And we wonder why...

I've sat back and read with amazement some of the discussions we've had
in the group in the past week. All the way from leave no trace camping
up to the current one on hazing. It is interesting that almost as
a coincidence there was the posting of statistics on when boys leave
scouting.

I am amused and at the same time distressed by the serpentine logic used
by some of our adult 'leaders' who somehow think that punishing a youth
with physical discipline unrelated to the task is an effective
means of teaching. What would these adults do if this happened to their
children in the classroom. Pushups, and all the rest of the alleged
physical means of punishment might be appropriate for sports and
military training but are out of place in scouting. I find it hard to
accept that some adults would do to kids what they
would not permit to happen in the workplace or classroom.
And we wonder why the boys leave scouting at such an alarming rate?



I wonder about the closemindedness of our adult leaders to better
ways of treating the environment with our camping methods. What was
acceptable 20, 30, 40 years ago may no longer be correct. We used
to think that all forest fires had to be immediately extinguished.
We now know that this is no longer completely true. We cannot
treat the wilderness like a limitless resource. Some folks continue
with the old ways and methods of camping. And we wonder why scouting
receives declining levels of support.


Time change folks and there are always more effective means of teaching.

Yes, it might have happened to you as a kid but does it make it right?

Just 'cause you had to go through the rite as a kid does that
automatically mean that every generation has to do it?

Does it work with your own kids at home?

Does your spouse make you sing a stupid little song when you lose
the keys at home?

Do you make your wife do pushups when she makes a mistake around the
house or doesn't do it the way you like it?

Did Baden Powell have a prescribed list of physical punishments
for mistakes made by scouts?

If petty hazing was effective then every kid would never lose
another thing and all lessons would be learned the first time. Right?

It doesn't work and it is not effective. Like it or not we gotta
admit that this is really just a cheap way to get laughs at another
person expense.

Rationalize as you will, use all the fancy logic and word games you can,
the bottom line is that you know you are wrong and just don't want
to face up to the cold hard fact that you ought to change.

So, from the 'dumb' police we are issuing all you hazers first class
violation tickets citing the violation of being stuck in the past. You
punishment is to write all replies to this post in the form of
poetry, make it into a .wav file, and send it to all of scouts-l




Stephen Hoar
shoar@infinet.com
Newark OH

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