Australian Journal ot" (Jutdoor Education, 10(1), 3-10, 2006

City Slickers: Let the cattle speak for themselves

Ray Woodcock
Indiana University
Abstract
City Slickers, the classic movie starring Billy Crystal, portrays a man ,vho rediscovers a part of himself during a hVQ-\veek cattle
drive adventure in the rugged American West. His rediscovery arises from the challenge itself, ,vith nlinimal psychologically
oriented discussion or "processing." The belief that such a thing can happen-that, indeed, such self-driven discovery may
be superior to an excessively verbalised experience-echoes the famous objection of Outward Bound leader Rusty Bai11ie,
who said, "Let the mountains speak for themselves." Citing aspects of City Slickers for illustration, this article questions the
efficacy and propriety of certain fomls of adventure therapy processing, and offers cautionary notes on attenlpts to reduce
great adventure experiences to words. Topics addressed include the principle of parsimony, the meaning of experiences,
learning from experience, processing, training for processing, and the feasibility of relevant research in outdoor education.
A popular film hardly constitutes scholarly work.
'Taken as an interpretation of common experience,
ho\vever, a well-received movie may convey
intriguing messages about phenomena of academic
interest. Such is the case with City Slickt"'s (Smith &
Undenvood, 1991), which \tvas one of history's more
successful films-ranking ahead of Rocky, for example,
and Good Morning, Vietllanl on the all-time USA box
office list (IMDB, 2004).
In the film, comedian Billy Crystal plays the
part of Mitch, a middle-aged New Yorker. With his
friends Phil (Daniel Stem) and Ed (Bruno Kirby),
Mitch travels to New Mexico to experience a different
sort of vacation, in the form of a two-\veek cattle
drive. Under the terse, intimidating guidance of the
old cowboy known as Curly crack Palance, winning
an Oscar award for his performance), Mitch achieves
a life change that is by turns dramatic, funny, and
poignant. In the end, the city boy becomes enough
of a cowpoke to take charge and make the drive a
success, discovering an unexpected competence and
rediscovering, as well, his ability to smile.
That tale of personal achievement through
adventure contains subtle commentary on the place of
verbal processing. As an illustration, Curly disdains
Mitch's small talk, and positions himself as something
other than a \varm, fuzzy therapiSt. Consider this
exchange:
Mitch: Hi, Curly. Kill anyone today?
Curly: Day ain't over yet.
Somehow though, the old cowboy, with his few
\vords, helps Mitch to achieve something in the wild
that had eluded him in his comfort zone in the city.
Ultimately it is action, not speech, that makes the
difference. This outcome evokes the vie\v attributed to
Rusty Baillie, an Ouhvard Bound course director, who
reportedly did not wish to make his students engage
in extensive discussions of their outdoor adventure
experiences. Baillie's memorable response: "Let the
mountains speak for themselves" (Priest & Gass, 1997,
p. 174; James, 1980).
To every thing, says the ancient adage, there is a
season (Ecclesiastes 3:1; King James Version Bible). It
is not al\vays necessary to articulate. Even in group
psychotherapy, where people assemble for the express
purpose of discussion, Yalom (1995) observes,
[S]ilence is never silent; it is behavior
and, like all other behavior in the group,
has meaning .... [If] a group is tense and
experiences a silence of a minute or two
(a minute's silence feels very long in a
[psychotherapy] group), I often ask for a
go-around in which each member says,
quickly, ''\That he or she has been feeling
or has thought of saying, but did not,
in that silence .... [But it] is a mistake to
use [such] exercises as emotional space
filler-that is, as something interesting to
do \vhen the group seems at loose ends.
(pp. 376, 447)
In the spirit of Ecclesiastes, the movie's suggestion
is not that an overly chatty leader should completely
withdraw from group interaction. Curly did, after
all, burst into song when provoked. But one might
recognise that, somehow, people do muddle through,
making changes in their lives and achieving learning
without overanalysing their outdoor experiences. In
that spirit, this article presents several considerations
that may mitigate the felt need to conduct formal
group discussions of adventure activities.
3
Cif1J Slickers. Let tlte cattle speak for tilelllseives.
Parsimony
"Keep it simple," goes the sage advice.
Or, for those who find that advice a little too
sage, the time-honoured alternative is Ockham's
Razor, named for William of Ockham (co 1288-1348).
