A human experiment ...
How long have you gone without seeing or talking to someone? Ishmael Beah, the author of the memoir A Long Way Gone, went months without seeing or talking to a person. No cell phone. No music. No TV. Just him and his thoughts wandering around in the woods trying to survive.
So today I collected all cell phones and electronic devices from my AVID 9 scholars and I sent them out into the woods around our school with the instruction to get away from each other so that seeing someone and therefore talking to someone would be impossible.
A couple of students tried to climb a tree much like Ishmael did. One student started building a shelter. Another just stood there motionless - trying to not be discovered by the RUF.
There goes Stephaun ... up the tree ...
There goes Stephaun ... up the tree ...
Can you find Nicholas? He would have survived an RUF invasion for sure!
On Thursday I'm going to have them write about the experiment. The girls came in saying how hard it was ... I wonder if anyone really tried to imagine 15 minutes of solitude versus months. We are so spoiled with technology that spending one day without "talking" seems nearly impossible. The car sounds also reminded us that civilization was only a short walk away. I wonder if next year I can take them all to Soldier's Delight state park and make them spend a better part of the day alone with only their thoughts.
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