Why the U.S. Congress Should Go To NOLS
Imagine a group of people tasked to accomplish important things, but who do not share much in common. They tend to take one of two sides when controversy comes up. Common ground is not common.
Imagine that this group of people finally recognizes that continuing with status quo methods is not effective. Terms like “leadership” and “judgment” and “consensus” bubble up, nudged, perhaps, by multiple communities affected by this group’s habitual gridlock. It realizes that it is time to find a better way.
Photo: Travelpix Ltd
Imagine that this group discovers a place that can help, one well-versed in educating others how to overcome the adversities of malfunction and disruption, and to work with their differences. Imagine that the members of this group at last embrace the importance of learning (maybe re-learning, for they haven’t always been so crusty) that respectful discourse and civility and dialogue are part of getting along.
Imagine they agree to a course of study where they leave the familiar, go into the wilderness, stay long enough to tune in and remember things that they possibly learned as children but have forgotten: the sights and sounds and healing forces of the natural world, the authority of weather and uneven terrain, the shock and relief of jumping into a mountain lake after a hot day of hiking. The comfort of sitting around a fire circle at night, a dense carpet of stars overhead. The thrill of hearing coyotes greet the rising moon.
Photo: Matt Hage
They learn how to live with one other day after day as they gain the skills to thrive in this unusual place: learning to cook meals, pitch tents, carry the weight of their lives on their backs, gain the top of a pass or mountaintop.
There is a school called NOLS, not widely known (even though it’s been around for 60 years) where students of all ages are routinely transformed in just this way. I had the task and honor of writing its history in 2015. I can vouch that a NOLS education can and routinely does teach many skills essential to negotiating this increasingly hostile world: judgment, leadership, tolerance for adversity and more. With tact and impressive skill, NOLS instructors help their students respect the values and beliefs of all the members of the expedition. They promote positive attitudes, and help motivate students to work hard with people who very often are quite different from them. They learn how to make the welfare of the group equal to their own. A profound understanding evolves that expeditions can and do succeed when every member is successful. [See https://www.nols.edu/]
NOLS students learn how to get along, because in the wilderness, groups have to rely on each individual. The skills of both leadership and followership are embedded in lessons. A NOLS course builds a culture of tolerance and support. The learning environment is positive. In time, participants evolve into colleagues who know how to get along. Students return to the far more challenging terrain of daily life with new interpersonal skills and profound respect for others.
For our nation, the current times are like a daunting mountain rising menacingly, filled with numerous dark hazards. We are on a collective expedition, but one which sadly lacks a sense of confidence that our leaders are up to the task. They lack the core principles foundational to a NOLS field expedition. One of these was dubbed “expedition behavior” by the school’s founder. Lovingly referred to as “EB,” good expedition behavior alone would doubtless alter the tenor of our government for the better. Wouldn’t it be something for members of the U.S. Congress to acquire a NOLS education?
NOLS early history. Photo: NOLS
It’s not too late. Astronaut teams routinely go into space as solid teams well-versed in EB and leadership/followership, thanks to a NOLS education. Naval Academy midshipmen test their classroom lessons in military leadership on 30-day NOLS courses. Imagine what could happen if the U.S. Congress could go to NOLS, and be guided by the precepts they’d learn there.
Imagine.
[Note: This blog has been edited and updated from when it was first posted on November 16, 2016.]
Photo: Anvesh Thapa
