Kudu

SeattlePioneer writes: Rigid adhearance to the Congressional charter as Holy Writ The Congressional Charter is not "Holy Writ," it is a secular Act of Congress: A Special Rights Law. In a nutshell, the Federal Charter gives us the "Exclusive right to emblems, badges, marks, and words" (Sec. 30905) that were in common use in Boy Scout Troops here and the rest of the world before the BSA was invented. In exchange for this lucrative state-imposed corporate monopoly, the Federal Charter requires the BSA to adhere to the Three Purposes of Scouting (Sec. 30902). See: http://inquiry.net/adult/bsa_federal_charter.htm So SeattlePioneer is exactly wrong: The BSA does in fact enforce "rigid adherence to the Congressional Charter" every time it issues a "cease and desist" order enforced under Sec. 30905. The Congressional Charter is the legal instrument by which the BSA receives favorable rulings when it sues competing international associations (such as Baden-Powell Scouting) that seek to provide American citizens the Scouting program as it was played in a specific year. To obey the Congressional Charter, a Retro-Innovation Scouting association would offer the BSA program as it was played in 1916: http://inquiry.net/advancement/tf-1st_require_1911.htm In the rest of the world, the Retro-Innovation date is usually 1965 (the year before innovation's Advance Party Report), or 1938 (the last year that Baden-Powell edited the rule book): http://inquiry.net/traditional/por/index.htm Scouting Retro-Innovation embraces advances in three areas: a) health & safety practices b) environmental concerns c) light-weight camping technologies. http://www.inquiry.net/traditional/index.htm Although it does not favor the Patrol Method, I would include Adventure Innovations such as Scuba Diving Merit Badge: http://www.inquiry.net/scuba_diving_merit_badge/index.htm SeattlePioneer writes: Frankly I see my drawn to support the programs of the Chief Scout Executive and his innovative programs Remember that "Innovation" is the exact term used by corporate CEO leadership experts to justify "outside the box" programs that replace real assets with unregulated toxic assets. The Chief Scout Executive's "innovative programs" are the same thing: They replace Scoutcraft (which can be measured) with "Character and Leadership" (which can not be measured). By replacing Sec. 30902 with "Character and Leadership," he can offer toxic programs to keep twelve-year-old Boy Scouts away from camping. Not just to play soccer, but to bring them indoors in front of computers to sit "side by side with adults of character." http://inquiry.net/leadership/sitting_side_by_side_with_adults.htm Back in 1916 Americans would say of their worst enemy "It would take an Act of Congress to get him to do the right thing." The greatest "Innovation" in 20th century Scouting was the discovery that not even an Act of Congress can compel The Boy Scouts to do the right thing: A Scout is obedient. A Scout follows the rules of his family, school, and troop. He obeys the laws of his community and country. If he thinks these rules and laws are unfair, he tries to have them changed in an orderly manner rather than disobeying them. http://inquiry.net/ideals/scout_law/chart.htm Yours at 300 feet, Kudu http://kudu.net (This message has been edited by Kudu)

moosetracker writes: Sometimes though with older books, I am puzzled by the reference to old fashioned do-hookies and thing-a-ma-bobs.. And then can't make heads or tales out of what they are trying to tell me. That was my reaction when I first started to read about Baden-Powell's program. One of my jobs in Baden-Powell Scouting back in the 1990s was to translate the English requirements and rule book into American. Someday I will write a BSA to B-P Dictionary http://inquiry.net/scouting_dictionary/index.htm Hillcourt's handbooks are different. When asked why his writings were so popular with Boy Scouts he replied that because English was a second language for him, he kept his sentences simple, easy for a boy to understand. If you start on page one and read the Handbook for Scoutmasters sequentially, everything is explained so that volunteers new to the movement (many of whom did not finish high school back then) can understand. The bigger danger is to see a familiar Scouting term and assume that it means the same thing. "Patrol Method" meant outdoor adventure without adult supervision (when appropriate), but now it primarily means sitting in a PLC meeting to plan Webelos III campouts. Likewise the term "SPL" in most people's minds means chain of command SM-->SPL-->PL. However in the Patrol Method's Golden Era, the Patrol Leaders hired and fired the SPL, so it was more obvious that the chain of command was PLC-->SPL. "Hike" meant the pure entertainment of outdoor adventure: "A hike is a walk with a purpose" (page 604). The Troop program consists of outings supported by Troop meetings, rather than of Troop meetings with occasional outings thrown in as supplementary features (page 602). moosetracker writes: So you would not see it an advantage to bring your SPL to a training on How to train the SM to take leadership to train the SPL.. I run a Troop according to personalities rather than policies. BSA Scouting procedures have varied considerably from decade to decade over the last hundred years, which in turn was radically different from Baden-Powell's program in the rest of the world. Every program worked for millions of Scouts (although the "Leadership Development Method" is unique in that it caused two million Boy Scouts to quit). So when rebuilding a small Troop I do not use an SPL at all (as per B-P), so that the leadership talent remains in the Patrols. moosetracker writes: But, if you were to do a outdoor rock climbing... would you have someone come in to the unit to train everyone.. Yes, that is how I did it. I would get a friend to come in for a month and teach the entire Troop how to climb and repel the gym walls. On the other hand, the Council limited adult canoe training to one Scout per three adult leaders, so I would take the SPL if he was the dominant personality in the Troop. In a two Patrol Troop, I would try to dig up six adults, or make other arrangements to take the two Patrol Leaders. Remember that I consider all "Leadership Development Training" to be fake. It's just smoke and mirrors. An exceptional SPL is a natural leader (about one per 20-Scout Troop) at least equal to an average adult volunteer in all things except experience and judgement. Real Patrol Leader Training is an applied outdoor skills course that teaches Patrol Leaders how to manage risk. It allows the Scoutmaster to decide how far (literally) he can trust each Patrol Leader. A good SPL can provide insight in that regard, but it is the Scoutmaster who must take responsibility for managed risk. Yours at 300 feet, Kudu http://kudu.net

OldGreyEagle writes: How many times do we tell the parents, don't worry, nobody will get hurt. What do the youth think about that. Maybe the response should be, don't worry, we have two Paramedics along on the trip so when people get hurt they will survive That sentence goes directly into my index of "The Great Quotes of Scouting"!

