What a trip!

 It was 21 feet long and they made it in the classroom. Start to finish, all the strands for the suspension cables, the caissons for the foundation, the lanes, the towers - the entire Brooklyn Bridge (except for the water underneath) - right there in Trish Lent's second / third grade classroom. The construction project was part of a half-year unit that involved several trips to see and experience the actual bridge joining Manhattan and Brooklyn.

On their first trip the children were initially taken aback - actually, a bit traumatized by the racket of traffic and their view from the wooden walkway above the cars. The force of wind and the sensation of being high above the water was unnerving. Before the project was over, not only were they comfortable on the bridge; they were experts. Math, science, poetry, artistry, engineering, construction - and even the basic question: Why put a bridge here? This was not an extended learning unit in school; this was an experience designed to imbed itself into the lives of these children.

I read about this in a book called "Out of the Classroom and Into the World" by Salvatore Vascellaro. The book builds on the pioneering work of Lucy Sprague Mitchell, an educator who started The Bank Street College of Education. The heart of Mitchell's educational conviction is the field trip, what is sometimes referred to as "The Long Trip." Perhaps another way of putting it would be to say that Mitchell firmly believed if a person was going to learn, "you have to be there." You can't just read about it. You have to see it, touch it, and talk to the people who made it or are having to live under the burden of it - whether we are talking about a bridge over water, or the turbulence of racism.

As I write this, four astronauts have left earth's atmosphere and have docked with the International Space Station. Theirs is a six month field trip, doing experiments, collaborating and creating relational bonds that will transcend any of the facts they accumulate. To watch the astronauts as they boarded, acknowledging the hundreds of support staff, knowing they journeyed on the shoulders (and brains) of colleagues - it was heartening to see their gestures of gratitude.

And I am reminded that any of us alive on planet earth right now are spinning at a rate of 1,000 miles per hour. As I reflected on Vascellaro's book and Mitchell's educational philosophy it occurred to me: I am on a long trip! It's called "Life". The hurricanes and the hatred; the good and the evil; the hopes and the dashed dreams - and all the people who are on "the bus" with me ... there is no getting around the exhilaration and the grief. Would that we could recognize each other, let go of a bit of our pride and simply enjoy the ride - together.

Since completing the book I have made it a point to go out for more walks, just to see what is around me, feel the forces of nature, witness the beautiful diversity of the human family. I feel a bit like the chimney sweep in Mary Poppins, seeing himself atop London roofs in the evening and looking out over the city. "Coo, wha' a sight!" Except I hear myself proclaiming: Lord, what a trip!