Scouting

Scouting is a worldwide youth organization. Its aim is to develop young people physically, spiritually and mentally so that youth may take a constructive place in society. This is achieved through non-formal education with emphasis on practical activities in the outdoors, the so called Scout method. The Scout Movement was founded in 1907 by Robert Baden-Powell, a retired Lieutenant General in the British Army. He was also at that time a good friend of William Alexander Smith, Founder of the Boys' Brigade. Currently Scouting and Guiding have over 38 million members in 217 countries and territories represented through several different Scouting associations at the international level. The works of Ernest Thompson Seton and Daniel Carter Beard were very influential in the early development of the Scouting movement as well as the basis of the Traditional Scouting movement that has become very significant in the last several years.

Note: The S in the word Scout is always uppercase when it refers to Scouting activities.

Origins

Lt-Gen. Sir Robert Baden-Powell founded the Scouting movement in 1907 in the United Kingdom. He also introduced the parallel movement for girls, the Girl Guides in 1910 with the aid of his sister Agnes Baden-Powell. The Guides are known as the Girl Scouts of the USA in the United States.

The seeds of the idea of Scouting began during the Siege of Mafeking, South Africa, during the Second Boer War of 1899–1902, where Baden-Powell served as the commanding officer. Baden-Powell defended the town against the Boers (later known as Afrikaners), who outnumbered his troops eight to one. Volunteer boys in the town were formed into the Mafeking Cadet Corps, to help support the troops, carry messages, freeing up men for military duties and keeping the boys occupied during the long siege. The boys acquitted themselves well, helping in the successful defence of the town (1899–1900) over several months. Each Cadet Corps member received a badge, a combination of a compass point and a spearhead. This logo was similar to the fleur-de-lis, which Scouting later adopted as its international symbol.

As a result of his status as a national hero, acquired as a result of his determined and successful defence of the town of Mafeking, Baden-Powell's military training manual, Aids to Scouting (written in 1899) became something of a bestseller and was used by teachers and youth organisations.

In 1906, Ernest Thompson Seton sent Baden-Powell a copy of his book entitled The Birchbark Roll of the Woodcraft Indians. Seton, a British-born Canadian living in the United States, subsequently met Baden-Powell and they shared ideas about youth training programs.

Baden-Powell was encouraged to re-write Aids to Scouting to suit a youth readership. By 1907 he had finished a draft called Boy Patrols. The same year, to test some of his ideas, he gathered together 21 boys of mixed social background and held a week-long camp, beginning August 1, on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, Dorset, England. His organizational method, now known as the Patrol System, a key part of Scouting training, allowed the boys to organize themselves into small groups with an elected patrol leader.

In the autumn of 1907, having his draft publication and a successful camp behind him, Baden-Powell went on an extensive speaking tour arranged by his publisher, Pearsons, to promote his forthcoming book. Beginning in January 1908 it initially appeared as six instalments in a boys' fortnightly magazine. The parts were subsequently published in book form as Scouting for Boys, now commonly considered the first version of the Boy Scout Handbook.

At the time Baden-Powell intended that the book would provide ideas for established organisations, in particular the Boys' Brigade in which he assisted their founder William A. Smith for some time. However, boys spontaneously formed Scout patrols and flooded Baden-Powell with requests for assistance. He encouraged them, and the Scouting movement developed by the weight of its own momentum. As the movement grew Sea Scout, Air Scout and other specialised units were added to the program options.

Baden-Powell could not singlehandedly advise all the youth who requested his assistance. To provide for adult leadership, proper training was required. The Wood Badge course was developed to recognize adult leadership training. In 1919 Gilwell Park near London was purchased as an adult training site and scouting campground. Baden-Powell also wrote a book for the assistance of Leaders entitled Aids to Scoutmastership, and others for the use of new sections that were formed later, such as Rovering to Success for Rover Scouts in 1922.

Early history

The members of a small number of Scout groups have the right to wear a green scarf/neckerchief in recognition of their membership of those groups founded in 1908.

