Earlier this month, I participated in Brown Outdoor Leadership Training, affectionately known as BOLT: an outdoor education program for incoming sophomores and transfer students at Brown. Students spend five days in the New Hampshire White Mountains with their phones left powered-off, 200 miles away. Never before had I seen a group of my peers so present, invested, collaborative, in awe and inspired. Deeply held beliefs and feelings were discussed under tarps, and thoughtful questions were raised as we clambered up rocks. Despite — or maybe because of — our unshowered state, the group developed a deep sense of closeness, both interpersonally and in relation to the surrounding scenery.
As I trekked along the Presidential Trail, I came to realize that the experience of this backpacking trip had profoundly educational qualities — qualities that seem essential to a university committed to deep intellectual curiosity, creativity and individuality. Yet, when I returned to College Hill and searched for similar experiences of collaboration, focus and care, I came up empty-handed. It feels as though in the age of artificial intelligence, these values have become harder and harder to find. It is clear that we must recalibrate our perception and commitment to the art of learning. To do so, I think Brown should bring its students to the woods.
Undergraduates at Brown, and across the country, have abandoned such values. Professors across departments have begun to change the way they evaluate their students due to an increase in unauthorized use of AI to complete coursework. 60% of college students are reported feeling academic burnout. Students’ attention spans have become significantly shorter due to technology usage, resulting in challenges for critical thinking and engagement. Because of a widespread lack of motivation, students are not engaging with the material provided to them. In other words, we are experiencing a chasmic disconnect from the studies we so eagerly sought to pursue.
My experience in BOLT is not unique. Nature is known to play a distinct role in reestablishing academic purpose and performance. The outdoors has been found to be a form of attention restoration therapy by engaging individuals with “bottom-up” stimuli, improving focus and school performance and decreasing anxiety. Additionally, time spent away from electronics can reset attention spans, with a two-week detox having attention-increasing results comparable to reversing 10 years of aging. Nature is a remedy for the academic maladies that have been diagnosed.
To capture and realize these advantages, Brown should establish a term-long outdoor, academic and credit-bearing program with the goal of encouraging students to rigorously and authentically engage with materials provided to them. Alongside Brown professors, students will take courses in which they can deeply engage with texts and concepts away from the temptations of electronics. They will read, annotate and debate, formulating ideas and rethinking preconceived notions. They will spend their time in quiet solitude and lively collaboration, orienting themselves to what it means to be an element of a natural space. Whether it be when reading, cooking or hiking, their purpose is to be fully present and immersed as students in the unique space they inhabit.
Utilizing nature in an effort to strengthen academic experiences is not a novel idea. For six and a half weeks each summer, the University of Michigan hosts the New England Literature Program in New Hampshire, where students take three English courses, spending time rigorously reading New England authors and writing their own works. Across the country in California, Deep Springs College runs a two-year academic program combining intensive seminar-style learning and manual labor on a cattle ranch. Students who have participated in these programs of outdoor immersion reflect on the experiences as magical spaces of creative experimentation, a life-changing experience, providing deep academic realization and personal growth.
The concept of pursuing off-campus Brown studies is not unprecedented. We have a Global Experiential Learning and Teaching program where students enroll in a five-week internationally taught course. Additionally, Brown administers two study abroad program centers in Paris and Bologna for students to be immersed in new surroundings as they continue their studies. Brown has the infrastructure for off-campus, global studies. However, a domestic outdoors-based study “abroad” option is an opportunity that is critically lacking. Not only is a domestic program a more financially accessible option than one that requires international travel, but it provides students the opportunity to disconnect from technology and external pressures in a way that traditional study abroad does not.
I recognize that the scope of such a program is limited. Only a small cohort of students would be able to participate in such an intensive program at a time, and while the scenery might be quite apt for courses such as ENGL 1512A: “Freaks of Nature: Emerson, Thoreau and the Transcendentalists,” it may prove unfit for CSCI 0300: “Fundamentals of Computer Systems.” It is not a comprehensive solution for the larger issue the student body at Brown, and the country, face. However, I believe such a program would be a start — slowly letting the benefits of nature permeate College Hill and reminding students that despite the divide we may feel, the woods, and the lessons they teach, are not far.
As Ralph Waldo Emerson states, “In the woods we return to faith and reason.” To help restore the rigorous spirit of learning, it is time we go to the woods. We are in need of the tonic of wildness.
Talia Berkwits ’29 can be reached at talia_berkwits@brown.edu. Please send responses to this column to letters@browndailyherald.com and other opinions to opinions@browndailyherald.com.
Talia Berkwits is an opinions editor. She is from Chicago, IL and undecided on her concentration. She loves cooking (but not cleaning up) and one of her goals is to visit all 50 states.
