Understanding Scouting

This is the third of twelve installments in a story that follows a new Scoutmaster, Chuck Grant, attempting to use the patrol method in a troop that has forgotten how. *I’ve based this work of fiction on the stories shared by readers and listeners, questions they have asked, and the advice I commonly share in reply.*Scoutmasters can expect to encounter challenges and setbacks along the way. I’ve tried to avoid being unreasonable optimistic, or overly pessimistic about the progress we can make when we stick to the basics....

This second of twelve installments is a story that follows a new Scoutmaster, Chuck Grant, attempting to use the patrol method in a troop that has forgotten how. *I’ve based this work of fiction on the stories shared by readers and listeners, questions they have asked, and the advice I commonly share in reply.*Scoutmasters can expect to encounter challenges and setbacks along the way. I’ve tried to avoid being unreasonable optimistic, or overly pessimistic about the progress we can make when we stick to the basics....

This first of twelve installments is a story that follows a new Scoutmaster, Chuck Grant, attempting to use the patrol method in a troop that has forgotten how. *I’ve based this work of fiction on the stories shared by readers and listeners, questions they have asked, and the advice I commonly share in reply.*Scoutmasters can expect to encounter challenges and setbacks along the way. I’ve tried to avoid being unreasonable optimistic, or overly pessimistic about the progress we can make when we stick to the basics....

The results of the Boy Scouts of America Fall 2013 Voice of the Scout survey have been published in this executive summary and infographic. You can also access the published results of all VoS surveys. How it Works A Voice of the Scout (VoS) survey is conducted every six months. Invitations are emailed to seven different audiences (Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts/Ventures, Cub Scout Parents, Boy Scout /Venture Parents, Youth Facing Volunteers, District/Council Volunteers, Chartered Organizations....

Clarke, I would like to hear your thoughts regarding association with adults as a Scouting method, and how Baden Powell’s own statements are applied in the context of the Patrol method. I think some leaders have a hard time striking the right balance, because the adults are not supposed to be affecting what Scouts are doing at meetings or on campouts. I know we train and mentor leaders, and conduct Scoutmaster conferences; is there other aspects of association that we are missing?...

Last fall’s Voice of the Scout results have been out for some time now. I have looked at it a few times but quickly grew frustrated with trying to figure out what it was saying or what it all meant. The documents I have read are cast in pretty tortured jargon and I don’t have a lot of patience with trying to interpret something that could be written simply. I’ve always questioned how well this sort of marketing science applies to something like Scouting....

Frank Maynard’s blog Bobwhite Blather is a must-read resource written form the perspective of a troop committee chair. Here’s his take on top-down organizations: The problems with a top-down organization are that its leaders never get the real picture because people tell them what they want to hear. They don’t get the benefit of the wisdom and initiative of the group. Followers in top-down organizations are slaves to the hierarchy of the system; they don’t have the freedom they need to find their own way toward the understood goals....

William “Green Bar Bill” Hillcourt is the man who wrote the book on Scouting, literally. His Patrol Leader’s Handbook is, without a doubt, his best and most influential work. His understanding of scouting was simple, but not simplistic. To an outsider, Scouting must at first appear to be a very complex matter. If it were only possible to swing the gates of Scouting wide open to him and show him from a vantage point in one immense view the full panorama of the Scout Movement!...

Scouting’s progressive program is built on the idea of developmental stages. Tiger Cubs work hand in hand with their parents, Wolf Cubs build on the relationships with their family, Bears build on the concepts of community, Webelos on self-reliance and independence. The Scout Troop and Patrol builds on all these skills as Scouts progress through the ranks. Every so often I come across a situation where some overheated leadership has taken it on themselves to depart from the age appropriate activities and blaze their own trail....