Scouting History & Tradition on ScoutmasterCG Archive

Earnest Thompson-Seton and Scouts

Fri, 01 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Earnest Thompson-Seton first published ‘The Birch Bark Roll’ in

His work in establishing the pre-BSA organization, The Woodcraft Indians, was ultimately woven together with the ideas of Baden Powell and Daniel Carter Beard to form the program of the BSA. More than a century later Seton’s ideas remain relevant to our work as Scouters.

Studying his foundational concepts help us maintain focus on heart of our work: Two other important ideas underlie the scheme. The first is personal decoration for personal achievements; second, no competitive honors (Prizes are not honors.) All our honors are bestowed according to worldwide standards. In our colleges to-day every effort is made to discover and develop a champion. The great body of the students are neglected. That is, the ones who are in need of physical development do not get it, and those who do not need it are over developed. The result is much unsoundness of many kinds. A great deal of this would be avoided if we strive to bring all the individuals up to a certain standard. In our non-competitive tests the enemies are not “the other fellows,” but time and space. We try not to down the others, but to raise ourselves. A thorough application of this principle would end many of the evils now demoralizing college athletics.

1925 Scouting Equipment Catalog

Tue, 06 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This Scouting Equipment Catalog from 1925 is a fantastic piece of Scouting history. I’ve scanned all 50 pages and created a PDF document that you can download at the end of this post. On the cover there’s a full color illustration by Benjamin Goodwin Seielstad of Scouts in their campsite with a cowboy in the background. No new-fangled sleeping bags (since there was really no such thing in 1925!) for these fellows, no sir, they have good honest wool blankets ($4.00), the latest offical Boy Scout cook kit ($2.85), and are sporting their new Outdoor Service Outfit ($4.10 – belt and socks included).

B-P's Blog - I Was A Boy

Tue, 06 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000

During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters. Here’s a selection from his writings.

I Was A Boy Once. The best time I had as a boy was when I went as a sea scout with my four brothers about on the sea round the coasts of England. Not that we were real Sea Scouts, because Sea Scouts weren’t invented in those days. But we had a sailing boat of our own on which we lived and cruised about, at all seasons and in all weathers, and we had a jolly good time—taking the rough with the smooth. Then in my spare time as a schoolboy I did a good lot of scouting in the woods in the way of catching rabbits and cooking them, observing birds and tracking animals, and so on.

Champions of Scouting

Tue, 06 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000

William ‘Green Bar Bill’ Hillcourt “ Green Bar Bill” and “Scoutmaster to the World”, was “the foremost influence on development of the Boy Scouting program.”

Hillcourt wrote three editions of the official Boy Scout Handbook , The Patrol Leader’s Handbook, The Scout Fieldbook and numerous magazine articles. For 32 years he wrote the”Green Bar Bill” column in Boy’s Life , championing the patrol method. His nickname came from the two green bars that were the emblem of a patrol leader. Bill developed and promoted the American adaptation of the Wood Badge program.

Do What Scouts Do

Tue, 06 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Imagine, for a moment, there is nothing called “Scouting”, no program, no troops, no councils, no districts, no uniforms, no badges.

Someone comes up with an idea for helping young people develop character by getting outdoors and going camping. They share this idea with young people who get pretty excited about it. They get their buddies together, and decide they really like the whole idea, and organize a camping trip.

Language of Scouting

Tue, 13 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0000

I don’t think of myself as particularly a persnickety or doctrinaire so what follows is probably out of character.

I do like to write therefore I strive to observe the rules of grammar and rely greatly on my spell checker. As someone who regularly writes about Scouting I have developed my own rough and ready conventions of usage and capitalization. Now that I have found the Language of Scouting I shall do my best to mend my ways. For example when should the word Scout be capitalized?

Methods, Rules and Joy

Sun, 20 Sep 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Scouting has long been a positive, constructive influence in the lives of young people. This vast potential for good lies in simple, direct methods that have been applied effectively across widely different cultures and systems of belief.

These methods need little adaptation, modification or complication – they only require application to create opportunities for Scouts to exercise the concepts of the Scout Oath and Law.