Scouting began to spread throughout Great Britain and Ireland soon after the publication of Scouting For Boys. The Boy Scout movement swiftly established itself throughout the British Empire. The first recognized overseas unit was chartered in Gibraltar in 1908, followed quickly by Malta. Canada became the first overseas Dominion with a sanctioned Boy Scout program, followed by Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Chile was the first country outside of the British Dominions to have a recognized scouting program. The first Scout rally was held at the Crystal Palace, London, in 1910. It attracted 10,000 boys, as well as a number of girls, who turned out for this exhibition of scouting. By 1910 India, Singapore, Sweden, Denmark, France, Russia, Finland, Germany, Norway, Mexico, Argentina, Greece and the United States had Boy Scouts.

Conceptual Influences

Many elements of traditional Scouting have their origins in Baden-Powell's own personal education and military training. But it has to be remembered that the ideas that he promoted were revolutionary in education in his time. He was unique, a retired army general at 55 years of age, able to inspire and enthuse thousands of young people, from all parts of society, to get involved in activities most of them had never contemplated. The only comparable organisation (in the English-speaking world), the Boys' Brigade, has never been able to match the development of the Scouting movement.

Some aspects of the Movement have been criticised as being too militaristic. Such things as military-style uniforms, badges of rank, flag ceremonies, and brass bands were commonly accepted in the early years because they were also a part of normal society, but many of those attributes have been watered down or abandoned in later times. Many other popular youth movements have also adopted similar attributes successfully.

Local influences have also been a strong part of the Movement. By adopting and modifying local ideologies the Scouting Movement has been able to find acceptance in a wide variety of societies. In America, for example, Scouting uses images drawn from the U.S. frontier experience. This includes not only its selection of animal badges for Cub Scouts, but the underlying assumption that American Indians are more closely connected with nature and therefore have special wilderness survival skills which can be used as part of the training program. British Scouting, by contrast, makes use of imagery drawn from the Indian subcontinent, because that region was a significant focus in the early years of the Scouting Movement. Baden-Powell's personal experiences in India led him to adopt Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book as a major influence for the Cub Scouts — for example, the name used for the Cub Scout leader is Akela (whose name was also appropriated for the Webelos) is that of the leader of the wolf pack from this book.

The name "Scouting" seems to have been inspired by the important and romantic role played by military scouts performing reconnaissance in many of the wars of the time. In fact, Baden-Powell's original military training book, Aids To Scouting, was written because he saw the need for improved training of British military enlisted scouts, particularly in the areas of initiative, self-reliance and observation skills. The book's popularity with young boys surprised him. So when he adapted the book for youth in Scouting For Boys, it was natural the movement took up the names Scouting and Boy Scouts.

Scout uniform and distinctive insignia

The Scout uniform is a specific characteristic of the Scouting movement, in the words of Lord Baden-Powell at the 1938 World Jamboree, "it covers the differences of country and race and make all feel that they are members one with another of one World Brotherhood". The original uniform, which has created a familiar image in the public eye, consisted of a khaki shirt, shorts and a broad-brimmed "Smokey Bear" hat. Baden-Powell himself wore shorts as being dressed like the youth contributed to reducing distances between the adult and the young person. Nowadays, uniforms are frequently blue, orange, red or green, and shorts are replaced by long pants in areas where the culture calls for modesty, and in winter weather.

Distinctive insignia for all Scout uniforms, recognized and worn the world over, include the Wood Badge and the World Membership Badge.

World Membership Badge

Individual national or other emblems may be found on the individual country's Scouting article, and/or at Gallery of Scout and Guide national emblems.

