Re: "Ownership" of scouts
Grant O'Neil (oneig@SEA.WA.EDU.AU)
Mon, 1 Apr 1996 16:22:00 PST
I have found the discussion of "ownership" of cubs moving on to scouts
rather interesting. The Australian scouting program accommodates this
situation somewhat differently. To begin with, here we have a scout "group"
which in an ideal situation will comprise one or more joey mobs (ages 6-8),
cub packs (8-11), scout troops (11-14), venturer units (14-18), and/or rover
crews (18-25). Ideally, of course, there would be at least one of each and a
youth member could begin as a Joey scout at age six and move through all the
scouting sections within the one group until they finish being a rover at
age 25. In the real world this is not so common, but most groups will have
at least a cub pack and scout troop. The general idea is to view scouting as
a progression through the various sections rather than any one section in
isolation, and having a range of sections within a single group helps foster
this view. It also tends to encourage interaction between sections as the
broader "group" view rather than a purely "section" view is taken.
A second factor that influences interaction between sections, regardless of
the presence or otherwise of different sections within the group, is that
there is a "link badge" for each section (i.e. joey-cubs, cubs-scouts and so
on.) This badge basically forms the bridge from one section to the next. For
example, in the case of a venturer linking from scouts, they need to take
part in several unit activities including one outdoors; in a similar way the
requirements for each link badge basically introduce the new member to the
section they are moving into, and by means of having activities with their
new pack/troop/unit/crew they get to know the people and the type of things
they will be doing.
It is still possible for a person to choose to go to a scout troop in a
different group from the one in which they have been a cub, but this is not
very common (in fact, in most cases when this does happen it is probably a
symptom of some problems somewhere!). BTW, we have nothing similar to
Webelos; just the five sections as described above.
Grant O'Neil
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City |
