Re: Troop handbook
Bruce E. Cobern (bec@PIPELINE.COM)
Sun, 10 May 1998 10:45:12 -0400
At 05:14 PM 5/4/98 -0600, JHMoss wrote:
>Rules on paper make people's lives easier. It allows them not to think.
>The rule is thus, I follow the rule, I do not need to think.
>
>However, if there is no rule, the person is in a quandary. They have not
>learned how to think.
>
>One of the basic tenants of Scouting was teaching, leading youth into
>thinking for themselves. Knowing and being able to understand right from
>wrong. Bylaws, troop rules, etc etc detract from teaching people how to
>think. What more is needed besides the Scout Oath and Law?
<balance snipped for space>
Amen. This is also directly related to the current threads on zero
tolerance policies. One of the problems I see with these types of policies,
be they troop or school board or legal, is that no sooner do you make such a
policy when you have the first situation that doesn't fit your rules. You
are then left with only four choices:
1) You apply the rule, because it is a rule, even though you KNOW that
applying the rule is not right;
2) You change the rule to now encompass this newly realized situation or
possibility, and then you get a rule book the size of the Internal Revenue
Code, with which Congress has usually adopted this exact policy;
3) You make an exception to the rule, in which case you then wonder how you
are going to explain, the NEXT time, why you made the exception the first
time but won't do so the next time; or
4) You repeal the rule.
I like option 4 (although I'd prefer that the rule not have been passed in
the first place), but I certainly believe that 3 is preferable to 1, and
usually to 2.
All of this could be avoided if we were willing to think, take
responsibility for our actions, stand up for our decisions, and apply
"justice with mercy," neither of which are exact sciences.
--
Bruce E. Cobern
mailto:bec@pipeline.com
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City |
