You Might be a Traditional Scouter!
Rick Seymour (Ricky@BUFFNET.NET)
Tue, 26 Jan 1999 16:39:16 -0500
Ian Ford writes:
> Rick ... how do you define " Traditional Scouting ? "
Ian,
Simply put, Traditional Scouting is Scouting based on the actual
writings of Baden-Powell. Traditional Scouting is a revivalist
movement, not slavish fundamentalism.
There is also a Traditional Scouting movement based on the works of
Ernest Seton (who once said of the history of Scouting, "Seton
started it, Baden-Powell boomed it, and James West killed it").
Ian, if you secretly yearn for a Scouting program run by outdoors-
people, not "executives," then YOU MIGHT be a Traditional Scouter!
If you long for Scouting not obsessed with bureaucratic control,
then YOU MIGHT be a Traditional Scouter!
If you think that Scouting has become bound by "red tape" and
should be run as little like the management of a business as
possible, YOU MIGHT be a Traditional Scouter!
If you think that Scouting should be an altruistic volunteer
movement run by (*gasp*) an unpaid staff, YOU MIGHT be a
Traditional Scouter!
Ian continues:
> To me that includes :
> * Promise and Law
> * The Patrol Method
> * Uniform
> * Progressive award system ( Ranks / MBs in BSA terminology)
> * Youth-run program
Ian,
Briefly, there are only three "Ranks" in Traditional Scouting:
Tenderfoot, Second Class, and First Class Scout. As to Youth-Run,
the Scouts of one North American Traditional Troop have insisted on
wearing *kilts* as their Official Uniform (try running that one by
Irving)! The major emphasis in Traditional Scouting concerning
the Uniform is that it not be expensive. As to The Patrol Method,
this is one of the few authentic Baden-Powell aspects of BSA Wood
Badge, and Staffers often wonder why, rather than the "Skills of
Leadership," it is the high point of most participants' experience.
>From your vantage point across the pond, you must be very aware
that the BSA Promise and Law are not the same as Baden-Powell's
Promise and Law. It should be obvious that the pious additions
inserted into the American Promise and Law are the reason that
Scouting here has been forced into defending conservative social
agendas which have nothing to do with Baden-Powell's vision (and
the discussion of which need have no place in Scouting).
Jim Sheckels writes:
> At any rate, I feel confident that no one who knows
> and understands BSA policy and mission could
> possibly believe that BSA excludes any valid religion
> from practicing their beliefs.
Jim,
For your statement to be true you must substitute "conservative"
for "valid," unless you indeed consider the Unitarian religion as
not being valid (BSA thinks we will obey their directive not to
wear our religious award on our Uniform -- does anyone know
where can I get the knot?).
My position is that Unitarians should stop trying to change the
BSA. Unitarian activists should WAKE UP to the fact that the
method of Baden-Powell is the message of Unitarian
Universalism. It should be considered central to the Unitarian
Mission to establish an alternative Scouting movement in the
United States which is true to the spirit of Baden-Powell.
G. John Marmet writes:
> Mr. Seymour is apparently a new disciple of the B-P
> Scouting group, a "traditionalist" scout program that
> grew up in the UK when some UK Scouters thought
> that the Boy Scouts of the UK had "gone too far"....
Mr Marmet (may I call you G ?),
I do not in any way speak for any B-P Scouting group. Most B-P
Scouters would be quick to point out that my views are not in
keeping with their way of advancing their program.
B-P Scouting in the UK seems to be overly concerned with church
attendance (this view is even more conservative than the BSA). It
is my position that Baden-Powell's "Duty to God" was expressed
as active Service to Others, not passive church attendance (which
is all well and good). Duty is better understood as what author
Scott Alexander calls "Everyday Spiritual Practices." Duty to God,
in Alexander's view, is Duty to Life: daily concrete actions that
connect Scouts with their RELATIONSHIP to self, others, culture,
and the physical natural world. This is Baden-Powell in a
nutshell.
Ivan Brentnall, head of the UK BP-Scouts, believes that Scouting
should reach out to un-churched children with the hope of awakening
their spiritual being and giving them God's message of love. I
would agree. The Scouting way to accomplish this is by applying
Baden-Powell's very specific five-fold Method for Scouting with
godless youth: 1) The Daily Good Turn, 2) Administering to the
sick, 3) Retention of the older Scout, 4) Adult role models, 5)
Nature Knowledge as a step towards realizing God.
B-P Scouting is well supported by the Unitarians in the UK, and it
is my hope that a dialogue develops here in the USA.
Mr. Marmet continues:
> I am curious as to whether the B-P Scouts have
> done any recruiting in the United States. Perhaps
> Mr. Seymour can tell us.
B-P Scouts is not recruiting in the United States. They have been
established in Canada (which is a mile from me) so I have gotten my
BSA Council's blessing to apply there as a Rover Scout. I do plan
to check it out, but I ain't no disciple :-/
In Western New York there has been a strong and true tradition of
die-hard American Rovers participating in Canadian Rover Crews ever
since the Rover Program was cut from the BSA (do you see a trend
here?).
You asked about Internet resources, the Canadian URL is
http://www.bpscouts.ca
There you will find the links to B-P Scouting that WOSM is said to
have "encouraged" ScoutNet to remove (you may have noticed that no
Webmaster of ANY major Website ever "gets around" to providing
links to ANY resource of The World Federation of Independent
Scouts). Could it be the men in black helicopters?
If all that I say sounds like common sense, and if it doesn't
matter to you that very few people in the world will agree, the
YOU MIGHT be a Traditional Scouter!
Yours in Scouting (of all kinds),
Rick Seymour
