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What is Boy Scouting?
Purpose of the BSA
The Boy Scouts of America was incorporated to provide a program for
community organizations that offers effective character, citizenship, and
personal fitness training for youth.
Specifically, the BSA endeavors to develop American citizens who are
physically, mentally, and emotionally fit; have a high degree of
self-reliance as evidenced in such qualities as initiative, courage, and
resourcefulness; have personal values based on religious concepts; have
the desire and skills to help others; understand the principles of the
American social, economic, and governmental systems; are knowledgeable
about and take pride in their American heritage and understand our
nation's role in the world; have a keen respect for the basic rights of
all people; and are prepared to participate in and give leadership to
American society.
Boy Scout Program Membership
Boy Scouting, one of the traditional membership divisions of the BSA,
is available to boys who have earned the Arrow of Light Award or have
completed the fifth grade, or who are 11 through 17 years old . The
program achieves the BSA's objectives of developing character,
citizenship, and personal fitness qualities among youth by focusing on a
vigorous program of outdoor activities.
Volunteer Scouters
Thousands of volunteer leaders, both men and women, are involved in the
Boy Scouting program. They serve in a variety of jobs—everything from unit
leaders to chairmen of troop committees, committee members, merit badge
counselors, and chartered organization representatives.
Like other phases of the program, Boy Scouting is made available to
community organizations having similar interests and goals. Chartered
organizations include professional organizations; governmental bodies; and
religious, educational, civic, fraternal, business, labor, and citizens'
groups. Each organization appoints one of its members as the chartered
organization representative. The organization is responsible for
leadership, the meeting place, and support for troop activities.
Who Pays for It?
Several groups are responsible for supporting Boy Scouting: the boy and
his parents, the troop, the chartered organization, and the community.
Boys are encouraged to earn money whenever possible to pay their own
expenses, and they also contribute dues to their troop treasuries to pay
for budgeted items. Troops obtain additional income by working on approved
money-earning projects. The community, including parents, supports
Scouting through the United Way, Friends of Scouting campaigns, bequests,
and special contributions to the BSA local council. This income provides
leadership training, outdoor programs, council service centers and other
facilities, and professional service for units.
Aims and Methods of the Scouting Program
The Scouting program has three specific objectives, commonly referred
to as the "Aims of Scouting." They are character development, citizenship
training, and personal fitness.
The methods by which the aims are achieved are listed below in random
order to emphasize the equal importance of each.
- Ideals
- The ideals of Boy Scouting are spelled out in the
Scout Oath,
the Scout Law, the Scout motto, and the Scout slogan. The Boy Scout
measures himself against these ideals and continually tries to improve.
The goals are high, and as he reaches for them, he has some control over
what and who he becomes.
- Patrols
- The patrol method gives Boy Scouts an experience in group living and
participating citizenship. It places responsibility on young shoulders
and teaches boys how to accept it. The patrol method allows Scouts to
interact in small groups where members can easily relate to each other.
These small groups determine troop activities through elected
representatives.
- Outdoor Programs
- Boy Scouting is designed to take place outdoors. It is in the
outdoor setting that Scouts share responsibilities and learn to live
with one another. In the outdoors the skills and activities practiced at
troop meetings come alive with purpose. Being close to nature helps Boy
Scouts gain an appreciation for the beauty of the world around us. The
outdoors is the laboratory in which Boy Scouts learn ecology and
practice conservation of nature's resources.
- Advancement
- Boy Scouting provides a series of surmountable obstacles and steps
in overcoming them through the advancement method. The Boy Scout plans
his advancement and progresses at his own pace as he meets each
challenge. The Boy Scout is rewarded for each achievement, which helps
him gain self-confidence. The steps in the advancement system help a Boy
Scout grow in self-reliance and in the ability to help others.
- Associations With Adults
- Boys learn a great deal by watching how adults conduct themselves.
Scout leaders can be positive role models for the members of the troop.
In many cases a Scoutmaster who is willing to listen to boys, encourage
them, and take a sincere interest in them can make a profound difference
in their lives.
- Personal Growth
- As Boy Scouts plan their activities and progress toward their goals,
they experience personal growth. The Good Turn concept is a major part
of the personal growth method of Boy Scouting. Boys grow as they
participate in community service projects and do Good Turns for others.
