Newspaper Article 1988 – Outward Bound

14   The Hawke’s Bay Herald-Tribune, Tuesday, November 22, 1988

CLASSROOM TODAY   Newspapers in Education   Compiled by Rod Dowling

OUTWARD BOUND
NEW ZEALAND
TO SERVE TO STRIVE AND NOT TO YIELD

Many teachers in Hawke’s Bay have requested a page on Outward Bound. This week Classroom Today looks at the history, philosophy and role of the movement. We meet some Hawke’s Bay graduates from the Outward Bound School and detail a competition for primary, intermediate and secondary students. This is a brief description of the types of courses offered and we print the Outward Bound schedule and application details for 1989. Thanks to St. John’s College teacher, Mrs Julie Jones, National President of Outward Bound.

OUTWARD BOUND

Meeting the challenges

War brings fitness call

Good can come out of bad. Outward Bound is an example of that.

During World War II many young men perished at sea while a greater proportion of older men in the same situation survived.

It was felt that while health and fitness were important in survival other factors were involved.

What the younger men lacked was a lifetime of experience and confidence in their own ability to survive. Because of this a special type of training was organised to develop the survival skills of people under stress.

One such school was established at Aberdovey in North Wales. It was opened in 1941 to provide challenging experiences for young men.

The school aimed to equip them to handle the life-threatening circumstances they were likely to encounter during the war.

When the war ended people could see that an Outward Bound experience was just as relevant a preparation for life in peacetime as during war.

Kurt Hahn, the founding principal of Outward Bound philosophy, aimed at developing character and stamina. He offered programmes to develop young people’s ability to choose between right and wrong so they could enjoy moral independence.

He also encouraged them to improve their health through rigorous activity.

The movement grew. Now 38 Outward Bound schools operate in 18 different countries throughout the world. Outward Bound has as its motto, “To Serve, to Strive and not to Yield.” Education is based on real hands-on experience. Students learn by doing instead of by talking about it.

The classroom is the outdoors, the hills, mountains, rivers, seas, lakes as well as the community.

The physical world provides the challenges of an Outward Bound course, but it is what comes out of these experiences that are the really important things. They include the thinking, the serving and sharing, the development of self- awareness and a spiritual dimension.

Consider this statement by Kurt Hahn:

“There can be no doubt that the young of today have to be protected against certain poisonous effects inherent in present-day civilisation.

“Five social diseases surround them, even in early childhood. There is the decline of fitness, due to the modern methods of locomotion; the decline of initiative, due to the widespread disease of spectatoritis; the decline of care and skill, due to the weakened tradition of craftsmanship; the decline of self-discipline, due to the ever-present availability of tranquallisers and stimulants; the decline of compassion, which William Temple called spiritual death.”

It is these aspects of modern civilisation Outward Bound attempts to redress. The New Zealand Cobham Outward Bound school was established at Anakiwa, Queen Charlotte Sound, in 1962. At first it made use of an exisiting guest house as its base.

Since then the school has been completely rebuilt and now contains watch houses to accommodate seven groups of 14 students at any one time.

In the past 27 years more than 20,000 young men and women have completed the standard 24-day course. Now 1176 students a year take part in the full Outward Bound experience. A further 280 attend special purpose nine-day contract courses.

Photo caption – A bird’s eye view of the Outward Bound School from a nearby hillside

NEWSPAPERS IN EDUCATION
A Hawke’s Bay Herald-Tribune Educational Project

STUDENTS CONTEST

The Outward Bound Trust is promoting special competitions for school students, to make young people more aware of what Outward Bound does.

There are two major sections in the competition:

Section 1. Primary and Intermediate Schools
Pupils are invited to submit 200 to 300 words describing a school camp they have attended. They should tell where and when it was held give details of activities and expeditions, and say what they gained from the experience. It would be helpful if some of the best aspects and some of the hardest were highlighted.

Section 2. Secondary Schools
Students are invited to design a poster which would be suitable for use when an Outward Bound Awareness week is held early next year. Size should be A3.

Conditions of entry:
The closing date for receipt of entries is December 15, 1988.
All entries must have your name, home address, age, class and school.
Entries should be sent to:
Outward Bound Competition,
PO Box 3158,
Wellington.
The best three entries in each class level from Std 3 to Form 7 will receive a pictorial Outward Bound calendar.
Winners of each major section will receive a copy of Don Grady’s recently published book Outward Bound at Anakiwa.
The decision of the fudges will’ be final and no correspondence wil be entered into.
All entries will remain the property of the Outward Bound Trust.

