Outward Bound USA

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Outward Bound USA (OBUSA) is the collection of outdoor education organisations in the USA which are officially registered as schools by Outward Bound International. In the U.S., more than 60,000 people participate in its programs every year^[1]. OBUSA operates "Schools" under the Outward Bound Wilderness division focusing on expeditions and travel and "Centers" which are based-in large cities and provide similar expedition and educational services to the public school systems of their respective cities.

Contents 1 History 2 Outward Bound Wilderness 3 Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound 4 Outward Bound Discovery 4.1 Short Term Expedition Programs 4.2 Families In Need of Services programs 4.3 Intercept programs 5 Diversity training 6 TV series 7 References 8 External links

[edit] History

See also: Outward Bound History.

In 1961, Joshua L. Miner, the first president of Outward Bound USA (OBUSA) and the man responsible for bringing the innovative ideas of Kurt Hahn to the United States, inspired US legislation approving a training and development model to prepare Peace Corps volunteers in Puerto Rico. This first camp, and then the more famous Colorado school, became OBUSA's first presence in the USA.

A history of the first 20 years of OBUSA is provided by Miner and Boldt (1981)^[2]. NOLS founder Paul Petzoldt was an early OBUSA instructor. The development of OBUSA lead to several other off-shoot programs, including Project Adventure.

Following a decline in enrolments and financial difficulties during the 1990s^[3], in May 2005 four legacy Outward Bound Schools were combined into a new division of Outward Bound called Outward Bound Wilderness (Outward Bound Wilderness.) The four legacy schools known as Hurricane Island Outward Bound School, Outward Bound West, and Voyageur Outward Bound School are now operated under one central office, but still offer the same programs and expeditions.

There are five Outward Bound Schools and Centers: [1] NCOBS (North Carolina Outward Bound School), POBC (Philadelphia), BOBC (Baltimore), TIOBC (Thompson Island, Boston) and NYCOBC (New York City). From their respective beginnings, each of the schools and centers operated individually and were audited by OBUSA for safety and international policy standards. During 2005, OBUSA unified several of these schools into one larger OBUSA, sharing all resources alike.

[edit] Outward Bound Wilderness

Outward Bound Wilderness programs, such as run by the North Carolina Outward Bound School (NCOBS), offers survival and wilderness programs to teens and adults. Besides teaching wilderness skills, the programs also try to teach leadership and compassion to participants.

[edit] Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound

Additionally, a third version of Outward Bound in the United States is Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound (ELOB), created in 1993. A not-for-profit comprehensive school reform organization which is part of Outward Bound USA, ELOB works with over 129 urban and rural schools across the United States including Puerto Rico. Its pedagogy emphasizes high achievement through active learning, character growth, and teamwork at elementary, middle, and high school levels.

The ELOB endeavor transforms schools into centers of Expeditionary Learning by working with schools to design and implement expeditionary curricula, models of student assessment, new forms of school organization, programs for staff development and systems of evaluation, replication and dissemination.

ELOB has a national headquarters located in Garrison, New York as well as eight regional offices which are based in Cambridge, Massachusetts; New York City; Annapolis, Maryland; Palm Harbor, Florida; Puerto Rico; Dubuque, Iowa; Boise, Idaho; and Yakima, Washington.

[edit] Outward Bound Discovery

Outward Bound Discovery is a largely Florida-based branch of OBUSA that specifically deals with at-risk or adjudicated youth. They primarily run three types of courses: Short Term Expedition Program (STEP), Families In Need of Services (FINS), and Intercept. Originally known as Southern Programs, it began as a branch of Hurricane Island Outward Bound School in 1975 with STEP in Yulee, Florida.

[edit] Short Term Expedition Programs

Short Term Expedition Program (STEP) courses are based out of Yulee, Florida (located near Jacksonville) and are a highly successfully alternative to incarceration for non-violent juvenile offenders. These courses last approximately 30 days in the wilderness. They are funded by Florida's Department of Juvenile Justice and approximately 30 courses are conducted per year with 8-10 students in each course.

[edit] Families In Need of Services programs

Families In Need of Services (FINS) courses are designed to help students who are struggling at school and at home, with a focus on helping the entire family to adopt practices to increase freedoms as students demonstrate responsibility and create clear consequences for the students actions on which the student can then based their decisions upon. FINS courses involve a 20-day wilderness phase with the students, during which the parent have phone conversation and meetings with the office based staff members about their child's individual performance and struggles for dealing with their child's disruptive behaviors. There is then a follow-up phase during with the instructors and a program coordinator visit the student and their families at their homes to help mediate conversations and create concrete plans for improving their behavior. The educational coordinator and the instructors also meet with the students, their parents, and school teachers or counselors during the follow-up phase to discuss what the student learned on the course and how this learning can be applied to their school environment. Successful graduation from a FINS course is contingent on both the student's and their parents' full involvement in both phases of course. FINS courses are funded by local county education departments. The Key Largo, Florida base serves Monroe and Miami-Dade counties. The Scottsmoor, Florida base serves the Cape Canaveral area and the Orlando area. Additionally there is a base near Charleston, South Carolina and one recently started in Alabama, that runs an assortment of courses including both Intercept and FINS.

[edit] Intercept programs

Intercept courses are run by both OB Wilderness and OB Discovery, with the recent addition of 18-20 year old Intercept to the standard 13-17 age range courses.

[edit] Diversity training

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page.(June 2008) Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved.

In the United States, Outward Bound schools have employed "diversity trainings" for their staff in order to prepare instructors to address the various issues that may arise on course due to a diverse group of participants. Diversity trainings are intended to provide the arena where staff can be challenged in the same ways that they challenge participants to step out of their comfort zone. The material covered is challenging and discomforting to most, as it brings up questions of privilege and oppression ingrained in our social fabric. The basic premise being that "White, heterosexual, Christian, males are the oppressors of everyone else."^{[citation needed]} Ultimately, people leave diversity trainings with a greater sense of self awareness, a clearer understanding of the world around them, greater empathy for the challenges others face, and a renewed motivation to work for the inclusion, equality and social justice Kurt Hahn advocated for 75 years ago. That is, unless you leave the training with a new label: "The opressor of everyone else".

There is a large focus at these training on homosexuality. At one such training (indoctrination session) in Boston, Instructors were asked to tell how they can be advocates for homosexuals. The diversity of thought and belief is not honored in this training as it serves primarily as a from of political indoctrination. Corpoate sponsors, program participants and especially parents who send their children to Outward Bound should know of this political bias and bigotry toward Christians.^{[citation needed]}

Outward Bound has always gone where there is the greatest need in the community, from working with veterans returning from wars, to working with those battling life illnesses or dealing with addiction, to working with youth in need.^{[citation needed]} Breaking down barriers between people by creating a community of trust and understanding is some of the most important work we can do. "Education must enable young people to effect what they have recognized to be right, despite hardships, despite dangers, despite inner skepticism, despite boredom, and despite mockery from the world. . ." - Kurt Hahn

[edit] TV series

A television series aired on Discovery Kids from 1999-2003. In each location we follow a group of 8 young adults as they learn to work together and help each other survive in the wilderness. Under the guidance of instructors from the Outward Bound school, we see the group members struggle to cope with nature and each other, success and failure, physical and mental challenges, and finally bond together in an unforgettable life experience.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• List of Outward Bound USA schools
• Outward Bound
• Outward Bound Discovery