coed groups, with ages ranging from five to 18. The number of campers served each camp session (which lasted an average of one to two weeks) ranged from a low of 55 to a high of 763. Many campers returned to the same camp year after year, and parents often sent their children to the camps they went to as youths.

We studied the camps' philosophies, and found that their goals could be grouped into nine major categories. These included development or enhancement of:

* self-knowledge;

* character;

* interpersonal skills;

* activity skills;

* spiritual values;

* physical fitness and health;

* positive use of the group;

* positive experiences for campers

such as having fun, being

treated as an individual, and feeling

cared for;

* environmental awareness, appreciation, and protection.

We found the essence of the camps' philosophies often expressed in a phrase, such as Cheley Colorado Camp's hiking program motto, "We hike only as fast as our slowest hiker." Often we heard this essence of philosophy expressed in a remark during an interview: At Camp Togowoods in Alaska, the director told us, "If you teach kids about nature, they become gentler people."

The outcomes of camp, as described by responses of the 318 campers, staff, directors and alumni we interviewed, may be grouped into six major categories:

* Learning of specific activity

skills;

* Learning about oneself,

* Learning about group living and

interpersonal skills;

* Having fun;

* Gaining an appreciation of nature;

and,

* No change perceived.

Campers and staff could identify the values that camps taught them -- values about responsibility, achievement, honesty, peace, loving, caring, cooperation, or teamwork. Two major values were identified with regard to the environment: learning to live in harmony with wilderness, and protecting the environment.

A Theory of How Camp Works

As with any community, any family, any individual life, there are hard times, struggles, little hurts and sometimes bigger hurts. But good camps create a climate within which support and caring exist, where hurts can be understood, and where what is gained is usually memorable, positive change.

How is this climate created? How do camps encourage caring for others and the environment, service, and other positive outcomes? What are the unique conditions created in the camp community that enable the growth and change, which fortify, so to speak, the experience of what may look to others as simply living together, doing activities with leaders? How does camp work?

The answer is a theory of camping. As with any useful explanation of human behavior, it is a complex and rich statement. In its full version, it will disturb those who want simple answers. But perhaps it can be stated in a way that is brief and useable, while still true.

First of all, camp is different from school or home. In our interviews, the campers, staff, directors and alumni/ae pointed out eight differences they thought were important: 1. Parents aren't here. 2. No television. 3. We do different activities. 4. Learning is different at camp. 5. Camp has different values. 6. You have different relationships

with peers, friends, and adults

at camp. 7. Camp has a different environment

than home. 8. I can be a different person at

camp.

Thus, at its most basic, a theory of how camp works could be stated in terms of these key ideas.(2)

The outcomes of camp arise because campers are away from their parents and away from television, living simply in a small group with positive role models. They are in a structured and supportive environment in which they have time to listen, talk, relax, and reflect. They are learning through activities that are fun, that require them to work together, and that give them opportunities to make choices and to take responsibility.

The factor of "having time" was given much credit for how camp works. Time translates to more attention to each individual. Coupled with the relatively high ratio of adults to children in camp, unpressured time is a major facilitator of the process of change through camp.

Camp has a distinct supportive environment, made up of four major dimensions: the outdoor setting, positive treatment of individuals, positive norms and expectations, and stability and structure.

The outdoor setting has its own curative, mellowing, comforting effects; it encourages curiosity and freedom as well as an appreciation of beauty. Campers are treated as individuals, accepted, not stereotyped, respected, trusted, encouraged, praised, and loved. Positive norms -- implicit rules about accepted behavior -- were exemplified in a camp where, outside the cabin door for one group, we saw a "No Put-down Zone" sign. To counter the tendency of the young boys to pick on each other, the cabin group had a norms, an expectation, that put-downs were not okay. The positive norms and expectations create a psychologically safe environment, where campers feel that it is okay to take risks with new behaviors and new feelings.

The structure and stability of camps also support the perceived safety of the environment, providing security and freedom. Going back to camp each year, knowing camp is still there, gives campers a sense of belonging. In some cases for the older camps, it gives a sense of connectedness with history, of being a part of "something big." All of these aspects of camp provide feedback and new information to campers about themselves and about the meaning of living in a community and in the environment. Campers see new ways of being, and try them out. Camp is a caring community, one which values caring and service. In a good camp, campers "see the possibilities for the human family" (Dustin, 1989).

In a good camp is an important phrase. These outcomes, these possibilities do not come from simply operating the camp according to its traditions, planning the activities and hiring staff. Everything at camp is program, from the letter home to parents, to the bus ride to camp, to the ways beds are made and bunks assigned, to the set-up for rock climbing, to the songs sung. And everything at camp must be carefully, lovingly constructed to create an environment in which all the elements harmonize, from the way the camp leaders wake up the campers in the morning to the place where the bus picks up the group at the end of camp.