Scouting requires surprisingly few rules, regulations and limitations.

Scouts uncool? Not in my book

Sun, 20 Sep 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Every so often Scouting gets an outside-in evaluation that reveals how we are regarded by those with little or know connection to the movement.

I expect many commentaries as Scouting celebrates its 100th anniversary.

Scouting began as, has been, and always will be a work in progress based on the simple goals of making the world a better place. No doubt we will continue to be lauded, chided, loved and hated. If we have the patience and vision to listen to what is being said about us we may gain some valuable insights.

B-P's Blog - Jamborees

Sun, 13 Sep 2015 00:00:00 +0000

During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters. Here’s a selection from his writings.

I RECOGNISE more fully than before the great value of Jamborees, provided that they are only indulged in at wide intervals of time. The average Scout life of a boy is a comparatively short one, and it is good for each generation of Scouts to see at least one big Rally, since it enables the boy to realise his membership of a really great brotherhood, and at the same time brings him into personal acquaintance with brother Scouts of other districts and other countries. He learns new Scouting ideas and camping gadgets, and comes out a better Scout for the experience.

True North or Magnetic North?

Sat, 18 Oct 2014 00:00:00 +0000

More than once, out hiking or paddling, I followed my instincts (the campsite is right over there!) rather than my map and ended up off course. Good pilots and navigators trust instruments over instincts.

Compasses point at magnetic north .

Scouters have assumptions or impressions about Scouting.

Meridians of longitude on maps converge at true north .

Scouting aims and principles are the Scouter’s map. To follow a true north meridian on a map with a compass we compensate for the difference between magnetic and true north. To Apply Scouting we must align our impressions and assumptions with Scouting aims and principles. Once we learn the aims we need to adjust course or we’re in danger of steering away from our destination.

B.P.'s Blog - The Origin of Scouting for Boys

Sun, 28 Sep 2014 00:00:00 +0000

During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters. Here’s a selection from his writings.

The other inventors of Scouting invariably give the dates on which they hit on the idea, so it may be interesting to some who are not already aware of the origin of our scheme if I give a few facts about our particular Boy Scouts. The first idea of such training came to me a very long time ago when training soldiers. When I was adjutant of my regiment in 1883 I wrote my first handbook on training soldiers by means which were attractive to them, developing their character for campaigning as much as their drill-ability. This was followed by another, and yet a third in

Scoutmaster's Minute - Eagle & Peacock

Sun, 31 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Eagles and peacocks are both impressive looking birds.

Peacocks are known for their elegant, showy, appearance, and for strutting around and their impressive display of feathers; “proud as a peacock”. If you’ve ever spotted an eagle in the wild you’d agree they are an impressive sight. A symbol of power, nobility and freedom the eagle’s flight through human history is steeped in myth and legend.

Assyrian carvings blended the lion and the eagle – a symbol that spread to Greece where Herodotus believed the griffin lived in the mountains of India, where it made a nest of gold.

Nostalgia, Tradition, and the Relevance of Scouting

Sat, 30 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Whenever two or three Scouters get together talk eventually turns to the relevance of Scouting in ‘modern society’. Some think we’ve diminished the ideals of ‘manliness’ , traditional patriotism, bootstrap initiative, competitiveness and rigor in achievement but have they really examined what those ideas actually mean?

Scouting does not consider that these things are scarce, unobtainable qualities, but that each individual Scout has vast potential to develop them . We wrangle and argue over measurements; what is ‘true’ manliness, patriotism, achievement?

Nature Based Recreation in Decline?

Sat, 23 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Here is part of the abstract of a report entitled “Evidence for a fundamental and pervasive shift away from nature-based recreation” by Oliver Pergams and Patricia Zaradic.