Photo caption –

Hastings Outward Bound graduates. From left, Mrs Barbara Dunn (St John’s College), Graham Linwood, Maree Taylor, Mrs Julie Jones (NZ President), Father Gavin Foster (St John’s College), David Mackersey (Adult Course), Sue Wood (Hastings Girls’ High), Christopher Brace.

A sound mind and a healthy body

You do not have to be a super athlete or a top student to attend the school at Anakiwa.

Anyone of sound mental and physical health aged between 18 and 26 may attend a standard course. A medical examination is required.

The standard course is a 24-day programme. It is both physically strenuous and mentally demanding. Tasks are designed so individuals compete against themselves, not against each other.

All activities are conducted within the bounds of established safety standards and all students are well briefed in the basic skills and safety needs of each exercise.

Activities include tramping, sailing, kayaking, a confidence course, community service, going solo and a marathon.

Groups of 14 people, called watches, work together in close co-operation. Most watches include both men and women but single sex watches can be arranged if requested. Members support each other at all times so the entire group successfully completes each stage of the course. Through helping each other, members develop a unity and team spirit.

Special nine-day courses are held for people over 27. These courses provide an opportunity for 14 men and women from a variety of backgrounds and professions to experience the Outward Bound challenge.

There are also special purpose courses such as the Teachers’ Practicum courses and courses for disabled groups.

The teachers’ courses are not skills-oriented. instead they offer participants the opportunity to experience basic Outward Bound processes and to examine the control and use of the outdoors as a medium for developing personal and social growth.
The Cobham Outward Bound school course schedule for 1989 is:

STANDARD COURSE
(24 days for young men and women 18 to 26 years of age)

S 91   January 3 to January 26
S 92   January 31 to February 23
S 93   February 28 to March 23
S 94   April 4 to April 27
S 95   May 2 to May 25
S 96   May 30 to June 22
S 97   June 27 to July 20
S 98   July 25 To August 17
S 99   August 22 to September 14
S 300   September 19 to October 12
S 301   October 24 to November 16
S 302   November 21 to December 14

9-DAY COURSE
(9 days for men and women 27 years of age and upwards)

N 293/1   March 1 to March 9
N 293/2   March 13 to March 21
N 295/3   March 3 to May 11
N 296/4   May 31 to June 8
N 297/5   June 12 to June 20
N 298/6   July 26 to August 3
N 298/7   August 7 to August 15
N 300/8   September 20 to September 28
N 300/9   October 2 to October 10
N 302/10   December 4 to December 12

TEACHERS’ PRACTICUM
T 295/1   May 15 to May 23
T 299/2   September 4 to September 12

The course fees for 1989, inclusive of GST, are $1386 for the standard course, $700 for the nine-day course and $700 for the Teachers’ Practicum.

A deposit of $100 is required to confirm any booking. The standard course fee includes cost of travel.

All students are encouraged to make some financial contribution toward their course fee. Assistance is available for eligible young people who cannot afford the full cost. Sponsorship assistance for the 24 day Standard Course for 18-26 year olds is available now, and closes December 2nd, 1988.

To apply, write a letter, including the following:
Name, date of birth, address, telephone number.
Explanation of why you wish to attend.
How much you think you can raise toward the Course Fee.
Your present work/training position. ,
Post to Mrs J. Jones. PO. Box 4008, Mayfair, Hastings.

Terror, tears and fulfilment

The following comments are from a variety of young New Zealanders who experienced an Outward Bound course.

“There has been terror and tears and sheer exhaustion, but I am still here feeling stronger and pretty pleased with myself, knowing the value of not giving in, trying and failing, trying again and succeeding.”

“I was always looking to find myself. Outward Bound gave me the opportunity.”

“This course has been really important to me as it has crystallised what I have to do with the rest of my life and given me the resolution to carry it out.”

“How can you thank a mountain for being so high, or the sea for being cold? You can’t. So I shall simply give thanks to the organisation that propelled me into the great outdoors and led me to challenging situations.”

“The course was an experience in itself but more essentially, it was a springboard for further life experiences.”

“I have learnt more about myself in 23 days than I had in the previous 18 years.”

“Putting your life in someone else’s hands is an experience more people should have.”

“The strict routine, short nights and long days gave us the opportunity, through pressure, to discover our own capabilities and the extent to which we can push ourselves. We have no limits if we believe in ourselves enough to risk failure and chance success.”

“I have lost my blood to sandflies, my skin to rocks, my tears to the sea and my legs to the morning runs but . . . I have found more than I have lost. I have found the courage to continue rock climbing when I felt nothing was worse than the fear I was feeling. I have found the time to smile when all I could think of was crawling into my bunk and crying . . .I have found it in me to trust and care for people I lived so close to during the course.”

