“Education is what remains after forgetting everything one learned in school.”  — Albert Einstein

One of the goals in the History program at Ad Fontes is to create fun, engaging experiences that will cement certain ideas after the mere facts might vacate their minds.  As students progress the variety and complexity of these activities increase, from the corrupt elections of the Roman Republic (8th grade) to the ‘Stock Market of 1929’ (11th grade) up to their senior year, which includes the ‘Insurgency in the Woods.’

In Government class the seniors study a unit on the history of guerilla insurgencies from Alexander the Great to the present day.   We attempted to deduce key principles of victory and defeat for both guerrilla and conventional forces.  Broadly we ask, “How do democratic cultures tend to interact with insurgencies, and what special difficulties do insurgencies pose for democracies?”

I want to give the students a chance to test our theories in an activity that could hopefully replicate some of the factors in insurgent conflict.  The senior class acts as insurgents.  Our weapons would be inferior (eggs) but we could blur the lines between civilian and combatant, and plant IED’s (simulated by papers plates).  Grades 9-11 would act as a conventional army, and be led by other teachers and parents.  They would have superior weaponry (super soaker water guns) and communications (cell phones) but be on unfamiliar ground.

Victory went to the seniors this year.  Their strategy of frustrating and confusing the enemy to provoke ‘atrocities’ against civilians worked, along with some well placed explosives.   Eventually, the 9-11 graders received ‘shoot anyone on sight’ orders, which played to the seniors’ advantage.  Many cried foul over the senior’s deceptive tactics, but in the end realized that the ability to deceive and surprise stands as an insurgency’s biggest asset.

If Einstein was right, my prayer is that real ‘education’ happened out in the woods!