Ockham'sRazor, also kno""n as the principle of
parsimony, says, IIEntities are not to be multiplied
beyond necessity" (Britannica, 2004). One might
apply the principle in this context by observing that,
if an outdoors experience can generate a desired result
largel y by itself, as in the movie, there is no need for
a potentially expensive and conceptually complex
processing component to achieve that same end.
Ockham's sceptical principle requires a good reason
for adding complications, e.g., injecting the personality
and ideas of the group leader into the participant's
thinking.
Learning from experience
The outdoor education literature frequently
refers to various forms of group discussion, using such
terms as IIdebriefing," II pro cessing, " or "facilitation"
(Hutchinson & Dattilo, 2001). The classic model is
the circle, formed after an activity, for the purpose
of talking about that activity and applying insights
from it to one's life. Beyond that classic model, there
is said to be a continuum of possibilities between the
extremes of silence (or anarchism), on one hand, and
of tight leader control on the other (Bocher, Miller,
& Simpson, 2005). The follo\ving discussion focuses
upon the classic post-event circle, but has application
to other permutations as well.
In City Slickers, Mitch's moment of truth came by
surprise, follo\ving Curly's sudden departure to that
great rangeland in the sky. Of course, organisations
offering educational adventure experiences tend to
provide their challenges in a more planned manner.
For example, Ounvard Bound (2004) regularly "takes
people of all ages deep into remote and amazing
places," and through such experiences, "you meet
challenges, both physical and mental, and return with
a deeper knowledge of yourself and the \vorld in
which "ve live" (p. 1).
What is interesting, about that statement from
Ouhvard Bound (2004), is that it focuses upon
challenges posed by the experiences themselves, not
by any derivative oral anticipation or rehashing. Thus,
the websites of Ounvard Bound (2006) and of Outward
Bound International (2006) contain few references to
such verbal activities, and the exceptions tend to prove
the rule. For example, the Course Elements ,.vebpage
of Ouhvard Bound International says, "Instructors
assist by briefing and debriefing experiences to aid
clear, respectful communication." That stated purpose
of the verbal component does not suggest that the
4
objective of ''briefing and debriefing" is to achieve, by
collective exposition, some result that might lie beyond
the power of the experience itself.
Some authors (e.g., Kolb, 1984, p. 40; Priest &
Gass, 1997, pp. 17, 136) contend that thinking about an
experience is essential for learning from it. ~ r h t may
be. But people are able to think without assistance.
Besides, a leader cannot know what is going through
the mind of each group member, much less change
it. Characterological change is an lIambitiolls" goal
(Yalom, 1995, p. 80), for \vhich outdoor leaders may
have a propensity for overconfidence incommensurate
with their actual ability to affect clients (cf. Brookes,
2003).
To illustrate one altenlative approach, Curly
does offer advice to Mitch, but does so in such a way
as to leave the responsibility for learning and gro\vth
squarely in Mitch's hands:
Curly: You know what the secret to life is?
Mitch: No. What?
Curly: [Holds up his index finger.] One thing.
Just one thing. You stick to that, and
everything else don't mean nothin'.
Mitch: That's great, but what's the one thing?
Curly: That's ,,,,hat you gotta figure out.
While it can be helpful to provide more detailed
guidance, so as to steer group members to focus
on certain areas, doing so can also flavor \'Vhat the
experience actually means to them (Bro\vn, 2003). It
can distract them from a rare change of perspective on
life, or from a ne"v a\'\lareness of issues that may have
emerged during their experience-including issues
that, by their inner compass, carry greater personal
significance than do the topics that intrigue the leader.
Ockham's Razor, and a basic respect for people's
right to allocate their time and thoughts as they see
fit, suggest that a leader might hesitate to insist upon
discussion. Such hesitation seems especially prudent
where the discussion leader is inexperienced, or lacks
sensitivity toward the clients or interest in them, or is
unfamiliar with their cultures or personalities, or \vhen
clients are not ready to talk. Good conversation may
have to be earned. For example, group members on
a multi-day outing, accompanied by an experienced
conversationalist, may eventually develop a receptivity
to intensely personal dialogue, of a kind that would
rarely emerge in any sincerity during a canned four-
hour visit to a ropes course.
Experience
When Mitch went ,vest in City Slickers, he joined
the innumerable Kerouacs who have wandered,
searching for insight (cf. Suler, 1990, p. 74). One could
construe his journey as a version of the Plains Indians'
"vision quest," which typically entailed IImagical"
acquisition of practical skill (Benedict, 1922, p. 2;
Teit, 1905, pp. 598-599), or as a form of walkabout or
pilgrimage to a place of learning or connection \-vith
nature, somewhere out there.
