The Scoutmaster, The Efficient Cause

[WHEELER 10]

Are civilians automatic and inbred as soldiers?  Does soldiering come natural?  If it is natural why the necessity of boot camps?

 

At military boot camps, do civilians step on the parade deck and train themselves to be soldiers?  Do civilians train other civilians to be soldiers? 

 

In order for a civilian to be turned into a sailor or a soldier requires training.  But again, turning back to Aristotles four causes, in order to reach the TELOS one needs an efficient cause.  The efficient cause in military boot camps are the Drill Instructors. (Drill Sergeants for the Army.)

 

The material cause cannot be its own efficient cause.  The patient needs a doctor.  The criminal needs a lawyer.  The civilian needs an efficient cause to attain the telos which is being a soldier.  Drill instructors are the efficient cause.  Drill instructors instill, inspire, lead, discipline, teach, guide, civilians into soldiers.  All change requires an efficient cause.

 

In the story of Achilles, his father Peleus assigns his vassal to train Achilles into manhood.  Achilles is the material cause and his vassal is the efficient cause.

 

Education, as conceived in Greek culture, is much like what a stone mason or a potter does.  They mould stone and clay into a particular forms.  What does a Drill Instructor do?  He MOULDS civilians into soldiers.  What did Peleuss vassal do?  He MOULDED Achilles into a leader and a warrior.

 

Being a man is not natural.  I know plenty of 30 year old boys, 40 year old boys, and 50 year old boys.  They never grow up.  What boy naturally comes to the knowledge of virtue?  None.  What boy has full knowledge?  None.  What boy has wisdom? None.  What boy, then, is a Man?  If he is a boy, he certainly isnt a man otherwise there wouldnt be anything called a boy.  What boy has GOOD judgement of what is right or wrong?  What boy can direct his own path to manhood?

 

For the passage from boyhood to manhood, requires an efficient cause.  There are some who say there shouldnt be any Man leaders in the Boy Scouts it should be all youth ran.  A boy cannot be his own efficient cause. 

 

For wisdom, it is necessary to be able to take counsel, to JUDGE the goods and evils and all the things in life that are desirable and to be avoided, to use all the available goods finely,to observe due occasionsto have expert knowledge of all things that are useful.  Memory and experience and acuteness are each of them either a consequence or a concomitant of wisdom  (1)

 

What boy has wisdom?  What boy has experience?  A boy cannot be his own efficient cause.  The Scoutmaster and other Men leaders are necessary for this to happen.

 

The Scoutmaster there is to point the way.  He is to have the Golden Mean between the extremes.  As Lord Baden-Powell said, he is not the Commanding Officer nor is he non-existent.  No boy knows what direction he needs to go in.  The boys do not see everything.  The Scoutmaster is to make sure that the boys accomplish activities and learn several things necessary for manhood.   What boy knows the steps to take?  None.

 

For instance, the virtues require constant habit forming excercises.  Obedience is a virtue.  With no obedience, there is no manhood.  Boys are naturally rebellious.  How can something that is naturally rebellious be naturally obedient?

 

The Scoutmaster is the efficient cause.  Men leaders are necessary for the Boy Scouts in the planning of activities and the guidance from boyhood to manhood.

 

APPENDIX

Socialist Paedogogy

 

Socialist paedogogy is what Ayn Rand pointed out in her essay on Comprachicos.  It is this system where children are given equal standing to the teacher and that opinions are glorified.  That children can teach themselves and that teachers are only there to guide them along.  Yes, Johhny.  Johnny: I invented the square circle.  Oh, that is very good Johnny.

 

 

We can now know with some trepidation that Lord Baden-Powell had somewhere been influenced by socialism.  He was a promoter of the League of Nations.  He was an Idealist as opposed to being a realist.  Realists being Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, Cicero, the Founding Fathers of America.  As the book Elements of Socialism describes Every Socialist is of necessity an idealist. (pg 201)

 

If he was a promoter of the League of Nations, was he also compromised in his paedogogy?

 

This is an area for further consideration and study because Socialist paedogogy is antithetical to Male paedogogy.

