The ScoutsBSA program is a means to an end, as we explore why the program is set up the way it is, and what it’s all about.
Transcript:
A lot of the Scoutmaster Dave series has focused on organization, leadership, cooking and skills.
But all of these things are a means to an end.
One of my favorite quotes by Robert Baden-Powell is “Be Prepared… the meaning of the motto is that a scout must prepare himself by previous thinking out and practicing how to act on any accident or emergency so that he is never taken by surprise.”
One of the most important things we can teach scouts is how to think for themselves. Sure, teaching them what to do in certain instances for first aid is a good thing, and be of great benefit, but the ability to critically think and solve problems is the ultimate goal for scouts within the Scouts BSA program.
If we train our scouts right, they will be able to assess the problem, think through all their training and be able to come up with solutions.
While I haven’t enacted this with my troop yet, the adult leaders and I have talked lately about setting out a series of challenges for the boys to solve, and letting them solve it in an outdoor setting.
One of the ones that comes to mind, is a cooking challenge where you are given a box of supplies including a small knife, some matches or flint and steel and some ingredients and have them figure out how to feed themselves, minus some key things like utencils, a grill or stove.
Or a larger challenge or having to get the ingredients from point a to point b to cool and sleep without the box to hold the supplies, or without their shoes, or maybe a tent without tent poles on a rainy day.
The point is the more they can think for themselves the better equipped they will be to meet the challenges of life.
Take what you like and leave the rest, and as we say in Woodbadge, feedback is a gift, leave yours below in the comments, with all the hope we can all learn together.
I’m Scoutmaster Dave, and this was a bit on the true purpose of the program.