The world membership badge is part of the official uniform of Scouts in all parts of the world, whose national organization is a member of the World Organization of the Scout Movement. It is a purple, circular badge with a fleur-de-lis in the center, surrounded by a piece of rope tied with a reef knot (also called a square knot). The fleur-de-lis is an ancient symbol, originally used by Baden-Powell for the enlisted scouts of the British Army and subsequently adopted and modified for the Scout Movement. The arrowhead represents the North point on a compass, and is intended to point Scouts on the path to service and unity. The three points on the fleur-de-lis represent the three duties, to God, self and others. The two five-point stars stand for truth and knowledge, with the ten points representing the ten points of the Scout Law (see below). The bond at the base of the fleur-de-lis shows the family of Scouting. The encircling rope symbolises the unity and family of the World Scout Movement. Historically in the United States, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) used this symbol as an award called the World Crest. It was given to Scouts and Scouters who had participated in an international Scouting event, such as a World Jamboree. In 1991, the BSA made it part of the uniform for all Scouts. ^[1]

The swastika was also used as an early symbol by the Boy Scouts in Britain, and worldwide. According to "Johnny" Walker, ^[2] the earliest Scouting use was on the first Thanks Badge introduced in 1911. Lord Baden-Powell's 1922 Medal of Merit design added a swastika to the Scout fleur-de-lis as good luck to the person receiving the medal. Like Rudyard Kipling, he would have come across this symbol in India. During 1934, many Scouters requested a change of design because of the use of the swastika by the National Socialist German Workers Party. A new British Medal of Merit was issued in 1935.

Scouting around the world

Main article: Scouting around the world

Following its foundation in the UK, the Scouting movement started to spread around the globe. Today the World Organization of the Scout Movement is the governing body for the mainstream of the Scouting Movement. In addition to being the governing policy body it organizes the World Scout Jamboree every four years.

Today, there are over 28 million registered Scouters around the world, participating from 216 different countries and territories.

Top 15 countries with Scouting, sorted by membership. Full table on List of World Organization of the Scout Movement members.

Scout Promise (or Oath), Law, Motto, and Slogan

Since the birth of Scouting in 1907, all Scouts around the world have taken a Scout Promise or oath to live up to ideals of the movement, and subsribed to the Scout Law.

The form of the promise and laws have varied slightly from country to country and over time, but must fulfill the requirements of the World Organisation of the Scout Movement to qualify a National Scout Association for membership.

Scout Motto

Be Prepared

Scout Slogan

Do a good turn daily

Breakaway and nonaligned organisations

Scouting is first and foremost an educational game, one that benefits any youth that would learn from its method. Between the first publication of Scouting for Boys and the creation of the first supranational Scout organization, WOSM, fifteen years had passed and millions of copies of the appealing handbook had been sold in dozens of languages. By that point, Scouting was the purview of the world's youth, no longer containable by any one school of thought.

Many groups have formed since the original formation of the Scouting "Boy Patrols." Some are a result of groups or individuals who refuse to follow the original ideals of Scouting but still desire to participate in Scout-like activities. Others maintain that the WOSM of today is far more political and less youth based than ever envisioned by Lord Baden-Powell. They believe that Scouting in general has moved away from its original intent, because of political machinations that happen to longstanding organizations, and seek to return to the earliest, simplest methods.

There are at least 520 separate national or regional Scouting associations in the world. Most have felt the need to create international Scouting organizations to set standards for Scouting and to coordinate activities among member associations. Six international Scouting organizations serve 437 of the world's national associations, and the largest two organizations, WOSM and WAGGGS, count 362 national associations as members, encompassing the vast majority of the world's Scouts.

Breakaway and nonaligned organizations can be divided into four categories:

Scouts-in-Exile

See article on Scouts-in-Exile.

Scouts-in-Exile groups formed overseas from their native country as a result of war and changes in governments. For the Scouts-in-exile groups, serving the community outside their homelands, there is resentment that they were not recognized during their nations totalitarian periods. These groups often provided postal delivery and other basic services in Displaced Persons Camps.