 

Socialist paedogogy is one of Unisexism and Socialist sociology is one of syncretism.  Socialist paedogogy is about fulfilling their philosophy and sociology.  Socialist paedogogy is about fulfilling their needs of their telos of one word government.

 

On the other hand Male paedogogy serves the cause of liberty and of God.

 

 

 

 

 

(1) On Virtues and Vices, Aristotle, Loeb Classical Library, Vol 285, pg 493.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[OldGreyEagle 5]

Before this thread gets out of hand, I thought it might be interesting what B-P complete thoughts on what a scoutmaster should be were now that we have Wheeler's take on it:

 

http://www.pinetreeweb.com/aidstosm-2.htm

 

AS A PRELIMINARY word of comfort to intending Scout masters, I should like to contradict the usual misconception that, to be a successful Scoutmaster, a man must be an Admirable Crichton - a know-all. Not a bit of it.

 

He has simply to be a boy-man, that is:-

 

He must have the boy spirit in him; and must be able to place himself on a right plane with his boys as a first step.

He must realise the needs, outlooks and desires of the different ages of boy life.

He must deal with the individual boy rather than with the mass.

He then needs to promote a corporate spirit among his individuals to gain the best results.

With regard to the first point, the Scoutmaster has to be neither schoolmaster nor commanding officer, nor pastor, nor instructor. All that is needed is the capacity to enjoy the out-of-doors, to enter into the boys' ambitions, and to find other men who will give them instruction in the desired directions, whether it be signalling or drawing, nature study or pioneering.

 

He has got to put himself on the level of the older brother, that is, to see things from the boy's point of view, and to lead and guide and give enthusiasm in the right direction. Like the true older brother he has to realise the traditions of the family and see that they are preserved, even if considerable firmness is required. That is all. The Movement is a jolly fraternity, all the jollier because in the game of Scouting you are doing a big thing for others, you are combating the breeding of selfishness. Regarding the second point, the various handbooks cover the successive phases of adolescent life.

 

Thirdly, the business of the Scoutmaster-and a very interesting one it is-is to draw out each boy and find out what is in him, and then to catch hold of the good and develop it to the exclusion of the bad. There is five per cent of good even in the worst character. The sport is to find it, and then to develop it on to an 80 or 90 per cent basis. This is education instead of instruction of the young mind.

 

Fourth. In the Scout training the Patrol or gang system gives the corporate expression of the individual training, which brings into practice all that the boy has been taught.

 

The Patrol System has also a great character-training value if it is used aright. It leads each boy to see that he has some individual responsibility for the good of his Patrol. It leads each Patrol to see that it has definite responsibility for the good of the Troop. Through it the Scoutmaster is able to pass on not only his instruction but his ideas as to the moral outlook of his Scouts. Through it the Scouts themselves gradually learn that they have considerable say in what their Troop does. It is the Patrol System that makes the Troop, and all Scouting for that matter, a real co-operative effort.

 

BTW, Wheeler posted

 

"...Obedience is a virtue. With no obedience, there is no manhood...."

 

So, Sam Adams, the Sons of Liberty, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington et al and all others those who did not obey their King could not be called men, could they ?

 

 

(This message has been edited by OldGreyEagle)

[firstpusk 10]

Nice post OGE, bumps. Thanks so much for the dose of BP. He is the perfect medicine for diseased WHEELER thread.

 

BP was a genius who recognized what needed to be done to reach out to boys and develop them into fine young men. I have seen this process work wonders for all kinds of boys. There is nothing as gratifying as observing the program work miracles with young men in our band of brothers.

 

 

[SR540Beaver 116]

OGE,

 

But, but, but.......that has nothing to do with classical literature or thought! What does B-P have to do with understanding the purpose of Scouting? You obviously don't understand Scouting. Stick to the topic.

[WHEELER 10]

Androgyny is effeminacy. Socialism seeks in its equality, syncretism of the sexes. Socialist modality is androgyny.

 

What the Boy Scouts really do is Androgynize with the syncretism of mixing the genders.