True to such models, Mitch needed no map. His
epiphany would emerge at an indeterminate point
along the \vay, this side of the eventual destination,
in an insight fueled by experience. Despite his
garrulousness (or perhaps because of fatigue with
it), the movie-going public responded positively to
a tale in which, ultilnately, he succeeded through his
ne\vfound ability to act-not through his old, familiar
gift of self-expression. It is as if some force \vithin his
life were propelling him into the very sort of situation
in \vhich all power would fade from his glib f a ~ a d e
There, mere words would have no more effect against
the raw elements than \vould any magic employed
in prior centuries by native residents of the selfsame
locale.
The discovery, for Mitch, ,.vas that talk can create
its own self-sustaining momentum-a sense that one
is doing something interesting, and possibly of some
value-that s\vells and ,yraps around itself until
the line of the circle yields never-ending progress
to no\vhere. rrhere comes a time to rebel against all
that. Consonant \vith the premises of experiential
education, there comes a time to acknowledge that
cognitive manipulations of linguistic symbols do not
begin to accommodate the primeval impressions that
come flooding back into consciousness when one
becomes opened to \vilderness, after so many years
of a person's (indeed, a culture's) absence from it.
"Nature!" one imagines the travel ad: lilt's not like
any place you've ever been."
Many people are unable to get out into the \vild
very often. It can be tremendous just to be there; and
even after the initial shock wears off, the mere exposure
remains inimitable, as its fingers massage do\vn into
the bone. When the effect begins to take hold, the
idea that some of Mitch's fellow dude cowboys would
bring along a coffee grinder (OT, one might no\v say,
a cell phone) starts to seem increasingly ridiculous.
One suddenly wonders whether Curly ,vas more than
a crusty old throwback-whether perhaps he had
achieved an advanced comprehension of language,
and its limits, through extended comparison against
the irreducible outdoors.
Ironically, it appears that, the stranger or more
powerful one's experience-as when one attempts
to recount a vivid dream-the more \-\lords may pale
by comparison. Those ,vho experience a tragedy,
for example, may suddenly discover that it becomes
vastly more difficult to try to explain it, now that they
finally knO\Y, firsthand, what they are talking about.
To require someone to put a deep experience into.
Australian Journal of' Outdoor Education, 10(1), 3-10, 2006
'''lords is to imply that its po,ver remains secondary to
the force of language; it is to deny, to the participant,
the option of accepting it on its own terms.
Language is exposed for what it is, \vhen one gets
back in touch wi th reality. People have long remarked,
for example, that 1/ a picture is worth a thousand
words," that "\vords cannot describe" a feeling,
and that "actions speak louder." \'Vhat is surprising
is not that there are such limits on the force of these
little sounds that come out of people's mouths. What
is surprising is that people have ever managed to
persuade themselves that any other conclusion vvere
possible.
Meaning of the experience
The vision quest, although unfolding in a place
that may be considered special, is eminently a quest
for a vision. Mitch, in Ne,v Mexico, \vas not seen
tracing back and forth across the barren land, hoping
to stumble upon some unique physical vortex of
clarity. Nor was he locked in a closet, trying to locate
a thought already present to mind. The premise was,
rather, that meaning would come into existence-
new meaning, never previously grasped-at the
intersection of his unpredictable encounters with new
people and adventures.
It is often said, ,.vithin the outdoor education
literature, that learning occurs \vhen the student has an
experience, reflects on it, and then applies the resulting
insight') (e.g., Kolb, 1984; Hutchinson & Dattilo, 2001).
As one approach to such reflection, Luckner and
Nadler (1995) recommend being more aware of the
experience while it is occurring. But there is, in that
recommendation, an objectivist implication that one's
mind is someho\v separated from the experience, as if
in a laboratory-that the experience is going on over
there, as it \vere, and the mind is observing it from
over here, and that one can simply adjust the degree
of attention that the mind is paying to the experience,
\vithout simultaneously affecting the experience itself.
That, of course, \vill not fly. The experience in
question is the experience of a human being, \vho
presumably comes equipped \vith a mind. The
experience has no meaning to that person apart
from the involvement of that mind; and when
the mind is engaged in one \vay, the meaning is
different than if the mind \vere engaged in another
\vay. In Csikszenbnihalyi's (1990) "flo,,,," construct,
for instance, a state of mental absorption results,
not automatically from some action distinct from
the actor, but rather as a result of a combination
of the hvo. Hence, a,vareness of an experience or
contemporaneous reflection on it (or the lack thereof),
is surely an intrinsic part or source of the content of
that experience for the person in question (cf. Fen,vick,
2000).
