E. E. Reynolds, Boy Scouts, 1944

CITIZENSHIP

It has already been noted that one of the chief purposes of the Scout Movement is the training of boys to be good citizens. B.-P.'s own definition was, "A school of citizenship through woodcraft." When he wrote that in 1908 he was talking a language which few people understood. Since then-and in some degree through his teaching-the notion of training for citizenship has become almost a commonplace. Unfortunately, the idea is often so limited as to mean chiefly having a knowledge of the machinery of local and central government. B.-P.'s notion was something much wider and more human-he thought of a citizen as one who is able to look after himself and to live happily with others, and, at the same time, able, as well as willing, to help where help is needed for the good of the community; and, finally, if called upon, willing to sacrifice much, indeed life itself, for the common good.

Scouts Scaling a Wall	Building the Log Cabin at Gilwell Park

This view finds support in Sir Richard Livingstone's Education for a World Adrift (1943) where he points out that "Citizenship is not information or intellectual interest, though these are part of it; it is conduct not theory, action not knowledge, and a man may be familiar with the contents of every book on the social sciences without being a good citizen."

Later he mentions the "Scout and Guide Movement" (rightly thinking of them as one in aim and method) as "one of the institutions whose members learn the habit of citizenship by being citizens." One or two indications have already been given of how this is done in Scouting, but the subject is so important that more needs to be said.

English Scouts in Switzerland

The code of behaviour set out in the Scout Law is a social code; reference to it will show how the central idea is applied to the benefit of others; although we are told "a Scout is so-and-so" this positive statement is by no means self-centred. Thus throughout there runs the general theme of making oneself a better individual in order to be a better neighbour.

Such a series of precepts is far from original; where B.-P. broke new ground was in giving a more direct practical, everyday, application. Thus-if "A Scout's duty is to be useful, and help others"—then he will begin straight away with a daily Good Deed; nothing spectacular, but just something which otherwise he would probably not do. Also he will learn how to give First Aid to the injured, and he will learn to swim and to do rescue work in the water. So one could go on illustrating how B.-P. in his scheme of training skillfully linked up ideals with actions, and over all threw the cloak of romance.

Scouts Practising Pioneering	A Sea Scout

Another aspect of citizenship training is the development of right qualities of character, for the good citizen is first and foremost a man of sound character. The quality above all others developed in Scouting as proved time and time again in war, is self-reliance. This is of growing importance when more and more is being done for the boy and less and less by him. So in camp he learns to make his own bed (and lie on it), to cook his food (and eat it), and to take his share in the community chores (and put up with it). He learns further to make a little go a long way and to improvise. This is one of the benefits of Scouting which is in constant danger of being smothered by the production by enterprising manufacturers of all kinds of gadgets for camp. But that patent cooker is a danger; far better for the boy to turn a cocoa tin into a billy and the lid of a biscuit box into a frying pan, as indeed the early Scouts had to do. So, Scouting too has its little war against the encroaching "amenities" of civilisation."

B.-P. was also keen on developing the boy's powers of observation and deduction; his own experience as a practical Scout gave him a great store of examples from which to draw. Here for instance is the kind of incident he used to quicken the boy's interest:

"I was one day, during the Matabele War, with a native out scouting near to the Matoppo Hills over a wide grassy plain. Suddenly we crossed a track freshly made in grass, where the blades of grass were still green and damp, though pressed down; all were bending one way, which showed the direction in which the people had been travelling; following up the track for a bit it got on to a patch of sand, and we then saw that it was the spoor of several women (small feet with straight edge, and short steps) and boys (small feet, curved edge, and longer strides), walking, not running, towards the hills, about five miles away where we believed the enemy to be hiding.

"Then we saw a leaf lying about ten yards off the track. There were no trees for miles, but we knew that trees having this kind of leaf grew at a village fifteen miles away, in the direction from which the footmarks were coming. It seemed likely therefore that the women had come from that village, bringing the leaf with them, and had gone to the hills.

"On picking up the leaf we found it was damp, and smelled of native beer. The short steps showed that the women were carrying loads. So we guessed that according to the custom they had been carrying pots of native beer on their heads, the mouths of the pots being stopped up with bunches of leaves. One of these leaves had fallen out; but we found it ten yards off the track, which showed that at the time it fell a wind was blowing. There was no wind now, i.e., seven 0 'clock, but there had been some about five o'clock.

"So we guessed from all these little signs that a party of women and boys had brought beer during the night from the village fifteen miles away, and had taken it to the enemy on the hills, arriving there soon after six o'clock.

"The men would probably start to drink the beer at once (as it goes sour in a few hours), and would, by the time we could get there, be getting sleepy and keeping a bad look-out, so we should have a favourable chance of looking at their position.

"We accordingly followed the women's track, found the enemy, made our observations, and got away with our information without any difficulty."

That example has been given at length to serve the double purpose of showing what B.-P. meant by observation and deduction and how he taught by using yarns from real life to capture the boys' attention. Most people would think it hopeless to apply such an adventure to the mean streets of an. industrial town. But not B.-P. He knew how a boy's vivid imagination can turn an asphalt playground into the African Veldt and a narrow street into Deadman's Gulch.

Then he devised games for the boys to develop their powers of observation. As for example, the game called "Spotting the Spot" in which a series of photos or sketches of objects in the neighbourhood, such as would be known to all the Scouts if they kept their eyes open, have to be identified-such, for instance, as a cross-roads, a curious window, gargoyles or a weathercock, a tree, a reflection in some water caused by a particular building, and so on. A pair of Scouts can play most of the competitions between themselves, if they like; a Patrol Leader can match one pair of his Scouts against another pair in the game, and thus get them practised at it, and when they become really good he can challenge other Patrols to compete against his.