moosetracker writes: I ask because at our Scouting University the TLT (new version) will have a course on how your troop should run a TLT.. (From what I heard, it is now a mix of the TLT (which wasn't favored) and the preferred old JLT program).. But, this is suppose to be run by the SPL.. The Patrol Leaders' Training listed in the 20 Tools has nothing to do with TLT. It is Green Bar Bill's position-specific outdoor training course. It is lead by the Scoutmaster, not the SPL: The Scoutmaster forms a "Green Bar Patrol" with himself as the PL, the SPL as his APL, and the Patrol Leaders as Patrol members. The "Patrol Leader" then conducts Patrol Meetings to show the Patrol Leaders how to conduct Patrol Meetings for the purposes of outdoor advancement skill training and adventure planning. The "Patrol Leader" then takes the Patrol on the Patrol Hike that they planned in the Patrol Meetings to show the Patrol Leaders how to plan and conduct Patrol Hikes without adult supervision. The "Patrol Leader" then takes the Patrol on the overnight Patrol Outing that they planned to show the Patrol Leaders how to plan and conduct Patrol Outings without adult supervision. See: http://inquiry.net/patrol/green_bar/index.htm As for your questions on the other 19 Tools, if you are interested in Training you might consider purchasing the two-volume set that details these 20 Tools. You can currently pick up the two volumes for about $15 per volume: http://tinyurl.com/368exou I have a standing offer to purchase the two volumes at $15 each from anyone who does not find at least 1,000 new ideas (one per page) that he or she can adapt to the current program. The chapter on how to turn hikes into backwoods adventure entertainment is worth the purchase price all by itself! When 70% of auditoriums of sixth-graders sign (in front of their peers) a list asking me to call their parents so they can be Boy Scouts, under the column asking what they want to try first, many of them answer "hikes" even though I don't usually mention hikes. Too much of the BSA's so-called health initiative is centered on anti-adventure, anti-Scouting, indoor school stuff like push-ups and pull-ups. Why not Hikes and Wide Games: http://inquiry.net/outdoor/games/wide/index.htm Yours at 300 feet, Kudu http://kudu.net

dkurtenbach writes: Kudu, are you available to sit on the panel? On what topic? I do not enjoy travel, and you can get along fine without me The Three Purposes of Scouting: Our True Timeless Values Over the years you have written about the Federal Charter along the same lines as I have. Its coming centennial provides the opportunity to present it in a new light: Old is new again. Ex-Webelos to Scout Transition The ability to walk into an auditorium and register 28% of the sixth-graders is good skill for Commissioners to have. You could master that. Let me know if the presentation on my Website leaves questions unanswered. I've been meaning to revise it for a long time. One topic that needs consideration is the ethics of the Promise of Scouting. A Commissioner would have to show "favoritism" in regards to which units he sends the Scouts after promising them the program outlined in the Federal Charter. "Ex-Webelos" dropped out for a reason. Yours at 300 feet, Kudu http://kudu.net

Eagle92 writes: Scout Signals (both trail and sign) Yes, these Scout Signals and observational skills were required back when Scouting was popular. They appeal to the natural instinct of boys to understand and master clues and secret languages. Trail Signs: http://inquiry.net/outdoor/skills/b-p/signs.htm Indian Sign Language: http://inquiry.net/outdoor/native/sign/index.htm Silent Scout Signals: http://inquiry.net/outdoor/skills/drill.htm Yours at 300 feet, Kudu http://kudu.net

moosetracker writes: I was thinking of offering a course to build reliable snow caves, but our Klondike stole the idea The "Ice Box," a snow brick-maker is worth looking at. It takes much less snow than quinzees or the old Polar Domes. And you don't have to get your clothes all wet digging it out: http://inquiry.net/outdoor/winter/shelter/igloo_kit.htm sherminator505 writes: Personally, I would like to see a course for Scoutmasters and ASMs that is based in the Twenty Tools. Yes, and call it "Wood Badge" Tool 1Setting Out with the Troop Tool 2Chartering and Registration Tool 3Patrol Leaders' Training Tool 4Patrol Recognition Tool 5Financing the Troop Tool 6Troop Equipment Tool 7Troop Meeting Room Tool 8Troop Records Tool 9Uniforming the Troop Tool 10Program Themes Tool 11Games and Projects Tool 12Troop Hike Ideas Tool 13Wide Games Tool 14Ceremonies Tool 15Scout Drill Tool 16Singing Tool 17Story Telling Tool 18Troop Mobilization Tool 19Literature Helps Tool 20Scout Requirements Yours at 300 feet, Kudu http://kudu.net

Beavah writes: I bet yeh could get Kudu to comment Yeah, "Innovation" is usually shorthand for "Let's replace Scoutcraft competency with the newest toxic bundling management fad." So I would package retro-innovation as a brand new management theory: Our Congressional Charter Centennial is coming up, start banging that drum: The Three Purposes of Scouting: Our True Timeless Values: 1. To promote the ability of boys to do things for themselves and others; 2. To train them in Scoutcraft; 3. To teach them patriotism, courage, self-reliance, and kindred virtues, using the methods that were in common use by Boy Scouts on June 15, 1916 http://inquiry.net/adult/bsa_federal_charter.htm Might be hard to relate that to Webelos to Scout transition, since so many Cub Packs filter out the boys and adults who would love Scoutcraft and the BSA's official values (self-reliance). How about "Ex-Webelos to Scout Transition"? Cub Scout dropouts make better Charter Centennial Boy Scouts than boys who suffer through all those years of sock puppets and classroom citizenship: http://inquiry.net/adult/recruiting.htm Yours at 300 feet, Kudu http://kudu.net

