Yes I have heard of Tom Brown Jr. and his tracker school. I've even gone so far as to attempt to sign up for his standard and advanced standard classes, although luckily I was waitlisted both times and never got in. I've taken similar "survival" classes at other more local schools though, so I feel like I have a firm grasp of the survival basics (fire-by-friction, primitive shelters, edible and medicinal plants and animals, hunting, stalking, etc...), for whatever they're worth...
"Survival" schools like Tracker School and its progeny sell skills, and while skills are important I think that community and personal development are even more important. That's why I have taken a liking to Jon Young and his cultural mentoring slant and am becoming less and less inclined to buy my way into survival classes. I went to my first Art of Mentoring here in Vermont this past fall, for the price I think it is better than any Tom Brown-esque survival class. You can certainly learn skills if you want to, but you also learn about personal, community and cultural development and about mentoring. These elements are far more important than survival skills in our modern era, in my opinion. The Art of Mentoring workshop and Jon Young and Randall Eaton's Sacred Hunt workshop were life-altering experiences for me, and for most of the people who attended I suspect. I can't imagine a survival class, no matter how well orchestrated, would equal either of them.
Topic: Anyone in the Northeast US? (Read 16752 times)