Boy Scouts

BOY SCOUTS. The Boy Scouts movement was started in 1908 for the purpose of training boys in the essentials of good citizenship. It had its beginning in the British Isles, but spread rapidly until today it is to be found in every civilized country in the world.

Ideals and Method.

The aim of the movement is the promo tion of good citizenship among the rising generation. The method adopted is that of active self-expression and the desire to learn on the part of the boy, rather than his passive reception of in struction. The scope is unlimited by class, creed, colour or polit ical distinctions. The movement is non-military, non-political, non-class and interdenominational. Honour is made the high ideal for the boys. The Scout law, on which the movement hinges, and which is binding on every scout, was taken from the code of the knights.

Every boy on joining the movement makes a promise on his honour to do his best to do his duty to God and his country (or King), to help other people at all times, and to obey the Scout law.

Administration and Training.

The administration of the movement is decentralized, each county in Great Britain having at its head a county commissioner responsible to headquarters. Under him are district commissioners, local associations and Scout troops. The troop, numbering from 20 to about 4o boys, is divided into patrols of six or eight, each under its own boy leader. The troop is purposely kept small in numbers in order that the scout master may have personal knowledge of each of his boys and so develop the individual character.

The movement is subdivided into three groups: I. Rovers—i.e., scouts of 17 years and over.

2. Boy Scouts and Sea Scouts—from I I to 17.

3. Wolf Cubs—juniors from 8 to I1.

The principles underlying the training are identical for each group, but the details differ to suit the different stages of devel opment.

The training is carried out generally under four main headings: I. Character and intelligence.

2. Skill and handicraft.

3. Physical health and self-care.

4. The practice of service for others and for the State.

The activities and practices of scouting are framed to develop in (I), (2) and (3) the efficient individual and then to harness this individuality for the good of the community, i.e., (4) citizen ship. The training is carried out mainly through activities in the open air, and the attributes of frontiersmen, backwoodsmen and explorers are held up as examples for scouts to emulate. Military training is not employed, as being contrary to the ideals of peace and educationally wrong. Through an extensive system of badges for proficiency the boys are encouraged to develop their natural gifts, to become all-round handy-men and to specialize in those subjects which are likely to help them afterwards in making a career. Through the daily "good turn" they are gradually led on to the practice of service for others and so to unselfish citizenship.

Progress and Results.

From a trial experimental camp in 1907 the movement has spread with remarkable rapidity to every part of the world. In 1908 the hand book, Scouting for Boys, was published in fortnightly parts. By 1910 the movement in the British empire numbered over 123, 000 members and had been taken up in many foreign countries. In 1912 the aims and methods of the movement were in quired into by the Privy Council and a royal charter of incorporation granted. Over joo,000 scouts served in His Majes ty's forces during the World War, jo,000 of whom gave their lives. Those who were under serving age carried out public duties at home, one notable service being that of coast-watchers, in place of the coast guardsmen who were called up for service afloat. This service was maintained by boy scouts from the out break of the war until after the declaration of peace, some 23,00o boys in all taking their turn at it.

Increase During the War.

The movement, though hampered by the loss of practically every able-bodied scoutmaster, managed not only to hold its own, but to increase steadily in numbers throughout the years of war. Numbers of troops were carried on entirely by their patrol leaders and courts of honour, without the help of officers.

In 192o an international meeting or jamboree was held at Olympia, London, in which scouts of 26 nations took part. As a result of this meeting an international council was formed, with a bureau in London. A second international jamboree took place in 1924 at Copenhagen, at which 33 nations were represented, The fundamental principles, the Scout promise and law, are in every country identical with those of the parent movement, the details of training differing slightly here and there to suit climatic and temperamental differences.

The greater public schools of the United Kingdom have taken up scouting as a means of developing the spirit of service to the community among their boys. Incident to this it is interesting to see school-masters coming to the Scout school of training in such numbers as to render it necessary to have special training camps for their benefit.

In many countries coming into civilization, such for instance as the Gold Coast, Nigeria, etc., scouting is being utilized with satis factory results by the education authorities, and in Asiatic coun tries such as India, Siam, and China, scouting has made equal strides with marked good effects on the youth.

The school of training for officers at Gilwell park in Epping Forest has won for itself the interest of leading education authori ties from many foreign as well as British countries. Twenty-five foreign countries have sent representatives to be trained there, as have an equal number of British oversea dominions and colonies. Thus in all parts of the world scouting is carried out under the same ideals and methods as originally promoted in England.

Thirty-two

Nations.—President Coolidge, in an address at Washington in 1926 on the subject of the Boy Scouts, emphasized the fact that the movement has a unique power for fusing together in a common citizenhood, in one generation, the different foreign elements that go to make the American nation, which would otherwise take two or three gen erations of schooling and legis lation.

This power is also becoming evident in the wider sphere of bringing together the youth of the 32 nations which now prac tise scouting. These have an ac tive membership of some two million boys, with many more millions in their populations of men who have passed through the training of scouts. They not only recognize the bond of brother hood in theory but carry it into practice by a widespread system of interchange of visits and correspondence. These visits are carried out by small parties of boys visiting other countries to camp with their brother scouts there. The average number of scouts from the United Kingdom paying such visits annually has been about five thousand.

An international conference is held every two years, which is attended by the leaders of all the different countries, and this has been described as a veritable league (and not a mere parliament) of nations; while every fourth year an international rally of contingents of boys from all countries is held in one country or another.

Thus the rising generation is being brought into a personal ac quaintance and friendship. A systematic education in good will and co-operation is established in each country and is extended to international relationships by these means. It is hoped that this development, which is growing day by day, may tend mate rially to bring about the spirit essential to ensuring peace in the world—without which, as a foundation, suggestions for disarma ment, arbitration, etc., can only be futile.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.-Sir R. S. S. Baden-Powell, Yarns for Boy Scouts Bibliography.-Sir R. S. S. Baden-Powell, Yarns for Boy Scouts (191o), Scouting for Boys (1916), Wolf Cubs' Handbook (1916), Aids to Scoutmastership (1920), What Scouts Can Do (1921), and Rovering to Success (1922) . See also the publications and reports of the Boy Scout Association. (R. B.-P.)