Good camp directors tend to the littlest detail, like using circular tables for meals and not passing food over any child, so that each child -- even the youngest one who you may think can't hold the heavy serving plate, but who can if helped carefully and subtly -- feels valued and feels as if he or she can make a contribution. It is a work of art, and you are the sculptors. It is a tremendous challenge, but it can be done, and you know how to do it.

To design this work of art, you need a clear idea of what you want to build, and for this, your philosophy -- carefully considered, carefully stated -- will serve you well.

Providing Answers

Returning to the questions of our decision makers, I offer some possible answers. You should adapt them so as to feel comfortable with them in relation to your camp.

Is it worth the cost in dollars, staff time, and disruption to family and school?

Camps light sparks in children and young people, which may take flame now or which may require years to burn brightly (Dustin, 1989). But we know from research and experience that camp can lead to significant positive, even life-changing, outcomes.

Camps have the chance to reach the children who fail in schools or who simply pass time there, as well as to extend the horizons of those children who succeed in school, If we have a tool through which to work on changing attitudes and behaviors towards violence, hunger and environmental degradation, how can you put a dollar value on it? But if you did, its return would be well beyond the investment.

Is it educationally sound?

The goals of camping, of this camp and this camp program, address crucial issues about individuals, families, communities, society, and the environment. Further, through evaluation and research, we know that we are succeeding in achieving these goals for many of our campers.

Is it safe?

It is safe -- psychologically and physically safe. Statistically speaking, camp is physically safer than schools and families (at least according to U.S. data). Further, we have standards in place to help maintain this safety. Unlike school, it's also an environment where it is safe to try and to fall, and to learn from that experience, while maintaining self-esteem.

Is it necessary?

It is necessary because of the urgency of societal problems. Nowhere else is there such a powerful medium that addresses the need in young people to learn to live in a peaceful, creative community, and to live in a community that is in harmony with the environment.

What do camps do that time at a playground program or a day-care program or school doesn't do, except give the kids a break?

Camp shows young people new and alternative ways of living, gives them time to consider which they might like to adopt, and supports them in change and growth. Camp allows them to experience the natural environment in deep, healing, inspirational ways. Camp is different from home, community, and school in many significant ways.

And finally, we need to look at our very serious shared problems, the degradation of the environment and of human behavior. As I said, these are not problems in need of technological or economic solutions. They are problems of human values and human will. They are problems of community and responsibility, of sacrifice and service. They are problems which camps, good camps, can help.

The scale of our global problems is frightening, overwhelming, a scale which makes any reasonable individual feel powerless. But camp demonstrates community on a human scale, and helps young people and adults recognize that they are not powerless. Campers learn they can take initiative, that they can start within themselves, be supported for that, and expand to the camp community, and in time, to the larger community.

Schools are good, but different. Families are good, but different. Neighborhoods rarely work as communities, and churches and religious groups rarely work in as sustained a manner as is required for the changes and growth needed. Camp is probably one of the few places where children can be working, needed members of a community. It's a place to learn without expecting return.

I say to you and to the decision makers among you and around you that what you do is very important. It is clearly something to celebrate. In the face of crises of courage, hope, and love, camping teaches and models courage, hope, and love. The community, the program, the beauty of the natural surroundings at camp empower and inspire young people to make a positive difference in their own and their fellow beings' future. Surely that is the shared goal of all education, including camping.

Footnotes

(1) Please bear in mind that when I speak of the positive outcomes which arise from camp, I mean those that occur in the good camps, which are professionally run, have educational goals and use well-trained staff to carry out program. (2) The more elaborate version of a theory of camping is presented in Chapter 7 of the research report (Chenery, 1991). Me theory addresses the question of how camps nurture positive attitudes and skills and caring social behaviors in youth. The theory, plus your own experiences, is source material for building your own case of why camp works.

References

American Camping Association (1990). Standards for day and resident camps. Martinsville, Indiana: American Camping Association. Chenery, M.F. (1991). I am somebody: The messages and methods of organized camping for youth development. Durham, North Carolina: Human Development Research Associates. Dustin, D.L. (1989). Magical outcomes of organized camping: The total camp environment, Camping Magazine, 62 (1), 31-35. Schumacher, E. F. (1977). A Guide for the Perplexed. New York: Harper and Row.

Editor's Note: This article was adapted from a keynote address given by the author at the 1993 Annual Conference of the Camping Association of Victoria. The theme of the conference was Celebrate Camping.

Mary Faeth Chenery, Ph.D., CCD, is a lecturer and coordinator of research and graduate studies in the Department of Outdoor Education at La Trobe University in Bendigo, Australia. Having moved from the U.S. four years ago, Chenery has served ACA in past years as vice president for program services and as a member of the ACA National Standards Board.