SeattlePioneer writes: Sorry Kudu I accept your apology

I had decided to give Moosetracker the last word on "Kudu" in this thread because I think her assessment is right on, but then SeattlePioneer went out on his morning run and "a couple of additional questions for Kudu occurred to" him. So I pulled out all of my old sign-up sheets and provided more details of 28% recruitment presentations which include Hispanic Boy Scouts. In a nutshell the answer to the topic question is that an overwhelming number of ALL sixth-graders crave the Scoutcraft Program guaranteed to them by an Act of Congress, just like they have for a hundred years. Offer that program to a mixed race audience and Hispanic boys will sign up in the same percentages as the other boys. I opened my post with the observation that 70% of sixth-graders want to be a Boy Scout if you present Scouting as a dangerous adventure. Then I repeated it again at the end. To which SeattlePioneer replied: "Well, it's obvious Kudu is happy with his program and sees no need to consider anything that might add to it. He's certainly welcome to that. Unfortunately, business as usual has not been doing a good job at all of recruiting and retaining Hispanic youth. And that failure has led pretty directly to the Soccer and Scouting program Kudu despises." So I ask the obvious question: "OK, if my numbers are 'business as usual,' an example of 'not doing a good job at all of recruiting and retaining Hispanic youth,' and a 'failure that has led pretty directly to the Soccer and Scouting program Kudu despises,' then, um, what are the membership percentages in your District?" The number that I often hear is 2%: A DE is expected to deliver 2% of the Total Available Youth (TAY) in his District. Scouting professionals tell me that 2% is a "low figure" that would not qualify as a "membership goal," but unfortunately it is realistic percentage in some areas. Given the catastrophic terms with which SeattlePioneer describes his District (and the fact that he goes into Full Wood Badge Attack Mode every time I ask for his TAY ratio), then for the sake of argument let's say his TAY is 2%. So then what do I consider to be the appropriate response from a District Membership Chair who has a 2% TAR ratio, and claims to have building "Traditional" Boy Scout units as his goal? "28%? WOW! That is 14 times our current rate! As District Membership Chair I certainly have the connections to test your claims to see how they work in our own local schools. Let me try this out and report back to everyone!" But in real life Wood Badge Logic always perceives a successful Scoutcraft program as a threat to be defeated. For instance SeattlePioneer rejects a return rate 14 times higher than his own, presumably because we did not "recruit that one bilingual parent as our Troop's ScoutParent Co-ordinator who made those phone calls and was able to discuss the program intelligently in the native language of the parents." The appropriate action in that case would be to test his idea against my procedure and see which actually yields a higher TAY ratio. Instead he launched into the kinds of personal insults that John Larson (Director of Boy Scout Leader Training) used against William Hillcourt to replace Hillcourt's Scoutcraft and Patrol Method with the "Leadership Development" program that caused two million Boy Scouts to quit. Leadership Development is precisely why "there aren't enough such talented leaders" to provide the Scoutcraft program that 70% of sixth-grade boys crave. We took the Scoutcraft out of Wood Badge and replaced it with "modern" office "people skills." The kind of people skills that makes the needs of Spanish-speaking Hispanic parents seem more important than English-speaking Hispanic kids. Likewise SeattlePioneer attacks Baden-Powell's minimum standard (MINIMUM STANDARD!) of 300 feet between Patrols: "I know you imagine that your bright ideas and rhetoric about 'Scouting at 300 Feet' is the solution to every problem, but the issues confronting those Scouts units are a lot more complex than that." Well, it is just that Cub Scout point of view that makes the "problem" appear "complex." "Issues" of weak and failing units only seem complex because Cub Scout Wood Badgers would never consider that Baden-Powell's "bright ideas and rhetoric" might be a testable solution to the nightmare Cub Scout program for teenagers that Leadership Development has created. Physical distance is the measure of the Patrol Method. It is real. It is easy to test. It is how I build a Troop of four Boy Scouts into 30. Cocksure at 300 feet, Kudu http://kudu.net

SeattlePioneer writes: your sneering, cocksure attitude on display several times...pride at ruining a thread... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_projection Let's review: You say that up to 20% Latino Boy Scouts in a Boy Scout Troop is not significant. You say that a 28% recruitment ratio in ADDITION to Cub Scout Crossover is poor performance. You say that these are the kinds of percentages that force BSA millionaires to declare war on an Act of Congress just to keep 12 year-old Boy Scouts away from camping. So back it up with some basic logic: What is your District's membership ratio to Total Available Youth, Mr. District Membership Chair? As for "ruining a thread," let me "ruin" it again: Anyone who Scares with Scoutcraft an auditorium of racially-mixed sixth-graders will recruit all the Hispanics he wants. Cocksure at 300 feet, Kudu How to recruit sixth-grade Boy Scouts in the public schools: http://inquiry.net/adult/recruiting.htm

SeattlePioneer writes: your self satisfied pride...your sneering, cocksure arrogance...a character weakness Ad hominem logic! They are going to LOVE you at Wood Badge if you haven't taken it already. You said that an additional 28% TAY ABOVE Cub Scout Crossover was poor performance. So I asked you for your District's TAY (The percentage of Total Available Youth in your area that are Boy Scouts). What is your District's TAY, SeattlePioneer? Yours at 300 feet, Kudu http://kudu.net

SeattlePioneer writes: Well, it's obvious Kudu is happy with his program and sees no need to consider anything that might add to it. Unfortunately, business as usual has not been doing a good job at all of recruiting and retaining Hispanic youth. No, my program is not "business as usual," now is it? It was business as usual back when Scouting was popular, before Leadership Development was invented and drove two million Boy Scouts out of Scouting. I did not realize that you are "district membership chair"! That means that either you do know what your TAY rate is, or you have access to that information but (because of Wood Badge magical thinking) you do not think that membership statistics are relevant to, um, membership goals I have been very specific about my TAY rate (which was 28% IN ADDITION to whatever my last Council's TAY was), to which you replied "despite your claims to the contrary, the performance you describe suggests that you have a good deal you could learn." So what is your TAY rate, SeattlePioneer? Yours at 300 feet, Kudu http://kudu.net

SeattlePioneer writes: You are obviously proud of your record of getting youths to request that you contact their parents to inquire about joining Scouting. 70% of sixth-grade boys want to be a Boy Scout if you present Scouting as an activity that might just be too, um, dangerous for them: http://inquiry.net/adult/recruiting.htm That should be the best news any volunteer has ever heard. These forums should be ablaze with fierce debates between Scouters who rave about how many Scouts they just recruited (but can't remember where they got the idea), versus those for whom my presentation did not work and speak from bitter personal experience of being Formed and Stormed off the stage SeattlePioneer writes: But getting youths interested in Scouting is only a part of the issue. The real issue tends to be getting parents to sign on to their son joining the program, and then learning about and understanding the program so they can continue to support his participation. 44% of the parents of the racially-mixed audiences did not allow them to join the BSA, but I don't remember many Hispanics dropping out, if any. SeattlePioneer writes: So Kudu, what do you do when you call a family and find only Spanish speakers available to talk to you? That never happened. This morning I went over my old sign-up sheets to look for Spanish surnames. My notes are sketchy: Just abbreviations in the margins of the call sheets. Hispanics are either indicated with a "Yes," meaning they will be there that night, or "Msg" (left message with a person), "AM" (left message on an answering machine), "By" (busy signal), or "NA" (no answer). So maybe Spanish-speakers screen their calls. SeattlePioneer writes: Or perhaps you find someone who speaks some English or a youth who acts as an intermediary with the parent? Yes, by definition these kids all spoke enough English to go to school. Hispanic kids did tend to be more independent. They would sometimes get a ride from a friend and show up at a meeting even though I did not speak with their parents. SeattlePioneer writes: Do you find there are limitations to such methods? Presenting the Scoutcraft program as it is described in our Federal Charter is just like the movie "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." After the encounter these sixth-graders feel undeniably drawn to an isolated area in the wilderness where something spectacular is about to happen. 28% of them get there while the rest sit at home and play with their mashed potatoes. SeattlePioneer writes: Suppose you had recruited that one bilingual parent as your Troops ScoutParent Co-ordinator who made those phone calls and was able to discuss the program intelligently in the native language of the parents. Understand that I have no patience what-so-ever with "cultural sensitivity." Kids are pretty much the same when you take them out of their usual environment and transport them to the deep dark woods. Despite the lure that the promise of rattlesnakes and bears had when sitting in a safe auditorium, they ALL react in different ways when it is pitch black and they hear a raccoon outside their tent for the first time. Or when (just like ALL kids a hundred years ago), they wake up in the morning after a thunderstorm and smell bacon, eggs, and pancakes. The only outdoor skills I found to be correlated with race is that Black kids tend to really suck at swimming compared to others from the same neighborhoods. And as far as adult participation goes, as Moosetracker points out we have very different viewpoints. Apparently most of your experience is with the Cub program. The only thing I have to do with that world is that I run the Webelos program at our local summer camp (where I run interference between Webelos and Den Leaders). Oh, and these Den Leaders themselves when the District combines OWLS with the ItOLS course that I staff. As far as the Boy Scout program was concerned, the only thing I wanted from a Committee was a good treasurer. Over the years I usually had the sons of District Commissioners in my Troops, so the DC usually recruited and built the Troop Committees as best they could. SeattlePioneer writes: Do you suppose that might improve your recruiting record? I was not interested in improving my recruiting record. My goal in rebuilding a "Troop in Trouble" was usually to recruit 15 Scouts per year for two years. A few would drop out, and the Scouts would recruit others. I did recruit 20 per year a couple of times back in the 1990s. I found that parents who need extra phone calls to recruit usually either a) had horribly dysfunctional kids, or (the opposite) b) were helicopters who wanted the program to revolve getting Eagle on their indoor sons' business resumes. AGAIN: 70% of sixth-graders want to be Boy Scouts if you present Scouting as an adventure that might just be too dangerous for them. I usually recruited 28% of the audience, and I have provided a statistical breakdown of the other 42%: http://inquiry.net/adult/recruiting_boy_scouts_public_schools.htm But rather than debating how I might have done things differently to reach those 42%, you should be out there getting your first 28% Yours at 300 feet, Kudu Scuba Diving Merit Badge: http://www.inquiry.net/scuba_diving_merit_badge/index.htm

