Scouting begins with an individual commitment expressed in the life of the Patrol and Troop. Troops form districts, districts form councils, councils form regions and regions form our national organization.
I’ve for years felt strongly that, in all training, we spend too much time on “how to” and vastly too little time on WHY. I believe, further, that the arbitrary drifting from the “model troop” and “model patrol” (yup, “model pack,” too) is a consequence of our failing to tell the new people we train WHY we do things in Scouting the way we do. ‘
Each step away from the Patrol is overlaid with an ever-burgeoning bureaucracy that obscures the real work of Scouting. In an attempt to make things “bigger and better” we are in danger of loosing focus on the target – the Scout and his Patrol.
Camporees, Jamborees, Summer Camp and other large group activities are useful to Scouting so long as they benefit Patrols. During my tenure as a camp director maintaining this focus was a continual challenge. As Scoutmasters our most important mandate is keeping the program targeted at building and supporting Patrols.
Scouting works at all scales but it works from the bottom up, not the top down.