I wrote an article last week about Challenge Day which took place from Aug. 31-Sept. 3 at O’Fallon Township High School in southern IL. The four-day event cost thousands of dollars with much of the funding evidently coming from the public coffers.

This workshop, based out of CA and patterned after large group awareness training sessions (LGATs), has been criticized from coast to coast. It employs emotionally invasive, encounter group-like exercises that break down the often fragile emotions of teens and culminate in collective weeping. Unfortunately for taxpayers and students, Naperville Central High School in Naperville, IL will be hosting three Challenge Days on Oct. 26, 27 and 28.

It’s not surprising that Challenge Day founder Rich Dutra-St. John would incorporate large group awareness training techniques and new age spiritualism into this current manifestation of old ideas because Dutra-St. John is a proud 1993 graduate of the “Hoffman Quadrinity Process”(HQP) which embodies both:

Our programs are designed for you to release this negative conditioning and access your untapped resources of power, wisdom and creativity….The HQP brings into awareness the counterproductive beliefs, perceptions and emotional needs that have been adopted from parents and others who shaped our early life experiences….Our methodology of “infused teaching” addresses all dimensions of your being: intellectual, emotional, physical and spiritual.

Following last week’s article, I received some interesting emails and phone calls, several of which I have received permission to share.

A school psychologist with a PhD in clinical psychology wrote that Challenge Day “is just one more reason for home schooling. I see this as dangerous and unproductive. They are stepping over the line into an area that they should not be going. I am appalled and surprised that this is allowed by any school system.”

A parent reported this story:

A 9th grader who had just gotten done participating in Challenge Day at OTHS was sharing with a teacher and an older high school student what a classmate in her Challenge Day group had shared. The classmate had been in tears, as were all the others in the group, expressing anguish over being abused by [a relative] (the student named the relationship, but I am omitting it). The teacher responded that she doesn’t like programs like this because she doesn’t like people sharing those kinds of personal things.

Of course, O’Fallon Township High School employees have both an ethical and legal obligation to report this alleged abuse.

But there is more troubling fallout potentially in the offing. Many students have now heard the account of alleged abuse. It is likely that many of these students will, like the 9th grader mentioned above, tell others. Soon this story may be spread all over town. What if the story is not true? If it is true, did the parents know about the abuse? Would they have wanted their child to share it with a group of acquaintances and strangers? Will the dissemination of this story result in this student’s healing or in further harm? How will the entire family be affected?

Another community member talked to a boy who participated in Challenge Day:

The boy told me that people were affected emotionally and they shared some private things, but no one has really changed how they treat each other and in some cases things are worse instead of better.

Kids were asked to sit in a circle and one-by-one go around and share an experience in which they were hurt. The boy telling recounting this story did not want to participate in that exercise. Then one boy announced that he was “gay” and most of the kids began to clap. Someone then told the group to stand up if they supported and accepted the “gay” boy. Next, a girl announced that she was bisexual. The standing and clapping continued. Only two students remained seated, but finally, because of the extended standing and clapping, the boy felt pressured to stand. He feared if he didn’t stand, someone would say something to him.

These two students who may be deeply compassionate and respectful but may also believe that homosexuality is immoral and destructive were put in a terrible public bind: if they remained seated, it appeared as though they were intolerant and uncaring; if they stood up and clapped, it appeared that they supported and affirmed homosexuality. Talk about peer pressure. Unfortunately, this avoidable peer pressure was orchestrated by adults lacking in wisdom.

I also received this email:

I read your article about Challenge Day and emotional purging (group activity) and was horrified. I am a trained, professional actress as well as an educator. I have a MA in Creative Drama for children from Northwestern University and have taught across the nation. I attended a four- year professional actors training conservatory, toured the nation teaching creative-drama based workshops for teachers and K-12 students as an ensemble member of the nationally recognized Metro Theatre Company (St. Louis) and studied at one of the finest universities that pioneered/teaches safe and effective creative drama approaches to education. 

I question whether the leaders of these Challenge Day seminars have ever read the true “method” practices of Stanislavski (very often misinterpreted) or the emotionally dangerous, controversial practices of Artaud‘s “Theatre of Cruelty” approach to acting/self-discovery. I wonder if they understand how often these approaches have done more harm than good. These techniques seem to me to be similar to those used by the Challenge Day leaders. I strongly agree with you: in the wrong hands, much harm can be done using such an approach. Never can this type of “learning” be productive or safe.

In response to vociferous community opposition, school districts in Naples, Florida and Washington State discontinued hosting Challenge Days. That’s a good thing according to Michelle Malkin who wrote about the Seattle mess in 2002:

The latest news of the weird in our public schools comes from Seattle…. Principals and teachers traded in phonics for histrionics. Children learned the Oprahfied alphabet — A for apologies, B for blame, and C for crying. Uncontrollable crying. Kleenex must have made a killing. Here’s how the Times reporter described the workshops: “Sitting in small circles, their knees touching, students shared their own hurt and the pain they had inflicted on others. The tears flowed. In some groups, half the Washington Middle School students were crying at once….”

All bounds of privacy and self-restraint were erased as seminar “facilitators” encouraged their young guinea pigs to confess whether they — or friends or family members — had ever faced addiction problems, sadness over the death of loved ones, guilt over teasing others because of their weight, or thoughts of suicide. The public sniveling and sniffling ended with a “final exercise — hugging as many people as possible in two minutes, to the theme from ‘Rocky.'” One child, showing uncommon wisdom, dubbed the dolorous debacle a “psycho cry-fest.” 

Now, there may be legitimate private businesses out there that provide real help to families with emotional problems. But even so, they have no place in taxpayer-funded schools whose primary function is supposed to be filling students’ heads — not emptying their lachrymal ducts.

For Naperville Central parents and other concerned community members, here are some pragmatic suggestions:

• Ask your school board and/or administrators exactly how much Challenge Day is costing, including the costs of feeding Challenge Day participants and the costs for substitute teachers whom the district has to hire to replace teachers who are participating in Challenge Day.
• Ask how Challenge Day is funded. If the school answers that it’s paid for by grants, make sure to ask if the grants are private, federal or state grants. Also, ask if any stimulus money is being used.
• If you object to Challenge Day, make your objections known to administrators and school board members.
• Do not allow your children to participate in Challenge Day.