SeattlePioneer writes: As I noted Kudu, if traditional Scouting units did a much better job of recruiting and retaining Hispanic youth, I doubt that the head office would be looking at alternative programs to do that task. And as I noted, the "head office" has been looking for an excuse to kill Scoutcraft since 1965. Hispanics are convenient. The last time we used race as an excuse to declare war on our Congressional Charter, we lost two million Boy Scouts. SeattlePioneer writes: I must say I am thoroughly unimpressed to the point of being appalled by your last post. Does that mean you are not going to put together a Spanish language presentation for your program "kickoff" that explains to parents that the national Hispanic initiative cheats their sons out of the Scoutcraft program guaranteed to Americans by an Act of Congress? Gee, and you seemed so sincere! I am equally appalled by your efforts. You claim that your goal is to "recruit and retain Hispanic youth into traditional Scouting units," but your keynote speaker will be the "Council's District Executive for our Soccer and Scouting Program aimed at Hispanic youth." You use terms like "carping and complaining" to describe my logic because if you did admit publicly that our CSE's national Hispanic initiative is not only misguided, but contrary to our Congressional Charter, your "Council's District Executive for our Soccer and Scouting Program aimed at Hispanic youth" would boot you out the door. The whole point of the current Soccer and Scouting Program is to dumb the Boy Scout program down to the Cub Scout level by replacing individual Boy Scouts with whole families. In fact your E-mail to this guy uses the term "family" (or "parent') 27 times. SeattlePioneer writes: And despite your claims to the contrary, the performance you describe suggests that you have a good deal you could learn, as do I. Oh? I usually registered 28% of sixth-grade audiences AFTER Crossover (Crossover figures represent the application of the business strategy of our BSA millionaires, as well as the efforts of a local District's professionals and volunteers). What is your percentage? Since you are so interested in recruitment and claim that my performance is low, what do you suggest the national Total Available Youth (TAY) percentage is? 2%? 4%? 8%? The fact that 70% of sixth-graders signed my list and I only registered 28%, suggests that (even at 7 to 14 times typical TAY) there is room for "improvement," but I was only interested in Scouts whose parents allowed them to join without a sales job on the importance of Eagle on a business resume. Let's see you do better. http://inquiry.net/adult/recruiting.htm Yours at 300 feet, Kudu http://kudu.net

SeattlePioneer writes: Do you make any special efforts to communicate with ethnically Latino parents whose primary language is Spanish? Yes, I always asked them where the library was SeattlePioneer writes: Do they volunteer as troop leaders as readily as other families? Only one occasionally, a first generation single mom. She was a Spanish teacher, the wealthiest parent in the whole Troop. In this neighborhood it was rare to have many parents volunteer, regardless of race. SeattlePioneer writes: Personally, I don't see any reason to object if during a recruiting meeting someone provides a greeting and welcome in Spanish and holds up a Spanish language Cub Scout handbook. Have you actually watched the CSE's Hispanic initiative video? http://inquiry.net/leadership/sitting_side_by_side_with_adults.htm The whole point is to play the Hispanic card to achieve the 1972 Wood Badge goal (which in turn was based on the "Urban Youth" race card) to drum the outing out of Scouting. Really now, is there any other possible meaning to: "Camping is not necessarily a big thing with them, as a matter of fact in some cases it is not big at all... This marvelous passion for family in the Hispanic world. When we say 'We want to take your twelve-year-old son, but you can't come!' [long pause for dramatic effect] we're making a mistake there. We have to engage an entire family..." If the national program is to "recognize these cultural issues and accommodate them" by keeping Boy Scouts out of tents even at TWELVE YEARS OLD, we are not just "providing a greeting and welcome in Spanish," now are we? The Chief Scout Executive is committed to "investing major resources" to recruit 100,000 Hispanics (at least in the first year) who hate camping ("We are deadly serious. We are absolutely serious about this"). If he "invests" enough money to pull that off every year, in ten years we will have a million boys who hate camping. Do you really think we will not be encouraged by the Scoutcraft-hating BSA millionaires to "recognize these cultural issues and accommodate them" with a special rights "No Camping Path to Eagle," as Leadership Development pioneered in the 1970s? SeattlePioneer writes: Doing such things is just a part of helping other people. If you want to help other people, put together a Spanish language presentation for your program "kickoff" that explains to parents that the national Hispanic initiative cheats their sons out of the Scoutcraft program guaranteed to Americans by an Act of Congress. Yours at 300 feet, Kudu http://kudu.net

SeattlePioneer writes: What percentage of the boys in your troop come from immigrant primarily Spanish speaking families? At most four to six out of 20 to 30, so as high as 20%. This could be higher in any given year than the percentage of Hispanic sixth-graders: A number of Scouts brought in their older brothers, but Hispanics tended to also recruit their cousins. So their families did work differently than others, but just the opposite of CSE Mazzuca's description: None of them ever expressed an interest in having their grandmothers and baby sisters along on a campout For what it's worth about the universal lure of Adventure: Now that I think back I never recruited any stereotypically fat Hispanics (as in the movie "Up") which do appear in the MSNBC interview with CSE Mazzuca. Yours at 300 feet, Kudu Http://kudu.net (This message has been edited by Kudu)

The Cub Scout program functions as a filter that turns at least 70% of all red-blooded American boys off from Scouting. Yours at 300 feet, Kudu http://kudu.net

LisaBob writes: I hope you hold your ASM Woodbadgers responsible for knowing details of how the Tiger program works, too. Maybe the solution is to replace the wood beads with baby rattles? Yours at 300 feet, Kudu Spun Thread: Is Rattle Badge just about "The Rattles"?

