Parks are society’s best hope for teaching fruitful use of leisure

Evidence

It seems to me that in this circumstance the great hope for aiding people in the direction of a happy and fruitful use of leisure is to be found in the national parks, the state and local parks, the museums and other cultural preserves. And, by the same token, I think that here lies the greatest challenge to the interpreter who works in this field: what to do; what to say; how to point the way; how to connect the visitor’s own life with something, even one thing, among all the custodial treasures; how finally to elicit from the aimless visitor the specific thought: “This is something I believe I could get interested in.” Well, there lies an ideal to work for. But of one thing I am sure: it cannot be done merely by displaying wares, not by imparting mere facts. The thing is a thing of the spirit; and, to indulge in a rash paraphrase, it must be directed in spirit and in truth. — Freeman Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage, 608

Categorization

• XREF: The goal state of Tilden’s causal chain — the visitor saying ‘this is something I could get interested in’ extends ch7’s understanding→appreciation→protection. — connects to: Ungoverned leisure historically degenerated into civic decay and instability — Freeman Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage, 584; Thoreau prized receptive idleness over productive use of leisure — Freeman Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage, 797; Parks offer firsthand acquaintance with nature that books cannot supply — Freeman Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage, 708 (+7 more)
• DEEPTHINKING: Tilden’s whole argument culminates here: interpretation’s end is not knowledge but an ignited personal love that takes over leisure — a paradigm-shifting goal for pedagogy generally.

Broader Connections

• Visitors arrive for recreation yet readily accept nature’s invitation to wonder #corroborates (0.82) — Freeman Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage, 706
• Parks offer firsthand acquaintance with nature that books cannot supply #expands (0.80) — Freeman Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage, 708
• Interpretation serves protection by making park appreciation possible. #expands (0.80) — Freeman Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage, 43
• Open-space advocates reframed recreation land as an exhaustible resource. #expands (0.78) — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside, 514
• Moses invented the idea that parks should host active recreation, not just passive nature #expands (0.75) — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 710
• Mass amusement reproduces the mechanized work process in leisure #complicates (0.75) — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 107
• Recreation needs in the 1960s became a motivating rationale for pollution control policy #expands (0.75) — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside, 547
• Walking shifted from urban necessity to a niche recreational pursuit in modern cities #complicates (0.72) — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 395