After 50 years of steady increase, per capita visits to U.S. National Parks have declined since 1987. To evaluate whether we are seeing a fundamental shift away from people’s interest in nature, we tested for similar longitudinal declines in 16 time series representing four classes of nature participation variables: (i) visitation to various types of public lands in the U.S. and National Parks in Japan and Spain, (ii) number of various types of U.S. game licenses issued, (iii) indicators of time spent camping, (iv) indicators of time spent backpacking or hiking. The longest and most complete time series tested suggest that typical declines in per capita nature recreation began between 1981 and 1991, are proceeding at rates of –1.0% to –1.3% per year, and total to date –18% to –25%. … In conclusion, all major lines of evidence point to an ongoing and fundamental shift away from nature-based recreation. (The full paper is available for a fee at PNAS ) I have not read the paper(at ten dollars for the privilege to do so I’ll pass). The study reveals what many people have suspected all along – people are probably spending more time online, watching TV or playing video games than they did in the past thus allowing less time for nature based recreation.

Scouting: Organization, Movement or Philosophy?

Sat, 23 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Scouting is not an organization.

Scouting is a movement.

Scouting is also a philosophy. The philosophy drives the movement, the movement uses various organizations. An organization possesses and uses structure, resources and power.

Organizations hire workers, issue policies, buy and sell products, build buildings. The B.S.A., W.O.S.M., and G.S.A.are all organizations that serve Scouting, but they are not Scouting itself.

Movements have an emotional heart. A movement may use organizations but are not dependent on them.

Scouting, Sidelines, and New Interpretations

Fri, 22 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0000

It is scarcely necessary for me to go over the old ground of our principles; they have been the same ever since the Movement started. But when it started it was on a very simple scheme, and with the growth of years many new interpretations and many new side lines have been added to it, so that there is the risk of its becoming over-clothed with these and of the original ideal and method being lost sight of.

The New Scout Handbook

Sat, 12 Oct 2013 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve had my copy of the 12th Edition of the new Scout Handbook for a couple of weeks now and I recently added the Scout Handbook to my Ipod touch.

I have also looked over the website bsahandbook.org . As the way we use and manipulate information changes I applaud the BSA in attempting to keep up.

Information seems to have aspirations to take on one form or another so it will be used.

Scout Neckerchiefs and Uniforms

Sat, 10 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0000

A belated happy World Scarf Day!

Scout neckerchiefs are the only unique element of the Scout uniform, I don’t know of any other uniformed group that wears neckerchiefs other than Scouts. As our group prepared for our trip to Switzerland in 2011 our Scouts first asked if they needed to bring their uniforms.

I told them they would. Then they asked when they would have to wear them.

I told them that they would be wearing their uniforms all the time. This went over like a lead balloon. One meeting I was told by the youth leader for the trip that they had voted and that they did not want to wear their uniforms all the time (if at all). Any regular reader of the blog knows that I am thoroughly invested in youth leadership and do not often veto their decisions. Not this time.

Scouting's Past Marks our Path to the Future

Fri, 26 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +0000

After it’s founding Scouting quickly and spontaneously spread around the world.

Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of this burgeoning worldwide movement, would look back at those years and recall*: Scouting was not a year old before other countries had formed their branches. In twenty-one short years the Scout and Guide training has spread to forty-two different countries about the world, and has proved its potentiality as a factor in world peace. Not everyone thought this was a good thing. At the time some urged Baden-Powell to check this spontaneous growth by patenting his idea. They feared that their patriotic, exclusively British, movement would become diluted and diminished when people in other countries adopted Scouting. They may not get it right, it was too unstable, too uncertain.

A Visit with Green Bar Bill

Wed, 10 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +0000

A fascinating video artifact found at author Win Davis’s website In April of 1987, Bill Hillcourt came to Central Florida. He visited for an evening with Scouts and leaders from Boy Scout Troop 46 in Longwood. What he had to say is pretty interesting. The Boy Scouts of America was still recovering from decisions made in the 1970s to modernize the program. The program changes didn’t work and all through the 1980s, Bill worked tirelessly to reinvigorate Scouting. You get a real sense of Bill’s passionate effort to keep the focus of Scouting on the individual Scout. His understanding of the nature of Scouting and the nature of young people is something we can all strive to share. Win Davis is the author of the book Men of Schiff – read my review here . More articles about Green Bar Bill.

Keep the Promise of Scouting

Mon, 08 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +0000

What, precisely, is the promise of Scouting? No one would know better than William Hillcourt:

Your Life as a Scout You are an American boy.