DeanRx writes: If the great Hispanic recruitment of the 100th year of BSA actually does take hold, what will it do to shape the organization one generation from now? The Chief Scout Executive's goals are very clear: Because Hispanic families love their children so much more than white families do, it is morally wrong to ask Hispanic boys go camping: "Camping is not necessarily a big thing with them, as a matter of fact in some cases it is not big at all... This marvelous passion for family in the Hispanic world. When we say 'We want to take your twelve-year-old son, but you can't come!' [long pause for dramatic effect] we're making a mistake there. We have ways to engage an entire family. We need to reach out and do those sorts of things that recognize these cultural issues and accommodate them. For example one of our pilot programs over the last recent years has been Scouting and Soccer, using the attraction of the soccer game to gather Hispanic families around...." http://inquiry.net/leadership/sitting_side_by_side_with_adults.htm So at long last Hispanic families offer the holy grail of Leadership Development: To move the BSA away from the Scoutcraft Adventure guaranteed to American boys by an Act of Congress, and replace it with what Cub Scouts has "for families in character development and leadership skills"). DeanRx writes: Its not a far fetched thought that the Roman Catholic Church could easily have the same influence over BSA that the LDS currently enjoys. Especially if Hispanics use the LDS model of six-boy Troops to leverage their COs' vote far beyond their actual membership numbers. Setting the Catholic issue aside, the CSE's Hispanic push is a constant pounding at the need to replace the Scoutcraft program mandated by our Congressional Charter (to inculcate "the ability of boys to do things for themselves...and to teach them patriotism, courage, self-reliance, and kindred virtues") with his fiercely anti-self-reliance alternative that replaces American individualism with programs that "accommodate" whole families. http://inquiry.net/adult/bsa_federal_charter.htm By definition "leadership skills" are group skills. This is why post 1972 Wood Badge has always pushed Webelos III group leadership skills as a replacement for Scoutcraft self-reliance. DeanRx writes: if Mr. Mazzuca is looking for ways to increase the rosters - I'd suggest a repeal on the atheist and gay bans... Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Like it or not, liberal congregations in the United States have never embraced getting their knees dirty around a campfire once a month as a way to teach their values to the next generation. Why is the opposite true in countries like Germany? I don't know. There is certainly no block of liberal Sponsoring Organizations just waiting in the wings for a repeal of the BSA's membership policies. Liberal congregations had no interest in the various alternative Scouting associations that bubbled up in the 1990s and in the last decade. This has been true for a hundred years. If you examine the number of Unitarian and Universalist congregations that sponsored BSA Troops during the entire 20th century, the total number (if I remember David Peavy's research correctly) never reached a couple hundred per year. My guess is that there are more LDS Troops in the smallest county in Utah. What the membership policies do offer is a "Poison Pill" (to use the corporate CEO terminology of Mazzuca's avowed heroes of Wood Badge), which at least creates the illusion that public schools are off limits to BSA recruiters. DeanRx writes: "Youth leave scouting or do not join because of lack of ADVENTURE. Exactly. If SeattlePioneer wants to recruit Hispanic youth, he could use my public school recruiting presentation. 70% of racially mixed sixth-grade audiences will sign a list (in front of their peers) asking him to call their parents so they can be a Boy Scout if (and only if) he presents Scouting as a dangerous adventure. See: http://inquiry.net/adult/recruiting.htm The problem, of course, is that if you promise outdoor adventure you have to deliver outdoor adventure. Why waste a week of Wood Badge and a week of Junior Leader training on something as "old-fashioned" as outdoor Patrol skills? Yours at 300 feet, Kudu http://kudu.net/

NJCubScouter writes: Some people in this forum (not necessarily you BSA24) seem to think the BSA is forever scarred just because for about five years, ending more than 30 years ago, it was theoretically possible to make Eagle without ever going on a camping trip or a hike... Any cupcake can still "earn" an Eagle Scout badge without ever walking into the woods with a pack on his back. That is not an exaggeration. Such Cub Scout Eagles are the equivalent of a 1916 BSA 2nd Class Scout or a Baden-Powell Tenderfoot. I agree with most of BSA24's excellent posts, but for the sake of discussion I would debate three minor issues. BSA24 writes: Overhaul the uniform to look like military BDU's. I'm talking radical, "holy smokes!" overhaul that eliminates colorful patches entirely and is subtle (black and green) - black t-shirt, green cargo pants, green BDU jacket with black rank emblem on pocket, green and black unit numbers & CSP, etc. Boys would rather look like they are going on a SWAT mission than going to 1910. 1) The primary problem with the uniform is not what it looks like, but what it stands for: A Cub Scout program for teenagers. My very first Webpage (ever) was a photographic comparison of the advantages of BDUs over the official dress-designer uniform: http://inquiry.net/uniforms/bdu.htm Back in the 1990s we field-tested a black BDU "SWAT" uniform for an alternative Baden-Powell association. BDUs do have some practical disadvantages on the trail. BSA24 writes: BSA should initiate a national survey of youth from age 9 to age 20 to find out how they feel about the scouts and why. A survey of youth not in the program. BSA can afford to do this, and it is surprising that such a survey and its results have not been published to date. It's the only way anyone is ever going to know for a fact what the problem is. 2) Surveys are the kind of passive approach to Scouting that BSA millionaires love. Presumably the answer is: Kids want Soccer! The solution is not to ASK youth what they want: Simply TELL them what they want: The Scoutcraft program mandated by our Congressional Charter. It is easy to prove the effectiveness of an active approach: Arrange to speak to an auditorium of sixth-graders. Tell them what you told us about "outdoorsmanship in scouts: pioneering, camping, hiking, canoeing, swimming, fish and wildlife conservation, leatherwork, wood carving, life saving, and other outdoor activity badges." I have found that 70% of the audience will sign a list (in front of their peers) asking me to call their parents so they can join. If you hold their first meeting the same night, about 28% of that audience will register with the BSA without you ever mentioning Eagle or the so-called "Aims of Scouting" to their parents. Those figures are in ADDITION to the Scouts in the audience who have already crossed over from Webelos! For what it's worth, a statistical breakdown of the missing 42% (70% minus 28%) can be found at the recent "Public School Recruiting Statistics" thread: http://www.scouter.com/forums/viewThread.asp?threadID=297669 BSA24 writes: ...required for eagle and de-emphasize anything that is not classical scoutcraft. Consolidate all citizenship merit badges into one. Change the Eagle Badge to represent outdoorsmanship 3) There is a simple solution to the problem of classroom Citizenship and all the other homework badges: Just Say "NO" to Eagle! Tenderfoot through First Class is mostly Scoutcraft (what little there is left of it). Back before 1972, when Scouting was outrageously popular, few Scouts ever went beyond Star. Yours at 300 feet, Kudu http://kudu.net