Visit to Marineland

On Thursday at ten thirty we went to Marineland. After visiting the Wax Museum, Mrs Veitch our teacher paid for us all while the kids looked at the souvenirs.

Then we went out to the grandstand but there was still ten minutes before the show so we went and had a look at the other animals. There was a Sea Leopard, Otters, Gannets and many others. Then we went down to the under water viewing room. it was quite damp and the ceiling was leaking and it was very dark.

When you looked through the glass windows into the dolphin pool it was quite murky but I took a few photos anyway. When we got back to the grandstand we watched the show. The show was most enjoyable with the five dolphins.

There was Shona who is the oldest at twenty years of age; Kelly who is the largest; Katie who is the most mischievous; and Kasana and Selina who are the youngest.

After the the dolphin show which was very entertaining came Pepe the Californian Seal who posed for us all so we could take photos.

Surprisingly Pepe could go quite fast in the water and was very friendly. After that show a trainer came over and let us ask questions which I thought was very considerate.

We found out that it takes a very long time to teach dolphins tricks and a lot of patience.

What striked me the most is that Marineland is the only place of its kind in the world to teach common dolphins tricks.

By Marcus Cooper
Room 6
Dannevirke South School

Photo caption – Dannevirke South Form 1 pupils enjoy the play area on Ahuriri Beach, during their class trip to Marineland.

YOUTHVIEW

My favourite thing – pig hunting

Pig hunting is one of my favourite things because I have to do a lot of things like climbing up hills and down hills and running. The only hard thing is when a pig is been pulled up by a dog. The kind of dogs you need for pig hunting is baillers to bail the pig so they can warn or tell the other dogs the location of the pig. First you need the finder to sniff the air around so they can sense where the pig is, and all the others will follow it. It doesn’t have to be the air but it can be the ground. Last of all (but what you need the most), are the holders to hold the pig for the person or the hunters to come and stick it. They make sure that their pig is dead when they have stuck it. The pig is gutted, cleaned then carried out. If you want to you can bury it so when you have another you don’t have to worry about carrying it out with you.

There are two different kinds of pigs, a boar and a sow. When they grow up from being born they are called piglets, then suckers and the full pig itself. When the pigs use their snout to dig up the ground it is rooting up the ground for them to get the bugs.

Different kinds of pigs live in different places like there are ones that live in the bush or in the forest or in the native bush. The best pig if you want to eat one, is native pigs because they are much more softer when they are boiled than the bush pig. There are all kinds of forests to hunt in like Mohaka and Kawekas. The biggest pig that weighs the heaviest would be 300 lb or over. The only heavy one I’ve seen is a 180 lb boar. Some sows can reach to 180 lb like a boar can but you would be lucky. I’ve been to one competition. The pigs were huge. My dad’s mate won some money for having the heaviest sow. Now on to me. I’ve been hunting 2-3 times but I haven’t had very much experience like my brother, my dad and his friends. The bush is a hard place to hunt in. Fighting through blackberry, bush lawyer, pine etc, The one thing you don’t want to do is to get lost. You must know where you’re going and how to get out. If you get lost and there’s a stream or river follow it down stream until you find civilisation. Pig hunting is an exciting, scarey experience. It is mainly a sport for males but my friend and I enjoy going with our family for a good days hunting.

Blossom Johnstone.
Form 1: Whanau, Hastings Intermediate

Visit To the Nocturnal House

On Tuesday we went to the Nocturnal House. We walked along the Marine Parade until we found it. We all waited at the door while Mrs Veitch paid for us. Inside the front door a girl was standing with a possum on her shoulder.

We were not allowed to take cameras inside because the flash might scare the animals. The first thing we noticed was how dark it was, but after a while our eyes soon adjusted to it.

The smell was awful, every one was holding their noses. In the cages we saw a Fitch Ferret, a Bush Gecko, a Kiore, a Pharyphanta Snail, a Sugar Glider that looked really unusual, a Hedgehog, a Morepork, a Barn Owl, a Nankeen Night Heron, and a North Island Brown Kiwi.

After we had all had a look around a man called David got us to sit in circle while he got out a Kiwi He got a kiwi out of the cage and he put it on a table in the middle of the circle. We all had turns handling the kiwi.

David told us all about the kiwi. The kiwi’s egg is the largest in the world for a bird that size, the kiwis only have stumps for wings that are about 2 inches long.

After an egg is laid it can last for about 1 month without incubation. After the egg is laid the male incubates it, he only gets off it for 10 minutes each day to get food for himself.

In Napier they have 5 kiwis in captivity.

After we had finished at the Nocturnal House Peter Haden was coming to film the kiwi for the television programme Wildtrack.

Duncan McLean
Room 6, Dannevirke South School