Blogocentric Formulations

Day 15: A Vivid Childhood Experience

*Written as part of the "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" 

Day 15 Prompt: Write about a childhood experience that you remember vividly. Include as much sensory detail as possible.

Oh, I can already tell this is going to bring back horrible memories. The childhood experience that I remember most vividly was when my fourth grade class went on an overnight field trip to San Francisco to participate in an activity called " The Age of Sail

http://maritime.org/edu/nmmaedu2.htm

," which apparently is still a thing, unfortunately. Here are some excerpts from the website:

The year is 1906, and the students, or "lads," are immersed in an eighteen hour journey through the past. As "green" hands on their overnight stint aboard a historic vessel, they must learn to step lively and gain the necessary skills to set sail on the evening tide.

The program encourages students to develop self-confidence and self-reliance, which in turn fosters a sense of responsibility for themselves, their shipmates, and their community.

Throughout the entire experience, emphasis is placed on building self-esteem, a sense of responsibility, respect and cooperative learning skills. These skills are not just useful on the vessel or in the classroom, but will be useful throughout ones entire life.

Sure, that sounds like an interesting experience. And all due respect to the teachers and administrators who put this together. Schools really need more hands-on, out-of-the-classroom experiences like these. Maybe just not this particular one. Here's what I remember from the experience:

          Arriving at the pier and being screamed at by the boat's captain and adult crew to get into our assigned groups (the class was divided equally into groups of crew members who would each be responsible for a particular task).

          Being screamed at (again) in each of our groups as we struggled through "useful throughout [ones] entire life" tasks such as oaring a massive rowboat, cooking on an antique coal stove, rigging a ship's sails, and cleaning the decks with a mop. The entire experience consisted of the adults telling us once how to do something (sometimes as complex as tying a specific knot) and expecting a bunch of fourth-graders to immediately replicate the instructions to perfection. If we messed up, we got yelled at.

          Trying to sleep in the hold of the ship with nothing more than thin sleeping bags. On the cold wooden floor of the ship. Crammed in there with forty other students. Most of us passed the night drifting in and out of sleep, except for...

          The two hours we were forced to "stand watch" on deck of the ship. Our shift on watch basically meant standing stationary (no sitting down!) in silence (no talking!), shivering (no heavy clothes), and waiting for the time to expire. I was lucky enough to be posted near the porthole to the captain's cabin, which looked quite comfy and warm as he slept while the rest of us "stood watch." On the plus side, I did have a nice view of the Ghirardelli Square sign across the bay to stare at for two hours.

          When I developed a chill (and then a fever) as a result of the cold, my mother (a chaperone on the trip) was reprimanded and escorted below deck by one of the adult crew members after coming to check on me once she heard from another student that it looked like I was going to pass out. She brought me some aspirin to help with the pain, which the crew member said I couldn't take (because aspirin didn't exist back then! [yes it did, idiot]), then begrudgingly allowed me to dry swallow once he realized I really was very ill.

          After being chilled through during the night, having cold oatmeal (and only a small cupful at that) for breakfast because "sailors have to ration their meals on a long voyage." Nothing warms you up after freezing your butt off all night quite like a cold spoonful of oatmeal!

It was a miserable experience. It seems like the entire adventure was geared toward showing us how abysmal it was to be on a boat crew early in the 1900s. I'm sure my personal experience is probably glossing over some one or two positive moments, but I just remember never being happier to get back in the van and go home. By the time the experience was over, I had blisters on my hands and feet, was sleep deprived, hungry, and feverish. And now that I look at their website, I wonder if some of the following notes shouldn't be posted in large, bold print to make sure people are fully aware:

The [parents] have one of the most difficult roles on board: they are there for safety only. This is challenging because parents are used to stepping in to help and guide their children in unfamiliar or difficult situations. To stand back and watch the children struggle through a problem is difficult, but necessary.

It is VITAL that PRIOR TO THE BEGINNING OF THE PROGRAM all [parents] are aware that they will not be able to interact with the lads except during an emergency.

Maybe they've changed their program over the years (fourth grade was a long time ago!), or hired different people who handled their supervisory roles with a little more decorum. During my experience, I must've missed the part where the captain's sense of humor came through since he was described as "tough but with a sense of humor." (Mostly he just stalked around and grumbled a lot about the 'sorry lot of sailors' he had to work with.) And I must've missed the part where the first mate was fair even though he was described as "stern but fair." (Mostly he just screamed at us and promised to give us even more work if we kept screwing up.)

I'd like to think that maybe this was one of those things where my perspective was just skewed because I got sick and had a bad experience personally. But the thing is, I don't know a single one of my classmates who claimed to have a good experience. Every one of the two full classes of kids couldn't wait to get off the ship and get home. I'll never know what the behind-the-scenes talk among the parent chaperones, the teachers, and the professional boat crew were, but I can't imagine what I would be thinking - as a teacher - if I went to the expense and effort of arranging a field trip only to have forty kids all come out of it cranky, sleep-deprived, hungry, and generally miserable. I can only imagine the conversations they had with the event staff and/or with the parents of the students once they heard what their kids had to do on their field trip!

Maybe the program has changed and evolved over the years, and maybe they've made improvements to the way things are run. But at least when I went on this program during my childhood, $3,000 seems like an awful lot of money for a class to have spent on a field trip that was little more than learning outdated "sailing" skills and being yelled at and abused for the privilege.