Re: Wood Badge (Part III)
Russ Jones (CSRTJ@TTUHSC.EDU)
Sat, 11 Jan 1997 17:46:34 -0600
(Continued from part II)
To all Wood Badge staffers: it has to be done by the book, fellas, and the
book does change from time to time. I know it's hard to keep up, and harder
still to give up familiar ways of doing things, but sometimes it's
necessary. Please, before you do it again, check to see what the syllabus
really says, and put some thought into what that really means. "The staff
provides leadership to the troop during the Wood Badge course. Staff
members should not see themselves as an 'elite' group. While they might
have greater knowledge and skill than the participants, they are fellow
Scouters sharing in a common learning experience."
(Wood Badge Staff Guide, 1995 printing, page 13).
To all potential Wood Badge participants: if you've managed to get this far
down into this massive missive, then you're definitely Wood Badge material!
But seriously, despite all the brouhaha this topic has generated, Wood Badge
is well worth doing, when you're ready. You may never have a better time in
Scouting, and the bond that can develop between the members of a Wood Badge
patrol can be a fabulous thing to experience. But these are not the reasons
you should do it.
If you're prepared to accept it and open to the possibilities, Wood
Badge can give you some mighty powerful tools that you can apply in all
areas of your life, not just Scouting. The skills of leadership are
interpersonal skills, and you interact with people in almost all things.
One of the Wood Badge Scouters I know is in the business of rescuing failing
companies through the application of sound management techniques, and he's
evidently pretty successful at it. He calls Wood Badge the best short
course in management that has ever been developed--and he's not alone in his
assessment.
Some cautions: don't go through the course expecting it to be all
fun all the time. It's not particularly physically challenging, except that
the days and nights can be quite long, but it can be mentally and
intellectually demanding. However, when it's all said and done (to
paraphrase an old Peace Corps recruiting campaign slogan), "it's the
toughest course you'll ever love."
Don't go through the course expecting to be made an instant expert
in leadership. Even after you've completed your ticket and earned your
beads, neckerchief, and woggle, you'll only just be starting to learn the
value of what you've learned. If you continue to plan to use, to use, and
to evaluate your use of the skills you learn in Wood Badge, you'll
continually develop new ways to use them, to acquire a better understanding
of and appreciation for their effectiveness, and to become a better leader
and person. This can and should be a life-long process.
Once you've completed the course, resist any temptation to look down
your nose at your fellow Scouters who have yet to avail themselves of the
opportunity to experience Wood Badge. Seek to be "a Scouter who has had
Wood Badge training" rather "a Wood Badge Scouter". If ever you find
yourself feeling superior to anyone, Scouter or otherwise, prove it by
resisting the urge to prove it.
One of the best ways to continue building on your understanding of
what Wood Badge teaches is to staff Wood Badge courses as often as you can.
The best way to increase one's understanding of something is to attempt to
teach it to someone else, and others have testified to the fact that, as a
staffer, one often discovers, re-discovers, or gains a deeper understanding
of knowledge that was missed or only imperfectly understood the last time
around. In Aids to Scoutmastership, Baden-Powell says that Scouting "...is
educative, and, like Mercy, it is apt to benefit him that giveth as well as
him that receives."
My opinion on uniforming is this: even though you don't have to, a
concerted effort to have everybody agree to the same uniform is worthwhile.
Most of us don't come from very large troops, and most of the time
uniforming is pretty sporadic. To see the whole Wood Badge troop of at
least 32 participants in morning formation, all decked out in the same
consistent uniform, has a positive effect on the morale of the whole course.
If you look sharp and know it, the whole experience just seems to go better,
somehow.
As you consider whether or not to take the Wood Badge course,
consider the following story:
A traveler approaching a city encountered an old man sitting beside
the path, and he asked the man, "What sort of people live in that city up
ahead?" The old man said, "I will answer your question, if you will first
answer mine: what sort of people live where you have come from?" The
traveler replied brightly, "Oh, they are wonderful! They are friendly and
cheerful and helpful, and they truly care about their neighbors. I hated to
leave there!" The old man then said, "Then you're in luck, for you will
find the same sort of people in the city ahead."
A short while later, a second traveler approached the old man and
asked him, "What sort of people live in that city up ahead?", to which the
old man said, "I will answer your question, if you will first answer mine:
what sort of people live where you have come from?" The traveler replied
scornfully, "Oh, they are the most miserable excuse for humanity on the face
of the earth. They lie and cheat and steal from each other. You can't
trust any of them, and I'm just glad to be away from there." The old man
then said, "Unfortunately, you will find the same sort of people in the city
ahead."
Finally, have fun, and don't make it more difficult that it is.
Baden-Powell says, "Scouting is not an abstruse or difficult science.
Rather, it is a jolly game if you take it in the right light." (Aids to
Soutmastership, 1920).
To Jason Cruse: I don't do French. Please enlighten me regarding what
Victor Hugo says about what God would have done if he had intended for Man
to...?
To Paul Ferris, Ziggy Bernfeld, Vic Lonsberry, and John Minter: before I
ever saw your tag lines, I knew from the quality of your responses to this
thread that you had to be fellow foxes!
To Carol Breuer: you're a fox, too, even if you don't know it!
Finally, to all: the foregoing is in reference to Boy Scout Leader Wood
Badge in the Boy Scouts of America only. I have no knowledge of B.S.A. Cub
Leader Wood Badge or training courses in Scouting organizations, nor do I
claim any. My apologies for its length.
If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've
always gotten. Doing the same thing over and over expecting a different
result could accurately be called insanity.
Yours in Scouting,
Russ Jones, Scoutmaster
Troop 575 & National Jamboree Troop 1636
South Plains Council
Lubbock, Texas
"I used to be a fox..." SC-295
"I used to be a staffer..." SC-430, SR-110, SR-???
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City |