Independent Scouts and Scout organizations

The first schism within Scouting occurred during November 1909, when the British Boy Scouts (later the Brotherhood of British Scouts, and known internationally as the Order of World Scouts) was formed, initially comprising an estimated 25 percent of all Scouts in the United Kingdom, but rapidly declining from 1911 onward. The organisation was formed by Sir Francis Vane because of perceptions of bureaucracy and militaristic tendencies in the mainstream movement. With several smaller organisations, such as the Boy's Life Brigade Scouts they formed the National Peace Scouts federation. The British Girl Scouts were the female counterpart of the British Boy Scouts.

In 1916 a group of Scoutmasters in Cambridge, led by Ernest Westlake and his son Aubrey, who believed that the movement had moved away from its early ideals and had lost its woodcraft character, founded the Order of Woodcraft Chivalry. The order survives to this day in England.

In the years following the First World War, the Commissioner for Camping and Woodcraft John Hargrave, broke with what he considered to be the Scouts' militaristic approach and founded a breakaway organisation, the Kibbo Kift, taking a number of similar-minded Scoutmasters and troops with him. This organisation was the direct antecedent of the Woodcraft Folk.

Baden-Powell Scouts were formed in 1970, initially in the United Kingdom but now also elsewhere, when it was felt that the "modernisation" of Scouting was abandoning the traditions and intentions established by Baden-Powell. Another modern breakway group is the American Heritage Girls, formed in 1995 in response to the perceived growing liberalism in the Girl Scouts of the USA.

In Canada and to some extent in the United States, there is a Traditional Scouting movement, seeking to take Scouting back to the way it was in Baden-Powell's days.

Other independent multinational Scout organizations include

• • Confédération Européenne de Scoutisme
  • Union Internationale des Guides et Scouts d’Europe
  • World Federation of Independent Scouts

Among independent single-country Scout associations are the Éclaireurs Neutres de France.

Scout-like youth organizations

There are also some similar organisations linked to movements such as organised churches, such as Adventism's Pathfinders, the Nazarene Caravan and the pentecostal Royal Rangers. Other groups such as the Camp Fire USA, YMCA, YWCA, Sokol, Boys' Brigade and Girls' Brigade also have similarities with Scouting, although some of those actually predate the foundation of Scouting. The Future Farmers of America and 4-H are also sometimes seen in that light.

South Africa's Voortrekkers are an Afrikaner youth movement founded in 1931 as the Dutch Africans found it difficult to belong to a movement founded by their Boer War opponent, Lord Baden-Powell.

Totalitarian and political youth organizations

Scouting has been banned and currently is banned in certain nations. Some of these governments have their own youth movements that are not considered part of the Scouting movement; whereas some of them totally banned Scouting. Currently, there are no Scouting organizations in Cuba, North Korea, Laos, Myanmar, and the People's Republic of China (except Hong Kong and Macau, which each have a Scouting organization). Andorra, which is a parliamentary democracy, also does not currently have Scouting, but it is not banned there.

Prior to World War II, the Soviet Union, Germany, Italy, Japan, Hungary and Romania disbanded Scouting. Germany created the Hitler Jugend (Hitler Youth) organization; Mussolini had a fascist youth organization, the Balilla; and Romania under the Iron Guard had the Străjeria. In parts of Europe existed the socialist Red Falcons.

The Communist Young Pioneers still exist in some fashion in the People's Republic of China, Cuba, North Korea and Vietnam, and have been turned into a nationalist movement in Tajikistan; the King Somoni Inheritance. Other politically based youth movements still in exsistence include Fianna na hÉireann, an Irish republican youth movement.

Hierarchy

There are a number of positions in the Scouting hierarchy, some youth positions (for the Scouts themselves) and others for the Scout leaders. Note these positions are those of the British Scout Association and do not reflect all organizations worldwide.

