I was in the middle of teaching The Grapes of Wrath to high school
seniors in late May when they asked the question that led to the creation
of Road Scholars. Waxing poetic about driving into California from the desert
and feeling like you had arrived in the land of milk and honey, 
one
of the young men in class stopped me.
"We don't know what you're talking about."
"You know, California...the desert at night...the smell of the trees-"
"We live in New Jersey."
I had noticed that. I had even lamented over that for a number of years. He had a point. I was never going to be able to tell them about what it feels like to be in California, or what it feels like to be in Oklahoma. So much of my own education had been founded in seeing the country and knowing the land, that I had to think of an alternative.
I thought for a moment and then coming to the only conclusion which made any sense at all, I said, "You're right, maybe we should go there."
And from that idea, Road Scholars was born.
What
if your education were about going to the places where literature was written,
where history happened, where creativity overflowed the boundaries of the
frame and spilled out into your life? How much more would you remember?
How much more connected we all might feel to the places where we are from,
the places we have yet to explore. We might learn about life, about community,
about diversity about similari
ty.
Road Scholars is about trying to answer those questions. At its heart is
a simple question of is it possible to have a form of education which helps
create community and helps each individual find her or his own way in the
world. It goes from a simple principle that who you are and where you are
in your life's path are one in the same.
The more you see, the more connections you make, the greater the possibilities you have for finding the things which ignite your passion and which connect you to the world around you. With the classroom walls dissolved, the whole world is your classroom, and you don't become a student to pass tests or get grades, but you become what you already are - a life long learner, an explorer, a member of a community, you.
Where Does Road Scholars Fit Into the World of Experiential and Travel Education Programs?