Probably no device is as successful in developing a basis for personal
growth as the daily Good Turn. The religious emblems program also is a
large part of the personal growth method. Frequent personal conferences
with his Scoutmaster help each Boy Scout to determine his growth toward
Scouting's aims.
- Leadership Development
- The Boy Scout program encourages boys to learn and practice
leadership skills. Every Boy Scout has the opportunity to participate in
both shared and total leadership situations. Understanding the concepts
of leadership helps a boy accept the leadership role of others and
guides him toward the citizenship aim of Scouting.
- Uniform
- The uniform makes the Boy Scout troop visible as a force for good
and creates a positive youth image in the community. Boy Scouting is an
action program, and wearing the uniform is an action that shows each Boy
Scout's commitment to the aims and purposes of Scouting. The uniform
gives the Boy Scout identity in a world brotherhood of youth who believe
in the same ideals. The uniform is practical attire for Boy Scout
activities and provides a way for Boy Scouts to wear the badges that
show what they have accomplished.
Outdoor Activities
Local councils operate and maintain Scout camps. The National Council
operates high-adventure areas at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico, the
Northern Tier National High Adventure Program in Minnesota and Canada, and
the Florida National High Adventure Sea Base in the Florida Keys . About
70 councils also operate high-adventure programs.
The BSA conducts a national Scout jamboree every four years and
participates in world Scout jamborees (also held at four-year intervals).
Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia, was the site of the 2001 National Scout
Jamboree.
The Beginning of Scouting
Scouting, as known to millions of youth and adults, evolved during the
early 1900s through the efforts of several men dedicated to bettering
youth. These pioneers of the program conceived outdoor activities that
developed skills in young boys and gave them a sense of enjoyment,
fellowship, and a code of conduct for everyday living.
In this country and abroad at the turn of the century, it was thought
that children needed certain kinds of education that the schools couldn't
or didn't provide. This led to the formation of a variety of youth groups,
many with the word "Scout" in their names. For example, Ernest Thompson
Seton, an American naturalist, artist, writer, and lecturer, originated a
group called the Woodcraft Indians and in 1902 wrote a guidebook for boys
in his organization called the Birch Bark Roll. Meanwhile in
Britain, Robert Baden-Powell, after returning to his country a hero
following military service in Africa, found boys reading the manual he had
written for his regiment on stalking and survival in the wild. Gathering
ideas from Seton, America 's Daniel Carter Beard, and other Scoutcraft
experts, Baden-Powell rewrote his manual as a nonmilitary skill book,
which he titled Scouting for Boys. The book rapidly gained a wide
readership in England and soon became popular in the United States . In
1907, when Baden-Powell held the first campout for Scouts on Brownsea
Island off the coast of England, troops were spontaneously springing up in
America .
William D. Boyce, a Chicago publisher, incorporated the Boy Scouts of
America in 1910 after meeting with Baden-Powell. (Boyce was inspired to
meet with the British founder by an unknown Scout who led him out of a
dense London fog and refused to take a tip for doing a Good Turn.)
Immediately after its incorporation, the BSA was assisted by officers of
the YMCA in organizing a task force to help community organizations start
and maintain a high-quality Scouting program. Those efforts climaxed in
the organization of the nation's first Scout camp at Lake George, New
York, directed by Ernest Thompson Seton. Beard, who had established
another youth group, the Sons of Daniel Boone (which he later merged with
the BSA), provided assistance. Also on hand for this historic event was
James E. West, a lawyer and an advocate of children's rights, who later
would become the first professional Chief Scout Executive of the Boy
Scouts of America. Seton became the first volunteer national Chief Scout,
and Beard, the first national Scout Commissioner.
Publications
The BSA publishes the Boy Scout Handbook (more than 37 million
copies of which have been printed); the Patrol Leader Handbook,
which offers information relevant to boy leadership; the Scoutmaster
Handbook; more than 100 merit badge pamphlets dealing with hobbies,
vocations, and advanced Scoutcraft; and program features and various kinds
of training, administrative, and organizational manuals for adult
volunteer leaders and Boy Scouts. In addition, the BSA publishes Boys'
Life magazine, the national magazine for all boys (magazine
circulation is more than 1.3 million) and Scouting magazine for
volunteers, which has a circulation of 900,000.
Conservation
Conservation activities supplement the program of
Boy Scout advancement, summer camp, and outdoor activities and teaches
young people to better understand their interdependence with the
environment. |
