The role of educating children has justifiably broadened over the years to include more than the basic three R's, but should
intensive group therapy type seminars be a part of it? Apparently Clearview says "yes", as they introduce the
first "Challenge Day" scheduled for this Thursday and Friday in the High School. Challenge Day is a California based
corporation that "provides youth and their communities with experiential workshops and programs that demonstrate the possibility
of love and connection through the celebration of diversity, truth and full expression".
Who participates in Challenge Day? Teachers personally recommend students who they see as "peer leaders...who have the
greatest potential to shift the overall school climate". According to Principal Kevin Kitchenman, 100 students per day have
been selected to take part in what Challenge Day calls this "Be the Change Movement". What does this program look like?
It's a 6 1/2 hour long program that takes place during the school day, in a closed door setting, where students are encouraged
to share deeply personal and private feelings and experiences regarding issues such as social oppression, cliques, teasing,
sexuality, violence, drugs, harassment, prejudice...topics evoking strong emotions.
Whether such a program should be a part of a high school curriculum is controversial. In a Seattle Times editorial,
critics say "the emotional intensity of the workshops is troublesome. Schools should not assist in placing children in situations
where adults break them down emotionally and, purportedly, rebuild them into better people". Not all school administration
and school boards have been so quick to approve and implement Challenge Day as reported in Collier County, FL, in which one
school board member said, "we have a captive audience in our children and we need to be introspective in what we expose those
children to."
