We live in a cultural context that continues a to provide a very narrow definition of ‘rigorous academics.’ ‘quality education’ and ‘college readiness.’ Despite a vast body of research on the importance of nature immersion for healthy human development[1], the vital role of social emotional skills in effectively navigating life[2], and the effectiveness of interdisciplinarity in sustaining student engagement and fostering deep learning[3], most of the prestigious colleges in America continue to automatically reject applicants who do not have high standardized test scores. Those tests (the SAT and the ACT) measure a narrow band of human capacity, namely academic competence in literacy, numeracy, and science. Because of this ongoing bias at the most elite levels of higher education, the ‘trickle down’ is felt pedagogically and culturally, and our schools (as well as our beliefs about learning) continue to favor a narrow band of human capacity. This remains true, despite extensive research that challenges these views and practices.

The programs at Manzanita School emphasize deep nature connection, interpersonal competence, stewardship, and interdisciplinary study because these are consistent with the best practices in human development, not just in education. We are well aware that this means we are often ‘swimming against the current’ of what the culture-at-large believes to be “good schooling” and “an educated person.” We are unapologetic about this. That said, it is vital to state as part of our Accreditation Review that our priorities and practices may appear very different from the majority of schools, whether public or private. For example, we devote fully 40% of our instructional minutes to “applied human ecology” and “land stewardship.” The outcomes of this substantial instructional commitment is “embodied” learning; something not readily (or necessarily) measurable by what a student can do, remember, or say. This embodied learning is more about “who a student is,” “how they feel,” and “what they value.” Our accreditation self-study continues to explore the best ways to identify and measure these attributes, to articulate them through our 12 Student Learning Outcomes, and to purchase and/or develop test instruments that can show us how our students are doing in these areas so that we can adjust instruction and programs accordingly.

We are very proud of our commitment to nature connection and interpersonal competence in our students, yet Manzanita also offers rigorous academic study in literacy, numeracy, science, and humanities, as our 100% college acceptance and attendance rates attest. However, we know it is not our academic programs that most define us as a school, and with the prevailing winds of culture blowing against programs that could be perceived as frivolous, unconventional, or ‘not academic enough,’ we have found that it is essential for us to speak with ongoing force and conviction -as a community dedicated to bringing out the deepest gifts and strengths in our youth- about our school’s commitment to embodied-learning through nature connection, land stewardship, and social emotional programs. We are at an unprecedented moment on the human journey, facing a difficult-to-see future. How we tend our youth has tremendous implications for how well we can collectively face the unique challenges ahead.

At Manzanita School, mentoring arises most consistently when a young person has regular opportunities to interface with wild nature, and to then receive skilled guidance from a learned elder (or “older”) who can help the youth make sense of the questions and curiosities that arise in the exploration of nature. The assumption here is that the human being’s most conspicuous source of inspired inquiry has always been the physical environment of evolutionary adaptedness (the EEA, as it is called in Evolutionary Psychology[4]), which is the ecosystem of wild nature most proximate to where the young person is growing up. For Manzanita students, that would be the Southern California coastal chaparral of the Santa Monica Mountains. We build on the work of Evolutionary Psychologist Dr. Darcia Narvaez[5] of the University of Notre Dame, who has developed the theory of “Optimal Nest” (evolved developmental niche) which is an ecological term referring to the most biologically appropriate ‘nest’ that a species can grow up in. It is the nest we have inherited from our ancestors. In the case of humans, wild nature is the ‘optimal nest,’ as it was our home for over 99% of our history as a species. The overriding understanding at Manzanita is that a young person’s engagement with wild nature will offer the most consistent context for a deep mentoring into their healthiest and most fully-developed selves.

Manzanita School sent its first acceptance letter on April 18th, 2014. Written on the bottom of that letter (and included on every acceptance letter since), are these words from our school’s mission: “Embedded in the bio-diverse setting of undeveloped chaparral, beneath ancient oaks and a weathered rock face, the local ecosystem and unique geologic terrain will serve as a primary learning context for the study of science, natural history, and human ecology.” This mission remains central.
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FOOTNOTES

[1] Shepard, Paul Nature and Madness (1998 edition)

[2] Durlak, Joseph A., and Others. Handbook of Social and Emotional Learning: Research and Practice, 2016.

[3] Science Europe, “Symposium Report: Interdisciplinarity” 2018, at this link: https://www.scienceeurope.org/media/yv2huvp1/report-of-2018-science-europe-symposium-on-interdisciplinarity.pdf

[4] Cosmides, Leda & John Tooby, “Evolutionary Psychology: A Primer.” 1997, found at: https://www.cep.ucsb.edu/primer.html

[5] Narvaez, Darcia, “The Evolved Nest (Evolved Developmental Niche; EDN)” at: https://www3.nd.edu/~dnarvaez/EDST.htm