Before long you will be an American man. It is important to America and to yourself that you become a citizen of fine character, physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight. Boy Scouting will help you become that kind of citizen. but also, Scouting will give you fellowship and fun. Yes, it’s fun to be a Boy Scout! It’s fun to go hiking and camping with your best friends… to swim, to dive, to paddle a canoe, to wield an ax… to follow the footsteps of the pioneers who led the way through the wilderness… to stare into the glowing embers of a campfire and dream of the wonders of the life that is in store for you… It’s fun also to learn to walk noiselessly through the woods… to stalk close to a grazing deer without being noticed… to bring a bird close to you by imitating its call. It is fun to find your way cross country by map and compass… to make a meal when you are hungry… to take a safe swim when you are hot… to make yourself comfortable for the night in a tent or under the stars. In Scouting you become an outdoorsman. But Scouting is far more than fun in the outdoors, hiking and camping.

Scouting Traditions and Scouting Habit

Fri, 28 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Scouting Traditions are, for the most part, wonderful things, they connect us to the past and provide a bridge into the future.

Scouting has many hallowed traditions that have only grown more meaningful with the patina of time. As laudable as they may be these traditions can drift from the core concepts that created them and even obscure the reasons they were perpetuated.

Sometimes, if we stop and ask ourselves why we are following a tradition we may find it’s based on habits that grew out of a particular set of conditions that are no longer valid reasons to keep the tradition alive. It’s human nature to keep doing things as they were always done without asking why we are doing them in the first place. You may have heard the story of the cook who routinely cuts the end off of a roast before putting it in the oven because that’s what their mother did when they were growing up. If you asked mother why she cut the roast she’d tell you this was the way her mother did things and, in fact, that’s even what her grandmother did. Ask grandmother why she cut the ends off the roast and you may find she started doing it because her oven was too small for a whole roast!

Men of Schiff: The Professional Scouters Who Built the B.S.A.

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Win Davis has been a member of the Boy Scouts of America for more than sixty years as a Cub Scout, Boy Scout, Scoutmaster, Sea Scout Skipper, Commissioner, Commodore and other positions too numerous to mention. As a professional Scouter Win attended the National Executive Institute at Schiff Scout Reservation in 1970. He was fortunate enough to meet and talk with many notable Scouters and was the personal friend of William L. “Green Bar Bill” Hillcourt. In his travels Win has met Scouters from all around the world. The Mortimer L.

Scouting as an antidote to the Spoiled American Child.

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0000

There’s a danger inherent in going too far with the whole ‘kids these days’ thing. Each successive generation is pretty sure the next one is headed to hell in a hand basket. Your great-great grandparents were convinced that your great grandparents were running full tilt off the cliff of immorality and dissipation – so let’s have some perspective.

There are trends and practices in parenting that repeat themselves over and over again and ‘spoiling’ children is one of them.

Centennary of the Boy Scouts of America

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Sir Robert Baden Powell had a very simple idea: The aim of the Scout training is to improve the standard of our future citizenhood, especially in Character and Health; to replace Self with Service, to make the lads individually efficient morally and physically, with the object of using that efficiency for service for their fellow-men.

Baden Powell’s Aids to Scoutmastership An idea so simple that it would soon find its way around the world because anyone could apply its principles; To an outsider Scouting must at first sight appear to be a very complex matter, and many a man is probably put off from becoming a Scoutmaster because of the enormous number and variety of things that he thinks he would have to know in order to teach his boys. But it need not be so, if the man will only realize the following points:

Paul Siple - Eagle Scout

Fri, 21 Sep 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Paul Siple, a nineteen year-old Eagle Scout in Erie, Pennsylvania, was one of thousands who applied to join Admiral Byrd’s expedition in 1928. Byrd asked the Boy Scouts of America to help him select one Scout to take on the year and a half exploration of Antarctica.

Local committees vetted applications and forwarded 88 to the national office.

