Camp Game or Hazing?

[Lynda J]

There isn't a boy in my troop that wouldn't want to end up with Suzzie. In fact most of them woul hide Suzzie just to get to do something silly.

If we call every game that has someone lose "hazing" then we will stop all games. And that would be sad. In life there are winners and losers. I agree when everyone knows what the rules of the game are it is a game. The problem is when part of the people don't know the rules and can get hurt because of it.

If a scout loses something and it is returned to him and he is ask to do the Squirel Dance is that hazing. All our boys know what happens if you lose something. They don't have a problem with it. I personally thing that Suzzie is fun. It gets boys to meet other boys. It open up lines of communications.

[Eamonn]

What happens when a Scout refuses to sing the song or do the dance?

The Scouts playing the game can look at the game and the rules and decide if they want to join in or not. This is a game.

If you want your Scout Handbook back you have to act like a twit because leaving it was a twitish thing to do!! Is hazing.

Eamonn

[Hunt]

Here's a bit more thought on this...the BSA prohibition against hazing is a rule, and there's been quite a bit of discussion about how to interpret this rule, to decide what's really hazing and what's just "fun" (even though it might embarass someone.)

 

But "A Scout is Kind" isn't a rule--it's a law. It's a standard of behavior that makes it obvious that an older scout doesn't send a new scout off to look for a left-handed smoke-shifter. In no way can this be considered a "kind" thing to do. Ditto for forcing a person to sing or dance or act silly to retrieve a lost item or in any other situation in which the person would be embarassed. These things may not be hazing, and thus they may not be improper at a regular summer camp, but the Scout Law calls us to a higher standard than that.

[Lynda J]

I guess maybe it is getting to know your kids. I have given books and such back without the song.

Had a kid at day camp that left his hat on the steps of the lodge. I knew he would be so embarrassed if he had to stand in front of the group. I caught him before camp the next day and ask him if he was missing something and gave it back to him. I have also had kids that would will lost things just to get to "perform". It just depends on the kids.

[Eamonn]

When a Scout joins in a game, he can without knowing it come away with all sorts of "Good Stuff" He might come away with learning about teamwork, planning,sportsmanship. In fact a lot of what we adults spend six days learning at Wood Badge can be taken from playing games. The take home message is a good one.

A Scout leaves his Scout Handbook, he can decide to sing the song or do the dance and make a fool of himself. I fail to see anything good coming from this. Unless you want to say making a fool of yourself is good.

Scouting provides a lot of opportunities for Scouts to get up and be showmen, this is different than a Lad hamming it up in order to have his Handbook returned.

It is not about knowing the Scouts, it is about doing the right thing, because it's the thing to do.

Eamonn.

[KoreaScouter]

I was okay with this "suzzie" thing up until the description of entire Troops being given the Hester Prynne treatment, and we make boys walk the plank. What almost certainly started out as a neat idea to encourage boys from other units to get to know each other gets turned inside out by a knucklehead with a mean streak.

 

We've had this discussion before. In a nutshell, if we're supposed to be getting them ready for adulthood, why use techniques, such as forced singing for lost or misplaced items, that are not part of any organization I've belonged to in my adult life? Tell me, are there any situations where you work in which the corporate intent of a policy is to single people out for embarrassment? I didn't think so.

 

In my unit, any lost or misplaced item that is found, is returned to it's owner as soon as possible, and at our next assembly, we make a fuss over the person who found and returned it, not the person who lost/misplaced it. Call me crazy, but for us, that seems to reinforce the Scout Oath and Law better than an institutionalized game of "gotcha!"...

 

KS