 

I read the post the night before I wrote this post also OldGrey Eagle. You run a venturing post with women in it. You have your agenda and you are protecting your turf. But what you really don't have is "the science of male paedogogy" because that interferes with your socialist ideology.

 

Again, Lord Baden-Powell promoted the League of Nations which is the forerunner of the United Nations. The League of Nations was not successful the first time around so we have a another major world war to force everybody to sign on to the United Nations.

 

If he promoted the League of Nations, he was also influenced with socialistic teaching on other things

 

EVERYTHING IS A SCIENCE OGE. Your feminist ideology and its contradiction of science falls flat on its face.

 

And you have gladly talked of World Citizenship. How can you have duty to Country when you are promoting the United Nations and world Citizenship? You're illogical.(This message has been edited by WHEELER)

[WHEELER 10]

OGE axiom is the "Blind lead the Blind".

 

If making stupid hay is a science, the post on "Nature's Lesson" how much more important is the science of masculinity?

 

The second principle of leadership is "Know your Job". You don't have to be a know it all but one does have to know the basics of what one does or stay the heck out or you get somebody killed.

[firstpusk 10]

Congratulations OGE, my five-star friend. WHEELER, the perfect reverse barometer, has called you illogical. Yet another badge of honor for you.

 

BTW WHEELER, we very rarely kill off scouts. The ongoing training SMs receive is pretty good. We network on a regular basis to keep from re-inventing the wheel. You, on the other hand, are re-inventing the flat tire.

[OldGreyEagle 5]

Wheeler posts

 

"...You run a venturing post with women in it...."

 

Those knowledgeable in the Scouting program know there are two huge holes in this statement. Let me emphatically state that indeed I do not run a venturing post with women. I leave it up to the Forum to explain how I may truthfully make that statement.

 

Wheeler, you seem to favor Socrates, and he was a great mind. He once said

 

I am not an Athenian or a Greek - I am a citizen of the world.

 

So, apparently Socrates would have supported the UN, leastwise he favored world citizenship. If so that makes Socrates a Socialist and all things he said are tainted by his socialistic tendencies which then renders most of your posts which use Socratic quotes as major support null and void.

 

[NJCubScouter 1389]

This is so funny. I'm guessing this is probably the first time in his life that OGE has been called a "socialist."

[noskad 10]

Who is this wheeler dude, anyway? It seems like no matter what the original topic of a thread was, it is changed to a bizarre argument over "socialist pedagogy" and feminism and "androgenizing boys." LOL Yes, I know this thread was started by wheeler, but...I don't think it really matters. This wheeler is obviously (as others have pointed out) someone who knows nill about Scouting, its motives, its methods, and least of all, its values. Those of us who actually were or are Scouts and Scouters know better than that. My advice: give it up, wheeler, because you'll never convert anyone here. Your posts serve only as minor comic relief. LOL

[firstpusk 10]

"Who is this wheeler dude, anyway?"

 

He starred as the guy under the bridge in "Three Billy Goats Gruff"

[Laurie 10]

noskad -- This is the first time I've seen you post. Welcome to the forums!

[WHEELER 10]

OGE, I do believe another philosopher said that. I will do my research. I also am asuming that he used the word "Kosmos" which means the "Universe" a much larger entity. And if he said that, he meant the "world of Truth". He was put to death by the demos. He took a stand against all evil. He would not participate in any evil. Promoting and participating in the UN is morally wrong and patriotically wrong. Socrates would do no evil.

[OldGreyEagle 5]

http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/socrates_greek_philosopher.html

 

http://pub18.ezboard.com/fbalkanshellenicforum.showMessage?topicID=953.topic

 

http://www.robertmuller.org/volume/ideas0501.html

 

all the above web pages ascribe the quote to Socrates. And as to what Socrates said, and what he meant, and how it was translated you will have to forgive me if I doubt your Greek translative skills given the whole Golden/Christ thing during which you admitted you were wrong. How do I know you are not wrong again?

[WHEELER 10]

The saying "Know yourself" is a Delphic saying inscribed upon the front of the temple. It is NOT a Socratic saying as the website says.