These 88 were winnowed down to six candidates who would meet with Byrd in New York City. Paul Siple’s considerable accomplishments as a Scout and his extensive experience camping put him in the final six. The candidates submitted to ten days of rigorous testing and extensive interviews with various experts. The experts issued their recommendations but Byrd ingeniously settled the question of who would be selected for the expedition by asking the candidates themselves.

W. Ben Hunt - Whittlin' Jim

Tue, 31 Jul 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Several books authored by W. Ben Hunt (Walter Bernard Hunt) also known as “Whittlin’ Jim” grace my bookshelves. Each one offers a rich journey into Native American arts and performance, woodworking, whittling, scoutcraft, pioneering, jewelry making, metalworking and calligraphy.

Native of Greenfield in Milwaukee County, Hunt was born in 1888 in the log cabin his father built. He dropped out of high school to take a job engraving lithographs and went on to become a noted artist and illustrator. Hunt’s books are illustrated with his own inspirational and practical drawings; just try looking at one without wanting to make the project it describes. Hunt shares his encyclopedic knowledge of traditional skills in a simple, direct way that engenders confidence. He wrote and illustrated many articles for Boy’s Life magazine.

Polish Scout, Resistance Fighter

Thu, 31 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000

History Julian Kulski was a Polish Boy Scout when the Nazis invaded his nation in 1939. He was only 10 years old when the war began.

After the invasion the Nazis directed that all schools be closed and that any patriotic clubs and organizations be disbanded under penalty of death.

Concerned about his son’s safety, Kulski’s father urged him to move in with his Scoutmaster, Ludwik Berger, who later revealed the existence of a secret military organization, the Union of Armed Resistance.

Discovering Scouting

Tue, 01 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000

One of the real joys of working as a volunteer Scout leader is discovering Scouting.

Scouting shares similarities to other endeavors but it is a unique field of work. Like the work of churches it encourages spiritual investigation but has no dogma. Like the work of schools it fosters learning but relies on a highly individualized, experiential approach. Like the work of athletics it builds physical strength but reaches beyond the theory of the game.

It ain’t ignorance

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000

that causes all the trouble in this world. It’s the things people know that ain’t so.

Edwin Armstrong , electrical engineer and inventor of FM radio.

Sometimes in Scouting tradition and long practice usurp the way things ought to be. We tend to accept things unquestioningly as they are given to us.

I am reminded of the story of the fellow who always cut the ends off a ham before he put it in the oven. When someone asked him why he did this he replied that his mother had always baked ham this way. When he next saw his mother he asked her why she cut the ends off of the ham before she put it in the oven. She told him that she had to cut the end off the ham because her oven was too small. We really ought to know why we are doing what we are doing.

Lore of the Kybo

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Entering that humble wooden structure so elemental to our camping memories inspires terror in some and relief in others. The simple truth remains; eventually all must go. “Kybo” is its familiar name throughout world Scouting. A moniker that may hark back to filling Kybo brand coffee cans with powdered lime sprinkled in the facility to alleviate odor and promote decomposition. Have you heard toilet paper called “Kybo Tape” or “Kybo Wrap”?

Neckerchiefs

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Called neckerchiefs, scarves, neckers they have been with us since Baden Powell published Scouting for Boys : The Scout Uniform is very like the uniform worn by my men when I commanded the South African Constabulary. They knew what was comfortable, serviceable, and a good protection against the weather. So Scouts have much the same uniform. … … the scarf or neckerchief which is folded into a triangle with the point at the back of the neck.

Scouting in the Electronic Age

Wed, 13 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0000

How far back do you go? Did you have a Little Orphan Annie or Captain Midnight decoder ring? Did you marvel at Dick Tracy’s two way wrist T.V.? Were you amazed by the communicator on Star Trek? How about Mr. Spock’s tricorder? As fantastically implausible as these futuristic technologies looked at the time most of us now carry them around every day.

Cellphones, smart-phones, iPods, laptops, and the internet are all part of our daily lives and an even larger part of the lives of our Scouts. If you think about it most the Scouts we work with today were all born after all of these things were commonplace in our society. How do we incorprate these technologies into Scouting? Most of us have embraced email, websites and computerized record keeping into our Scout troops, packs and crews. But when it comes to portable electronic devices what happens next? Just saying ’no’ to cellphones, iPods and associted electronics is a common approach that may not be as valid or possible as it once was.