In this as in other games the Patrol method is used-that is the Scouts training each other rather than being trained by an adult instructor. This kind of practice finds its culmination in outdoor afternoons and in camp. Once more the game with its romantic possibilities is the medium used. the example here is called "Smugglers Over the Border."

"The Border" is a certain line of country about four hundred yards long, preferably a road or wide path or bit of sand, on which foot-tracks can easily be seen. One Patrol watches the border with sentries posted along this road, with a reserve posted farther inland. This latter about half-way between the 'border' and the 'town'; the 'town' would be a base marked by a tree, building, or flags, etc., about half a mile distant from the border. A hostile Patrol of smugglers assembles about half a mile on the other side of the border. They will all cross the border, in any formation they please, either singly or together or scattered, and make for the town, either walking or running, or at scout pace. Only one among them is supposed to be smuggling, and he wears tracking irons, so that the sentries walk up and down their beat (they may not run till after the 'alarm'), waiting for the tracks of the smuggler. Directly a sentry sees the track, he gives the alarm signal to the reserve and starts himself to follow up the track as fast as he can. The reserve thereupon co-operate with them and try to catch the smuggler before he can reach the town. Once within the boundary of the town he is safe and wins the game."

So one could go on showing how certain desirable qualities of character are deliberately developed, how abilities are trained, and how all is done within the boy's own world.

Cooking over an Open Fire	Fruit Picking in War Time

It may be asked, "But what has this got to do with citizenship? What about the powers of the Borough Council, and the local drainage system?" The answer is that without sound character there can be no sound citizenship, and if anyone wants to know what are the powers of the Borough Council, the facts can be looked up in a few minutes, but you cannot develop a quality of character through exercising it for a few minutes; it is a matter of years. Scouting goes further than this; it deliberately aims at training boys to look after their own affairs so that later on they will be able to look after their public affairs. This is perhaps the most distinctive contribution of the Scout method and has already been referred to as the Patrol System. B.-P. went so far as to say, "The dividing of the boys into permanent Patrols of from six to eight and treating them as separate units each under its own responsible leader, is the key to success with a Troop." Why?

First of all because the group of six to eight is the right gang-size for the boy of eleven or twelve to grasp; it is not so big that he loses his identity and usefulness-for it is absolutely essential 'that he should feel that he is a working member of the gang. So he learns on a small scale to work and play with others. At the same time he sees the importance of obedience (even if he argues afterwards) to his Patrol Leader. This matter of the size of the unit may seem unimportant to those who do not know boys; actually it is fundamental. His gang must not be so small as to be ineffective as a team, and it must not be so big that he feels insignificant.

Most Patrols meet apart from the Troop once a week, and the Patrol in Council is another stage in citizenship training; here are discussed, on of course a simple scale but with all the seriousness of boyhood, the plans for the Patrol activities, for taking part, perhaps, in an Inter-Patrol Competition or Challenge, or for a week-end camp.

The Patrol Leader gets a particularly valuable training, for, in a good Troop, he is given as much responsibility as possible. B.-P.' put great stress on this as he had learned by experience that apparently dull youths can be stimulated by being given responsible work. All the Patrol Leaders meet together once a week, as has already been mentioned at a Court of Honour; the name indicates its origin. It was at first meant to be a disciplinary body to deal with breaches of rules; but this use is rarely called into play. The Court now plans the activities of the Troop and watches the progress of the Scouts.

The degree to which the Scoutmaster guides the Patrol Leaders varies according to the experience of the Troop and to the willingness of the Scoutmaster to sit back and allow minor failures for the sake of the training value of the system. How successful this has proved has now been fully demonstrated in two wars, for many a Troop has kept going under its Court of Honour when the Scoutmasters have been called to Service. Not all Troops have done this, and where there has been failure it can, as often as not, be attributed to the Scoutmaster who would not allow the Patrol Leaders to grow wise through experience, either because he was too timid, or because he was too selfish and domineering.

Here then we have a practical training in community life-boys learning through the rough and tumble of experience how to work and play together and how to manage their own affairs. Later on as Rover Scouts they may learn more of the meaning of the Patrol System and see how the same ideas can be applied to the life of the citizen. The Rover may become, in time, a member of his Town Council, or just a Committee man of the tennis club, or be content to live as a good neighbour; whichever he does, Scouting will have helped him to play his part with greater confidence than he might otherwise have shown.

It would be easy to write at considerable length about other aspects of this citizenship training, but there is only space for describing one more. Scouting has done much to develop a love of the country-side and a pride in its right treatment. At the beginning of the century this form of patriotism was not recognized as important. B.-P. took the boys out into the country to camp and to play their games and to learn woodcraft. To them it has always been just great fun-a sort of Robinson Crusoeish business; but all the time they were learning to know and love the fields, and woods, and streams. It is not done by "Nature rambles," but by putting the boy in such a situation that he needs to know certain things. To take one example : to be expert at making an outdoor fire it is essential to be able to recognise wood from various trees and to know the value of each as fuel-so comes the need for knowing the names of trees.

Camping itself, in 1908, was an activity largely limited to those stalwarts who founded the Camping Club-of which B.-P. was President for many years. Scouting did a great deal to popularise camping-not so much the large camp run on military lines, as the small intimate camp. Out of camping developed trekking and hiking; the latter has become a national pastime and has led to the establishment of Youth Hostels, all developing a keener love of the countryside and a greater knowledge of one's own land.

An International Moot in Scotland, 1939 Rover Scouts from Egypt, Rhodesia, England, Scotland, Armenia, Irak, Norway and Australia

	Chapter 7: National Service
	Introduction and Table of Contents
	The Baden-Powell Library

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