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What’s the difference between Patrol system and Patrol method?
I have never found any actual difference between those terms in Scouting literature, but I will share acouple of thoughts to differentiate between patrol system and patrol method in a way you may find helpful.
Over the next three podcasts we’ll continue our foundations series by examining three main things about Scouting: Patrol System, Advancement, and Youth leadership. Scouters spend the most time working with these three key pieces of the game.
We first want to ask why are they a part of Scouting, how they function, and define our role is in making them happen.
This week we’ll talk about the patrol system. Be sure to read John Thurman’s story in linked below in the podcast notes.
They formed a Patrol and they started to train themselves, using the book Scouting for Boys as the only guide, but they found, as Patrols have always found, that there were many things they did not know, many things they could not find out and many things they could not do without the help of some adult, and so the practice grew of a number of Patrols getting together, forming a Troop, and usually finding their own Scoutmaster.
John Thurman
Listen to this week’s podcast
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Podcast Notes
John Thurman’s Patrol Story in Why We have Scoutmasters
Happy Wanderer Opening Music
Get my book The Scouting Journey
Get my book So Far So Good
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I agree 100%. The Chinese say “in chaos there is opportunity”, I like to add “to learn”. The back of the “Don’t fix that” T-shirt should say “They’ll figure it out”.
In a similar vein to method vs system, I got some good advice early on when first teaching martial arts: “Don’t be such a thief”. This stunned me. “You are teaching too much, and are stealing the thrill of discovery from your students.” What should I do? “Teachers should only teach what is necessary to set the stage for students to learn. Then let them figure it out themselves. You know that you have taught properly, and that your students have learned, when they come to you with eyes shining with excitement and tell you what they discovered. This is usually exactly what you would have over-taught to them. But now it is their own knowledge, not yours. Never take that thrill from them.”
When they find it themselves, they truly learn, and you have truly taught them the lesson of discovery. Speaking personally, it was learned best when I was left to my own devices to experiment after the basic lesson.
Well said. I completely agree.