Seton's Ideas of Leadership

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Earnest Thompson Seton’s Birch Bark Roll ( Link to PDF version ) was first published in 1902. Many of his ideas were adapted by Baden-Powell in his Scouting for Boys Here Seton outlines his idea of leadership of the camp; When two or three young people camp out, they can live as a sort of family, especially if a grown-up be with them, but when a dozen or more go, it is necessary to organize.

Boy, the Scout Handbook Keeps Changing

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0000

A succinct and thoughtful evaluation of what Scouting means to a Scout and his family: from an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal;

Boy, the Scout Handbook Keeps Changing by Tony Woodleif,

I suppose a handbook won’t determine whether my sons have an enriching Scout experience.

Their troop’s leaders will. And I will.

”Troops,” says an Eagle Scout friend, “are like churches.” You get some good and some bad; it depends on who’s doing the work. This reliance on local community is, more than stances on gays or the environment, what makes the Boy Scouts of America conservative in the most wise and American sense of that term.

The Patrol System - How it All Began

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +0000

The Patrol System was published by the General Council Boy Scouts of Canada in 1960 and is available in PDF format here (do make sure to check out The Dump ). The next several posts will feature most of the text of this book and some of my ideas about implementing the concepts described nearly fifty years later. The principles of the Patrol System were first introduced by the Founder, Baden-Powell, when he was with the British Army in India. The system he devised enabled soldiers to operate in small groups and use their own initiative within the overall plan of campaign … the Patrol System became one of the basic elements of Scouting. The Patrol System not only gave a real adventure aspect to the program and responsibility to boys themselves, but it also blended perfectly with the natural desire in boys to form into gangs in their neighborhoods and schools. It was these very gangs which met in the streets who spontaneously formed themselves into Patrols and started Scouting .

Brit's Study Reveals Advantages of Scouting

Fri, 08 Dec 2006 00:00:00 +0000

From the Sunday Times in Great Britain: Research published by the Institute for Public Policy Research finds that young people who join up to clubs offering the sort of rigorous character-building activities promoted by the scouting movement do better in later life. They are calling on schools to adopt the principles of the scouting movement.

Researchers who examined what became of thousands of children born in 1958 and 1970 found they were more likely to be happy, in a good relationship, have good qualifications and be earning a decent income if they had joined such clubs, especially if it involved wearing a uniform, when they were young.

The "Fire Snake

Thu, 29 Jun 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Some years ago a Scoutmaster, who would become a state senator, invited the camp director to attend his Troop’s campfire: “I’m going to show the boys the fire snake!” Fire snake? The camp director was more than curious and showed up at the appointed time to listen as the Scoutmaster related the elaborate legend of the fire snake. The particulars of the legend are lost to time chiefly because of what happened next.

Seton's Fire Within

Thu, 23 Feb 2006 00:00:00 +0000

One of the B.S.A.’s founders, Ernest Thompson-Seton, was visiting a camp he founded near his New Jersey home.

Seton had invited several important local businessmen to join him on this particular visit to interest them in supporting the camp.

During their stay they watched with great interest as some of the boys tried to light a fire by friction using the ancient bow and drill.

Their efforts were great and the resulting fire was a victory won over may attempts. As they turned from the scene one of the guests turned to Seton and said; “Mr. Seton, why, in a world of matches, do you ask the boys to struggle with these primitive methods?”

Deconstructing Scouting

Sun, 01 Jan 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Don’t be afraid, deconstruction is not demolition, it is examination. I am not suggesting that we tear things down, but that we understand them.

By deconstruction I mean discovering, recognizing, and understanding the unspoken and the implicit assumptions, ideas, and frameworks of scouting. It is not my intention to deconstruct the program but to describe the process because I have found it helpful.

For example one of the implicit ideas in scouting is promoting good citizenship. If I deconstruct the idea I have to define good citizenship and identify the actions that will promote it. From there I can build a program that achieves this goal.