5
CihJ Slickers. Let tile cattle speak for tlzelllselves.
Similar conclusions apply to backward-looking
reflection. As Luckner and Nadler (1995) say, learning
is a "continuous" construction of richer and more
complex meanings (p. 177). Experience does not end
when one climbs out of the saddle or takes off the
backpack.. One's perspective on the day's physical
activity may change as a result of nighttime discussion
around the fire. In City Slickers, extensive verbal analysis
of evenlc; \vould have played to Mitch's strengths.
For example, upon seeing Curly's likely reluctance
to engage in extended fireside recapitulations, Mitch
might easily have concluded that the strong, silent
style \vas a \veakness, not worth learning from, rather
than possibly being a superior adaptation.
At night, the day's adventure experience typically
comes to an end and slips into the past. In that sense,
it cannot be changed by any retrospective treatment
adhering to its surface through the application
of supplementary words. But words can alter its
present meaning for the participant. The message
of City Slickers-of indeed, all manner of leisure
experiences, begimling with childhood play-is that
the unprocessed version of a story may be not only
sufficient but superior: It may cost less; it may be more
universally available and less vulnerable to reflective
distortion; and through sheer repeatability by dint of
afford ability and availability, it may be more able to
impress its lessons upon the participant over time.
Distortion is of particular concern \-\There the
retrospective context differs markedly from the earlier,
experiential context. ''''ho has not faced, at one time
or another, the difficulty of explaining an earlier
action (e.g., a bit of ro\vdy misbehaviour committed
in the company of one's friends) ,,,,hen one is situated
in an entirely different context (e.g., sober inquiry by
one's concerned parents)? The day's activity on the
mountainside, or in the saddle, did not have a fixed
meaning that was locked away in one's soul until the
moment of fireside contemplation, at which instant it
emerged, intact, for disinterested scrutiny. What the
participant says about it in the evening, and to some
unkno\vn extent ,vhat s/he thinks or remembers about
it thereafter, may turn upon ho\v the discussion goes.
It could happen, for example, that someone \vho came
across a remarkable insight during the ropes course
exercise may have a dismaying experience \tvhen trying
to convey that insight to peers aftenvards, potentially
rendering the experience or its meaning regrettable in
that person's subsequent recollection.
The discussion circle does not attempt to be a
neutral forum (cf. Thomas, 2004, p. 133). It attempts to
be educational. As such, it can be all too reminiscent
of the classroom, with the same potential to call
forth befuddlement or pom.posity from leaders, and
sly intellectual bullying or defeated shirking from
students. As Brown (2003) observes, often "It is the
6
leader's version of what the students have said that
becomes confirmed as the accepted reason for being on
camp or for having a successful day, rather than the
students' versions" (p.31).
In the discussion circle, one is typically not
developing strengths of a type that \vould be
applicable to the adventure itself. One is not free to
move forward on one's O\\1n power, for instance, but
must rather remain immobile, \vait one's turn, and be
reminded-immediately after one's success in some
challenge activity-that one might never fully escape
the posturing, disempo\vering \vorld of external control
and social positioning. Tacitly, society and debriefing
orthodoxy, personified in the discussion leader qua
gatekeeper (cf. Brown, 2002), commonly prefer a form
of "group" discussion that is not a vehicle of careful
inquiry into each participant's true needs and views.
That kind of processing could take weeks or months
(cf. Yalom, 1995). Rather, such discussion may provide
the leader (and his/her paying client) \vith an excuse
for self-assurance that lI everybody" has met and has
"discussed" things, in a bean-counting accretion of
insipid verbiage that is largely parasitic upon the main
event.
This is not an environment that the leader
facilitated in CihJ Slickers. Curly did not advance the
sometimes Silly preoccupations of his citified follo\vers.
If they needed him, they \vent to him. Othenvise, his
style of leadership conveyed the message that he had
better things to do-and as a man of the outdoors, he
probably did.
The theory of processing
As Hattie, Marsh, Neill, and Richards (1997)
have remarked, much of the theory of experiential
"education," including reflection and application
phases, arose "in isolation from the educational
\-\Torld," with "little incorporation of research on group
dynamics, attitude change, educational theory, and
cognitive processes" (p. 77). Research into the efficacy
of this isolated body of thought does not show that
germane components thereof (notably, processing)
make an appreciable difference in outcomes (Newes,
2001; Combs, 2001). Indeed, revie\ving research by the
field's supporters, Brookes (2003) notes an enthusiasm
exceeding the available evidence, as \vell as a disregard
of contrary findings; like\vise, in their review of extant
research, Wolfe and Samdahl (2005) find a failure to
examine "instances \vhere a facilitator's intervention
caused more harm than good" (p. 34).
