"Scouting is a Game with a Purpose"

Thoughts on bringing the values of Scouting through to youth

By a Quiet Campfire

It is getting late. You are sitting by the fire. The Scouts are in their tents asleep. At least you think they are. After all, it's your first night out. Just one more cup of coffee and you'll call it a night. You stare into the fading embers — memories drifting back to your own days as a Scout.

You look up, and sitting on the log on the other side of the fire is an elderly man. He looks familiar. It takes you a minute to realize who it is. He is dressed in an old fashioned, though somewhat elegant Scout uniform. Shorts, knee-socks, short-sleeved shirt (A really old style shirt. They haven't worn them for years). He is wearing a Wood Badge neckerchief, woggle and beads. His face shows years of experience, but somehow is young. It is his eyes. They are bright blue and sparkle like a youngsters. They almost twinkle.

He looks over at you and smiles. And then, it slowly dawns on you. As improbable as it might seem, the man facing you across the fire is B-P —The "Founder"— The Chief Scout of the World.

"You know," he says as he leans forward to stirs the embers with a blackthorn cane, "I have often wondered if Scouting would keep up with the youth of the world, long after I was gone, and with all the changes that progress would bring. So many things have changed since the early days, then a second world war, and the pace of technology. Life seems so much more complicated today. And yet the problems you have today are so much like the ones I saw when I returned from my years in South Africa."

His accent was what we would describe as "very British." His manner was relaxed and friendly as he continued. "As I toured the country, England that is, back in the days before the "First War," I saw the problems of a lack of direction for our youth. I saw crime and poverty, declining standards of morality, and an educational system that did not seem to be able to keep up with the needs of our society or civilization. This was of great concern to me and to many others.

"You probably know how Scouting began -- about Brownsea Island, and Scouting for Boys. I told the story in my Lessons from the Varsity of Life, written back in 1933. I wrote first about my retirement from the Army:

"It was a big wrench to take this last step out of the Service that I had loved so well, though at the same time I did not mind taking my foot out of the ladder (of promotion), for I had no wish to do any further climbing on it... is to make it attractive for them.
3. Then to devise a definite code for their guidance.
4. Then to form a suitable organization under competent leaders."

"AIM.
"Our aim was to improve the standard of our future citizenhood, especially in CHARACTER and HEALTH. One had to think out the main weak points in our national character and make some effort to eradicate thes by substituting equivalent virtues, where the ordinary school curriculum was not in a position to supply them. Outdoor activities, handicrafts, and service to others therefore came to the forefront."

"That aim of character and health were expanded by the founders of Scouting in America to Character, Citizenship and Fitness. And more than 80 years later these aims remain the same.

"I have always been fond of saying that "Scouting is a game with a purpose." Even today, we can still say, Scouting is about three things: It's about fun. It's about values, and it's about learning. Fun is the game, learning is the process, and values are the purpose."

"The challenge is much the same today -- and still the Scoutmaster is the key. I described the Scoutmaster's role many years ago in my little book Aids to Scoutmastership:"

The Scoutmaster guides the boy in the spirit of an older brother....

He has simply to be a boy-man, that is:
(1) He must have the boy spirit in him: and must be able to place himself in the right plane
with his boys as a first step.
(2) He must realise the needs, outlooks and desires of the different ages of boy life.
(3) He must deal with the individual boy rather than with the mass.
(4) He then needs to promote a corporate spirit among his individuals to gain the best results.

As he speaks, the embers of the fire are burning low. For a moment you stare into their glow and think about what he has said. It seems that even with the passage of years, the goals of Scouting are much the same. You look up from the fire and he is gone. It is quiet, the boys are all asleep. The stars twinkle as you head for your tent thinking all the while of your visitor ... or was he just something you imagined as you watched the fire.

Please Note: The quotations in black letters are from Baden-Powell's Lessons from the Varsity of Life, 1933, and his Aids to Scoutmastership, 1920. All other B-P quotations are the product of the author's imagination. The material in these pages is the original work of the author. Some portions appear in program and training literature of the Boy Scouts of America.

--Aristotle, Nichomachaen Ethics.

Most of the elements of the original Ethics in Action program are now part of Scouting. These pages explore the background and the resources available to leaders in Scouting to help them bring the values of Scouting through to youth. The content has been adapted from the DELTA Handbook, supporting materials developed for Ethics in Action, and original materials developed by the author. Some of these appear, in one form or another, in the training literature of the BSA.