The original "Purpose of a Board of Review" was to stamp out any traces of Baden-Powell's Patrol System that had been established in the United States prior to 1910, and replace them with the BSA's first bogus "Leadership" theory: "The Six Principles of Boy Work." In a nutshell, the Six Principles boil down to: Care should be taken by the Scout Master that the patrol leaders do not have too great authority in the supervision of their patrols. The success of the troop affairs and supervision of patrol progress is, in the last analysis, the responsibility of the Scout Master and not that of the patrol leader...The activities of the patrol should not be left to the judgment of any patrol leader... http://inquiry.net/adult/methods/1st/index.htm This idea that a bunch of parents can run a Troop better than the Patrol Leaders is now called "Adult Association." As I understand it, the basic idea behind Adult Association is that without sanctions like Boards of Review, Scoutmaster Conferences, POR Requirements, and of course the ultimate wild card, the right to judge a Scout's "Spirit," Boy Scouts would never talk to adults. Hand in glove with Adult Association is the toxic policy of "No Retesting." Like Boards of Review, the purpose of "No Retesting" is to stamp out the heart of Baden-Powell's Patrol System, the principle of "Current Proficiency." "No Retesting" is what gives artificial importance to this thread's wrestling over the seemingly subtle nuances of the official "Purposes of a Board of Review." Otherwise if a Boy Scout had cheated his way past, say, a first aid requirement, then we could at least formally catch it the next time the Red Cross recertifies his First Aid badge (every twelve months). No Retesting is the real meaning of "Once an Eagle, Always an Eagle:" A former Boy Scout's "values" (opinions) are more important than his ability to cook over a fire, or save a life. If a grown man wants to claim that he is still an Eagle, then he should be held to Baden-Powell's standard for King's Scout: 432 (2) He must be repassed in all his qualifying badges once between twelve and eighteen months from the date of his being awarded the badge... He must cease to wear the King's Scout badge should he fail in any of them. acco40 writes: Again, the actual ability to tie a knot is not the prime purpose of Scouting. We shouldn't forget that. Maybe we should forget that, Acco According to the Congressional Charter "the ability of boys to do things for themselves and others, [and] to train them in scoutcraft" are two of the three "Purposes" of Scouting. Our official "values" ("patriotism, courage, self-reliance, and kindred virtues") are only one of the three "prime purposes" of Scouting, and note that "self-reliance" is one of the three specified virtues. http://inquiry.net/adult/bsa_federal_charter.htm Yours at 300 feet, Kudu http://kudu.net

UCEagle72 writes: I live in an area where there are a significant number of Hispanics participating in Scouting, and from what I just saw at our Camporee, I think your generalities are misplaced. No, UC, that's not me on the video: http://inquiry.net/leadership/sitting_side_by_side_with_adults.htm