To some, such remarks may merely suggest that
\vhat is needed no\v is "solid research" documenting
what one may already believe about "outcome and
process" in outdoor education (Ne\ves, 2001, p. 92).
But as Wolfe and Samdahl (2005) note, the operative
assumptions could be entirely mistaken, in which case
there might be "little rationale for the continued use of
challenge courses" (p. 40). There is a good chance that
processing does not '''lork as advertised; that, therefore,
no significant body of research \vill ever materialise;
and that processing as no\v conceived may actually be
capable of profound waste and damage.
According to Luckner and ,Nadler (1995), the
theory in question-that students learn by reflecting
upon field experiences and then transferring the
fruits of reflection to daily life-comports with a
constructivist perspective, in \vhich reflection plays
a key role in learning. Fenwick (2000) confirms that
Kolb (1984), often cited by outdoor ed ucators, does
adopt a constructivist approach to learning. In this
case, ho\vever, as Fen\vick also indicates, in"vard
reflection is handled as though it were distinct from
ouhvard experience. Rather than treat people as
inseparably part of \vhat they experience, the theory
behind verbal processing supposes that meanings
arising from a leamer's reflection on a given situation
are not specific to the context of the discussion, but
instead can be transerred across multiple contexts.
It is supposed, moreover, that the discussion leader
may appropriately dwell upon conscious reflection,
when conscious factors may be the mere tip of the
iceberg of pertinent mental phenomena-when, that,
is, the guiding processes may be occurring without the
person's conscious awareness and may not be subject
to his / her efforts at self-direction.
Efforts to improve stable character traib; through
verbal processing may be misdirected if the behaviour
in question varies with the situation, or if learning
is not really a matter of identifying and tweaking
enduring mental constructs. Brookes (2003) urges a
more situation-a\vare perspective. Citing the research
of Ross and Nisbett (1991), Brookes evokes the
prospect that outdoor education theory arises, in part,
from a certain perversity in human interpretations of
behaviour. He points out, in particular, that people
tend to believe in the existence of persistent inner
traits-traits of a type that experience plus processing
are believed to affect-and that they tend to cling
to that belief even after being shown that a given
behaviour results from situational factors. In brief,
recognition of the potentially dominant role played by
situational and unconscious factors could significantly
affect processing research and practice.
The people behind the processing
Citl! Slickers did not get bogged down in
arcana. Mitch and his buddies were not
seeking a verbal experience, and Curly's job did not
require a degree in counseling. Unlike the situation in
many adventure therapy programs, there was no offer
of therapeutic services. This, too, kept the enterprise
Australian Journal of Outdoor Education, 10(1),3-10,2006
simple. Among other things, it removed the risk
of being prosecuted for the unlicensed provision of
mental heal th services.
If the outdoor education field desires
respectability, though, there should be some limits
beyond \vhich such prosecution docs occur. Alvarez
and Stauffer (2001) put it too gently when they say,
"Ideally, the facilitator [in adventure therapy] has been
trained to provide therapy as a helping professional
(e.g., a social "vorker, psychologist, or counselor)" (p.
91). The better statement \vould be that a person "vho
claims to provide a form of therapy should be trained
to do so, not "ideally," but as a matter of course. One
may justifiably \vonder \,\,hether such training is
present, ho'''lever, \-vhen there exist thousands of ropes
courses and other outdoor education venues ,,,,hose
personnel are not necessarily certified or trained in
any particular ,yay (Attarian, 2001), or when barely
half of the organisations accredited by the Association
for Experiential Education (AEE) expect their staffers
to have college-level schooling (Maningas & Simpson,
2003). Surely one should pause, as this author did,
\vhen a 22-year-old man, returning to college to finish
his bachelor's degree, spoke enthUSiastically of his
previous year's experience as a leader of therapeutic
\vildemess expeditions. "Where else," he asked,
"would I have this kind of opportunity to tryout my
ideas about psychology, on real people, without a
degree?"