Cub Scout leader positions These are named after characters in The Jungle Book. Akela is stable, Bagheera appears in most packs, others do not appear to exhibit

• Akela, pack leader. In American Cub Scouts, the pack leader is refered to as the cubmaster, and any adult leader is "Akela".
• Bagheera, deputy pack leader

Cub Scout youth positions

• Senior Sixer
• Sixer (leader of a six)
• Seconder (deputy leader of a six)

Scout leader positions

• Chief Scout, the position held by Baden-Powell
• "Skipper" ("skip") is the title often given to the leader of a Scout troop. In the Boy Scouts of America, the leader of a troop is called the Scoutmaster.

Scout youth positions

• Senior patrol leader
• Assistant Senior patrol leader (American)
• Patrol leader (leads a patrol, usually between four and ten Scouts, six is a common number)
• Assistant patrol leader

Scout shop

The Scout shop was created out of the Scouting movement as a new kind of store to sell both uniforms and camping equipment. Scout shops sprang up all over England because Scouting was so popular. As boys could not buy Scout uniforms in department stores, they went to Scout shops. Locations in the world where Scouting was not as popular had far fewer Scout shops. Most countries had at least several. Scout shops still exist in numerous countries around the world. When the Scouting movement spread to the United States, Scout shops were also opened there. They were called "Scout Outfitters". There were not as many Scout shops in America as in England, however, because early in the Scouting movement uniforms were available in mail order catalogs. Both Sears and Montgomery Ward offered Scout uniforms as did J.C. Penney later. Scout shops sell equipment, clothes, books and other material related to Scouting. They usually are located at the office of the local branch of scout organisation in a city. Local Scouts buy uniforms and badges at the shop. Many foreign Scouts, from different countries, are also like to buy these badges and local specials in the shop for souvenir and collection.

Controversy

Main article: Controversies about the Boy Scouts of America.

Coeducation and accessibility

At the international level, there are two separate umbrella organisations for coeducational and boys-only organisations, the (World Organization of the Scout Movement), and for organisations for girls only, the (World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts). Historically, the early success of the Boy Scouts attracted girls, but the mores of the times did not allow a coeducational programme. Scouting for girls was started by Baden-Powell in the form of the Guide movement, with the aid of his sister Agnes who was the first Guide Commissioner. Later, his wife Olave took the leading role and became the Chief Guide of the World.

Worldwide there have been different approaches to coeducation. Some countries (such as the USA) have maintained separate Scouting organisations for boys and girls. In other countries (mainly in Europe), Scouting and Guiding have merged, and there is a common organisation for boys and girls, which is a member of both WOSM and WAGGGS. In still others, the national Scout association has opted to admit both boys and girls, while the national Guide association has remained as a separate girls-only movement. Where a national Scout association admits both girls and boys, local groups may or may not be co-educational.

In the UK, The Scout Association has been co-educational at all levels for many years, but this has been on an opt-in basis for individual sections or groups. Since 2000 any new sections that have opened have been required to offer provision for female Scouts. The Scout Association in the UK have decided that all Scout Groups should become coeducational by 1 January 2007 - Scouting's centenary.

In the United States, the youngest levels, Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, are still male only, however, the oldest levels, Venturing and Explorer programs are coeducational. Staff and adult leadership posistions are open to both men and women.

Extension Scouting

Extension Scouting is a section for handicapped youth in many national organizations, in compliance with Baden-Powell's mandate that Scouting should be "open to all." Sometimes constituted in special units, under the sponsorship of specialized institutions, young handicapped Scouts may also join standard units. In recent years, local and national Scout camps have been making their facilities and campsites more accessible toward this goal.

Scouting in film and the arts

As a facet of culture throughout most of the 20th century, Scouting has been portrayed in numerous films and artwork. It is especially prevalent in the United States, where Scouting is tied closely to the ideal of Americana. The works of painters Norman Rockwell and Joseph Csatari and the 1966 film Follow Me, Boys! are prime examples of this idealized American ethos. Scouting is often dealt with in a humorous manner, as in the 1989 film Troop Beverly Hills, and is often fictionalized so that the audience knows the topic is Scouting without there being any mention of Scouting by name.