Dear HCN,
As a professional in the
field of outdoor-adventure education, I appreciated your
well-balanced, thorough discussion of outdoor education (HCN,
6/10/96). As wilderness becomes the place for personal growth,
team-building and therapeutic purposes, industry regulation becomes
increasingly critical. This is evidenced by the toll of teenage
fatalities in “tough love” programs such as North
Star.
What wasn’t mentioned in the article about
Aaron Bacon’s death is that some outdoor educators have begun to
regulate themselves. The Association for Experiential Education
(AEE), a leader in the field, has designed and begun to implement a
service that reviews and accredits adventure programs based on an
exhaustive set of criteria.
If North Star had
been seeking accreditation at the time of the Bacon fatality, it
would have failed overwhelmingly on criteria regarding program
integrity, staff qualifications including first aid training,
ethical concerns, risk management, and management and supervision
of program activities. It is to be hoped that this movement toward
examining and accrediting qualified programs will help parents
decide where to send their children and move the field toward the
high levels of professionalism that are exemplified by leaders in
the field.
Anne J.
Morse
Chino Valley,
Arizona
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline We are regulating ourselves at last.
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