Every no\v and then, poor outdoor leadership gets
someone killed (e.g., Janofsky, 2002; Salt Lake Tribune,
2003). More often, potentially powerful mental health
interventions are "used indiscriminatel y, wi thout
thought," making them trivial and ineffective (Sakofs,
2001). Inexperienced or untrained group leaders
may also fail to realise holtv much harm they can do
in the processing arena. As Yalom (1995) describes,
a poor leader can unlvittingly create dynamics of
shaming, subgrouping, ostracism, favoritism, and
deskilling among group members, thereby potentially
aggravating clients' mental health issues. In addition,
a poor leader's ostensible wish to "help people" may
mask an unrecognised desire to reap the praise of group
members vying for his/her attention and acceptance;
s/he may confusedly assume that such praise means
s/he is actually doing a good job of bringing about
therapeutic change in their lives.
To be sure, one cannot assume that the mere
possession of a mental health licence guarantees
good results rOln verbal processing. Social workers,
psychologists, and counsellors are human. 'Vhether
experienced or not, many do not excel at their \-vork.
Nor are they consistently able to make optimal usc
of the consummately important client-therapist
relationship (cf. Walborn, 1996, p. 173). Among other
things, certain issues may bring out unrecognised
7
Cih) Slickers. Let tile cattle speak for tllelllselves.
biases. For example, client demographic features
(e.g., gender, age, socioeconomic status, intellectual
level) may attract therapists' favor or disfavor, "vith
potentially profound effects upon outcomes (Yalom,
1995, pp. 224-232; Seligman, 2001, pp. 539, 542).
For many reasons, talk-oriented approaches are
not the only option. Good results may sometimes
ensue from the efforl') of a professional trained in such
activity-oriented practices as recreational therapy
(cf. Austin, 1997; Jin & Austin, 2000) or psychosocial
occupational therapy (cf. Stein & Cutler, 2002, pp. 188,
229; Mutrie & Faulkner, 2003, pp. 82-85). Similarly,
adventure therapy does enjoy an advantage, to the
extent that il') interventions derive from activity itC)elf,
as distinct from classic psychological notions of verbal
processing in \vhich the therapist's personality or
preoccupations could easily become obtrusive.
A concluding perspective
People may believe, based on informal
conversation or clinical experience, that talk results
in action. Then again, one might infer that, where
action is the goal, action could logically be the primary
therapeutic mediunl as \veIl.
'[he addition of a verbal processing component
vastly increases the number of variations that may
impact therapeutic outcomes. One might consider,
for example, a revie\v of the evidence base pertaining
to youth psychotherapy by Weisz, Doss, and
Ha\vley (2005), who detect more than 3,000 relevant
studies. From those 3,000, they are able to identify
236 methodologically stringent studies that test 383
different psychotherapeutic treabnents, varying across
numerous vectors, including the involvement of
others, such as parents, in addition to the child; the use
of individual or group formats; the form of treatment,
such as cognitive-behavioral; total hours of treatment;
and so on. At present rates of research, outdoor
education 'tVill never assemble a comparable database,
much less address the persistent shortcomings that
\'\Teisz, Doss, and Hawley (2005) identify in the
psychotherapeutic literature.
If outdoor education researchers are ever to
establish a compelling empirical basis for their "vork,
it 'Nould seem unadvisable to begin by exploring
endless possibilities at random. Instead, parsimony
recommends determining whether the experience
is indeed capable of speaking for itself. Research in
environmental psychology (e.g., Jones, Patterson,
& Hammitt, 2000; Kaplan & Kaplan, 1989; Low
& Altman, 1992) may inform that inquiry. After
developing a foundation based upon the distinguishing
experiential and outdoor features of outdoor education,
it mayor may not seem essential to undertake further
8
empirical investigation of the assorted speculations
currentl y offered to rationalise the endless possible
configurations of verbal processing.
Moviegoers, voting with their feet in favor of
City Slickers, ,vere not proving the scientific viability
of its premise. They were, ho\vever, mutely testifying
that psychologically oriented talk therapies have their
limits, and that experience is a po\verful, pervasive
teacher in life. Outdoor education possesses a
remarkable opportunity to ally itself \vith that teacher.
It would be disappointing if the opportunity should
be squandered in a vain attempt to reach beyond the
field's manifest capabilities in pursuit of some chimera
of articulable profundity.
Acknowledgements
This paper lvas conlnlenC(d under the guidance
of Shu T. Cole. A previous version Iva8 honoured
in the Robert Student Literary
competition bponsort"d by the AAHPERD.
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About the Author
Ray J1oodcoc.k, J.D., a doctoral student
in leisure studies at bldiana University. E-mail:
rJtvoodcoc@indiana.edu