TNScoutTroop writes: There are plausible arguments for the position that the modified Wood Badge was a stealth hijacking of Scouting...when a minority within an organization hijacks an organization, they often KEEP the old names while gradually morphing existing programs into something new. Thanks to TNScoutTroop. I would be interested in further examples of that process. Wood Badge's "stealth hijacking of Scouting" is done by repurposing the terms "Scouting" to mean "Character and Leadership" (as it is defined in most attacks on Scoutcraft) and "Patrol" to mean a group of adults sitting around a table using the EDGE method (as it is now defined in the Patrol Method Presentation of SM-Specific Training). The new handbook even repurposes the term "Scoutcraft" to include EDGE! AvidSM writes: To me, the Wood Badge beads are a symbol of commitment to scouting. No, the Wood Badge Beads are NOT a symbol of commitment to "Scouting." Not "Scouting" as it was practiced by Baden-Powell, the man who invented Scouting and Wood Badge. Not "Scouting" as it was practiced by Bill Hillcourt, the man who brought the Patrol Method and Wood Badge to the United States. Not "Scouting" as it is defined by our Congressional Charter (as "Scoutcraft"), which Wood Badge is "committed" to replacing with indoor office manager theories called "Leadership Development." The great mystery of Scouting is why "modern" Wood Badge is so committed to replacing Baden-Powell's Scouting with "Leadership Development." In theory people who are good office managers could report that they use their theories to help Patrol Leaders "lead" their Patrols over physical distance (which was the definition of a "Real Patrol" before 1972). But most Wood Badge participants are intent only on brainstorming reasons why they can not let their teenage Patrol Leaders camp away from Cub Scout campsites. It seems obvious to me that these indoor office theories do not work outdoors, but I'm willing to listen to Patrol Outing success stories. AvidSM writes: He made scouting a priority over the other things in his life. No, "he" made Leadership Development a priority over "Scouting." AvidSM writes: You may dismiss Wood Badge for the 21st Century entirely, but it does not take away the fact that its participants care about scouting and its results. No, its participants do not care about "Scouting" as it is described by Baden-Powell, Bill Hillcourt, or as it is defined in our Congressional Charter. All Wood Badge participants care about explaining why Wood Badge must replace Scouting with office theory. They certainly do not care about "results" that can be measured by either moving a Patrol over physical distance without adult leadership (the test of "Real" Patrol Leadership) or our corporation's dismal membership numbers since Leadership Development replaced Scoutcraft. AvidSM writes: The people who take the modern course can wear their beads just as proudly as those in the past. Well, of course they "can." But if Baden-Powell had handed out silver whistles to signify the participants' mastery of lifeguard techniques, then "modern" Wood Badge would have replaced lifeguard techniques with office manager formulas. Den Leaders (who hate the water as much as they hate Scoutcraft) would wear their silver whistles "just as proudly as those in the past." AvidSM writes: Its not scoutcraft it is peoplecraft. My point exactly. "Peoplecraft" is just a fancy way to describe manipulating people from an office. AvidSM writes: This is a universal skill set, taught by a lot of other organizations and businesses. Yes, we agree on that! We saw how well this "universal skill set" worked in the world when we replaced what is real and measurable with bundled toxic assets. The most charitable thing that can be said about "Peoplecraft" is that not a single billionaire CEO master of this "universal skill set" on the planet recognized the danger of toxic assets. CEO-wannabe skills did nothing to recognize or prevent the world-wide devaluation of corporate values by tens of trillions of dollars. This is exactly what happened to the Boy Scouts of America when Wood Badge replaced Scoutcraft (that which is measurable) with the bundled toxic assets called Leadership Development: Two million Boy Scouts left! Like most corporations in 2008, our corporation lost 30% of its value by replacing Scoutcraft with Peoplecraft (if you measure the "value" of Scouting as its service to youth). AvidSM writes: Once the BSA decided to go with one course to fit all, it realized the woodcraft had to go. Yes, Scoutcraft "had to go." Just as in 1972 when we removed all camping requirements for Eagle and took position-specific training away from Patrol Leaders, Wood Badge declared war on our Congressional Charter. AvidSM writes: You may not agree with this decision, but it makes sense. This change opened up the course to more people - turning more ideas into reality - increasing the benefit to the youth. More people, huh? Increasing the benefit to the youth? 30% of our membership left when we took away the Wood Badge Scoutcraft program. AvidSM writes: You may say this is sacrificing quantity for quality: that the course was opened up to more people, but the changes watered down the curriculum and made it less effective. We certainly agree on that! Patrol Leaders can no longer lead, if you define "Leadership" by what is measurable: Adventure based on physical distance, which is the standard of Baden-Powell and William Hillcourt. AvidSM writes: You may want scouting to change back to the way it was and may have many good reasons and web sites that explain why. Thank you. AvidSM writes: But to vent your frustration by attacking the modern course as the root of all of scoutings evils is just utter nonsense. My point exactly: The only thing that Wood Badge has taught you is how to use Peoplecraft terms like "vent" and "utter nonsense." That is what Leadership Development has done since its invention in 1965: "Peoplecraft's" first target was William Hillcourt himself because he stood against cheating American children out of the Scoutcraft program guaranteed to them by an Act of Congress: Some members were very resistant to the idea of changing the focus of Wood Badge from training leaders in Scoutcraft to leadership skills. Among them was Bill Hillcourt, who had been the first United States Wood Badge Course Director in 1948. Although he had officially retired on August 1, 1965, his opinion was still sought after and respected. Larson later reported, "He fought us all the way... He had a vested interest in what had been and resisted every change. I just told him to settle down, everything was going to be all right." http://www.whitestag.org/history/history.html "Vested interest" is the Wood Badge Peoplecraft term for "If the Boy Scouts don't like indoor leadership skills, two million of them can leave." AvidSM writes: Scouting changed and Wood Badge changed with it, not the other way around. That in a nutshell is why Wood Badge is a cult. People ask me why I repeat myself so often. No matter how many times we discuss the timeline, cult members continue to chant the same lies. The evidence is overwhelming that Wood Badge attacked both Scoutcraft and Hillcourt within months of Hillcourt's retirement in 1965. Leadership Development's brutal assault on Scoutcraft took place in 1972: In general, Patrol Leader training should concentrate on leadership skills rather than on Scoutcraft Skills. The Patrol will not rise and fall on the Patrol Leader's ability to cook, follow a map, or do first aid, but it very definitely depends on his leadership skill. http://inquiry.net/leadership/index.htm Compare that 1972 attack on Scoutcraft with our 2010 goal to recruit 100,000 Hispanics who hate Scoutcraft: Camping is not necessarily a big thing with them, as a matter of fact in some cases it is not big at all. So we need to kind of think about, is it more important that we reach that child with the kind of things we have for children and we have for families in CHARACTER development AND LEADERSHIP skill growth and all of those things? Or is it more important that we get them in a tent next week? And so I think the answer to that is fairly obvious to us....when we say 'we want to take your twelve-year-old son but you can't come' we're making a mistake there. We have to engage an entire family... For example one of our pilot programs over the last recent years has been Scouting and soccer... http://inquiry.net/leadership/sitting_side_by_side_with_adults.htm Hispanics are the new holy grail of Wood Badge, because to white millionaires they represent the goal announced in 1972: To move Scouting away from Scoutcraft. The 2010 "Peoplecraft" dream is of twelve-year-old Boy Scouts who have not slept in tent even two (2) years into the program: TWO YEARS! AvidSM writes: Committed leaders not only talk about how to make things better, they turn their ideas into action. The purpose of the modern Wood Badge course is to turn ideas into reality for the benefit of the youth in the program. He must effectively communicate, resolve conflict, make people comfortable with change, form teams, etc. Yes, we can all agree on that. If the Chief Scout Executive succeeds in recruiting per year 100,000 Hispanics who hate camping, then in a few years "the purpose of modern Wood Badge" will be to "turn their ideas into action...into reality -- for the benefit of the youth" whom Wood Badge protects from sleeping in tents. I'm sure that you, AvidSM, are a man of your word: You will be out there "making people comfortable with change" by teaching Spanish, and LITERALLY "forming teams:" Soccer teams. AvidSM writes: We all can agree that you dont need a lot of outdoor skills to take the course now. Yes, we all can agree on that as well! So let us search for common ground, a common understanding that will make us all as weepy as a Wolf Den Leader singing "Back to Gilwell:" Be it resolved that Wood Badge gives deep meaning and purpose to the indoor office lives of adults rather than the outdoor lives of Boy Scouts! Yours at 300 feet, Kudu http://kudu.net

If not for the artificial trout stream running through its lobby, the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on Fifth Avenue might have seemed an improbable setting in which to launch an institution dedicated to improving boys in the great outdoors...One contemporary scribe noted that "if you stopped long enough there everybody in the world that is worth knowing would eventually happen along...the real men of affairs who hold court...and issue to minions orders that have much bearing upon the world." So opens The Scouting Party: Pioneering and Preservation, Progressivism and Preparedness in the Making of the Boy Scouts of America. Whatever you do, do not skip that dramatic opening scene, perhaps the most cinematographic "Introduction" I have ever read. It crackles with electricity as on September 23, 1910, the camera pans along the trout stream in the lobby, then into Astor Gallery ballroom itself drawn by "the clink of porcelain, the clash of silverware, and the murmur of conversation, heads craned for a look at Baden-Powell," the British Lt. General "renowned as the Hero of Mafeking for his courage and ingenuity leading an out-manned and outgunned garrison in the Boer War siege of the British colonial outpost." To foreshadow the upcoming dramatic events, the lens pauses to focus the reader's attention for a while on each of the characters who will play critical parts later in the movie, including the story's villain William Randolph Hearst. Like Peter Jackson's "The Fellowship of the Ring," in which the narrative then shifts from the dramatic but information-packed "Prologue" to a closeup of Bilbo Baggins writing his book, the second scene of The Scouting Party moves from the dramatic overview of the world-forces that shape its narrative, and settles into the personal worlds of the characters themselves. First up is "Black Wolf." The Scouting Party goes further than Tim Jeal in examining Ernest Thompson Seton's contribution to Baden-Powell's creation of Boy Scouts. Jeal researches a considerable number of elements lifted by Baden-Powell from the copy of The Birch-bark Roll of the Woodcraft Indians Seton had mailed to him. Jeal's ultimate verdict, however, is that Seton should man up and walk it off: In his heart Seton must have known that with Scouting for Boys Baden-Powell created a world entirely different from that of the Woodcraft Indians...The world of the Red Indian was a restricted place in comparison with the vast region over which the Boy Scout's imagination was invited to wander. Seton's most serious accusations should not be taken seriously... (Tim Jeal, The Boy-Man, page 379). The Scouting Party takes a different tack. It examines more closely the repercussions that "Seton's most serious accusations" would have on American Scouting, examining in detail all these reverberations from 1910 until the book closes with Seton's death in 1946. Jump to the next scene in the story: "Sons of Daniel Boone." This is where the book sets off on a different course than previous research: A delightful study of the interaction between Beard, Seton, Baden-Powell, and West. Tim Jeal devotes only a half-sentence to Daniel Beard: Daniel Carter Beard's 'Sons of Daniel Boon' had no real impact outside the field of gadgets and games, (Jeal, page 583). Certainly Jeal's dismissal of Beard's influence on Scouting outside of the United States has merit. Beard's handbook for the Sons of Daniel Boone is embarrassing in its attempts to link these "gadgets and games" to the "pioneers" which serve as the role models for his organizations. Take Kit Carson, for example: Now for the pushmobile; and since we are living in the age of flying-machines, telephones, electric railroads, subways, and all sorts of wonderful things, even pioneers must use these modern contrivances once in a while and I myself have seen an automobile full of painted and feather-decked Natives, so why not a Kit Carson Pushmobile? http://inquiry.net/outdoor/spring/pushmobile.htm If David Scott still reads the Scouting History threads at Scouter.Com, I would ask him if he or Brendan Murphy have ever found a model of principles for Beard's youth organizations. For instance, most Americans are familiar with the Leadership Development version of William Hillcourt's "Aims and Methods of Scouting." But these were preceded by many other outlines including Seton's "Nine Important Principles of Woodcraft," Baden-Powell's "National Inefficiencies --> Scout Training as a Remedy" model (which introduces the two mega-methods Character and Heath), and the BSA's own first effort: "Six Principles of Boy-Work." See: http://inquiry.net/adult/methods/index.htm So why did I title my review "Volume One"? Because it is at this point in the story, "The Hero of Mafeking," where (when the book is made into a movie), viewers will begin to examine the plot carefully with their TIVOs to gather clues of what might be revealed in Volume Two: The Prequel Perhaps the most curious passage in The Scouting Party appears on page 98: When Boyce appeared on Capitol Hill the following Tuesday, he had with him not only Robinson of the YMCA, but Ernest Seton and two representatives of the English Scouting movement...Charles Heald, the organization's national secretary, and E.B. Wakefield, an English YMCA official involved in the Scouts...Their presence resolved a major problem for Robinson. Up to that point, all of his information about Scouting had come from printed material. The two Britons could respond to a deluge of questions. In other words, the only thing that Boyce and Robinson knew about Scouting was that they wanted Congress to grant them a monopoly on it If I read the passage correctly, it introduces E.B. Wakefield as a "representative of the English Scouting movement." The authors do not specify Baden-Powell's Boy Scout Association, however, but refer only to the English YMCA. Again in the account of the Silver Bay encampment, Seton's program is contrasted with that of E.B. Wakefield a "Baden-Powell emissary:" At Silver Bay, groups of six boys, each led by an adult, raised shelters, cooked meals, and met each evening around campfires hosted by Seton. There on behalf of the English Scouting organization was E.B. Wakefield, one of the two Baden-Powell emissaries who had arrived that May. But in fact he was there to "curb the heresies of 'the red Tory'," as Seton's British colleagues had by then labeled him. Camper William Edel of Baltimore recalled the not-so-subtle competition between the Seton and Baden-Powell systems. Campers continually discussed the merits of the two approaches... But the BSA organizers had made up their minds. On September 5, days after the Silver Bay experiment concluded, the BSA Executive Committee gathered to assess the camp and decide the direction the organization would take. It was resoled to comprehensively adopt the Baden-Powell approach (pages 111-112). But what exactly is this "Baden-Powell approach"? Missing from "Volume One" is any description of Baden-Powell's program: The Patrol System. In the Patrol System the Patrol Leaders are in charge. There are no BSA inventions such as Scoutmaster Conferences, Boards of Review, Position of Responsibility requirements, or "Scout Spirit" requirements (the wild card by which an adult can deny a Scout his badge simply because he does not like the Scout's attitude). Contrast those anti-boy-run elements with Baden-Powell's actual Patrol System, in which the adults must attend the Patrol Leaders' Court of Honor (PLC) to find out from the Patrol Leaders which Scouts now hold which badges. See: http://inquiry.net/patrol/court_honor/coh_session.htm Also missing from "Volume One" is any description of what the book calls the BSA's "comprehensive adoption of the Baden-Powell approach," AKA "The Six Principles of Boy-Work." This term "Boy-Work" smacks of YMCA leadership theory: The Patrol Leader and the Scout Master Care should be taken by the Scout Master that the patrol leaders do not have too great authority in the supervision of their patrols. The success of the troop affairs and supervision of patrol progress is, in the last analysis, the responsibility of the Scout Master and not that of the patrol leader. There is also a danger, in magnifying the patrol leader in this way, of inordinately swelling the ordinary boy's head. The activities of the patrol should not be left to the judgment of any patrol leader, and if the Scout Master wants to delegate the work of the patrol and troop, the whole group should reach a decision in regard to the plan [emphasis added]. http://inquiry.net/adult/methods/1st/index.htm What I most look forward to in "Volume Two" is the missing half of James West's story. In Volume One, West is cast in a primarily reactive role: Mostly balancing the sensitive egos of Beard and Seton against the practical concerns of building a national organization. Because "Volume One" does not even mention the absolute centrality of the Patrol System to what it refers to as the "Baden-Powell approach," the book entirely overlooks perhaps the most significant development in the early history of the BSA: James West's introduction on September 21st, 1923 of the "Patrol Method," to which he referred as a "radical change in the management of troops." I have always admired this side of James West, who not only introduced the Patrol Method but also hired William "Green Bar Bill" Hillcourt to implement it, and backed him with the full force of the new office of "Chief Scout Executive." Contrast that with all of the subsequent Chief Scout Executives who abuse the power of that office to destroy Hillcourt's Wood Badge and Patrol Method, and replace it with modern office CEO-wannabe theory. I came away from The Scouting Party with a much deeper understanding of the dynamics of these early years. I had always sided with Beard and Seton as the pro-Scoutcraft forces in opposition to the YMCA definition of Scouting as building "character" (which our current Chief Scout Executive now insists can be done just as effectively with soccer). However, the book documents (if only between the lines) that it was Beard and Seton's life-long mission to define American Scouting as anything but the Patrol System. My favorite passage appears on page 221: Beard's account gave to understand that Scouting arose directly from his efforts...He liberally reconstructed his conversations with Recreation publisher William Annis about starting a boys organization. "Annis, I think I have a great idea," Beard recalled telling him. "We will form a Society of Boy Scouts and identify it with the greatest of Scouts by calling the boys, 'The Sons of Daniel Boone'." Annis was immediately enthusiastic. "He cried, 'Mr. Beard, we'll sweep the country with it.' He little knew that we were going to sweep the world. I highly recommend The Scouting Party, and I eagerly look forward to the Prequel Yours at 300 feet, Kudu http://kudu.net