Does Scouting "build character"?

[clemlaw]

Novice_Cubmaster wrote:

 

"think a lot of Scouters overrate Scouting in terms of turning boys into good men".

 

Having been gone from Scouting for about 30 years, I've been giving this a lot of thought recently, wondering what exactly the point of scouting was. Don't get me wrong, there is definitely a point--I'm just trying to figure out how to articulate it.

 

I became an Eagle in 1978, drifted away from Scouting when I started college, and have only recently re-emerged on the scene as a Tiger Den Leader. While a lot of things have changed, much of it is remarkably the same. As I look back, I don't really think that Scouting made me any more moral than I am otherwise. That's not to say that I'm immoral. It's just that I can't really point to anything in Scouting that made me that way. Yes, I'm trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, etc. But I probably would have been most of those things anyway.

 

But for me, anyway, what it really did was force me to Be Prepared. I have a confession to make--I don't really like camping! Well, no, that's not exactly true. I do enjoy camping. Our family goes camping, although the experience is slightly (but only slightly) more luxurious than the kind of camping I did in Boy Scouts. So I do like camping. But there's one thing about camping that I like most of all: Getting home!

 

Yes, I like camping, but I also like other things, like hot and cold running water, electric lights, a roof over my head, a soft warm bed, etc. I like those things very much.

 

Now, if you asked most people, they would also say that they like those things. But if you press them a little bit more, you'll realize that most people don't merely _like_ those things. Most people think they _need_ those things. In fact, most people need those things so much, that they cease liking them.

 

All of us old scouts realize that all of those things are mere luxuries. And since we realize that they are just luxuries, we probably like them more. And we're prepared on those occasions when they're taken away. I was shocked the first time somebody told me that they checked into a hotel because the power was out. But amazingly, there are a lot of people out there who think that way.

 

Now, if the power goes out on me, I might grumble a little bit because I can't find the flashlight, or I forgot to put batteries in it. So maybe I'm not always Prepared in the physical sense. But I also realize that it's just darkness--just a luxury that's been taken away from me for a little while. So I just deal with the darkness, rather than grab the Visa card and head down to the Holiday Inn, and ask them to supply me with the necessity of electric lights. So even those times when I'm not physically prepared, I'm at least emotionally prepared for a lot of situations where other people are not.

 

The astute reader will notice that I went through Scouting at the time when it was theoretically possible to go all the way to Eagle without spending a single night camping. I believe that Camping Merit Badge was removed from the required list during that time. It was also possible to go all the way through scouting without knowing how to swim. When I started, I think that both Swimming and Lifesaving Merit Badge were also required, but alternate badges (Sports, IIRC) were allowed.

 

Fortunately, in my troop, nobody really paid attention to this little oddity. I guess if someone really wanted to get out of Swimming Merit Badge, they could have. But nobody did. Our program was built around summer camp, and that's the place where we did things like camping and swimming. I wasn't a very athletic kid, and swimming and lifesaving merit badges were very difficult for me. But somehow, I eeked by. I remember doing the Mile Swim one year. I was in the water hours after everyone else had finished. We had to swim a circular course, and shout out our number when we passed the starting point. They laughed when I kept dutifully shouting out my number, even though I was the only one left in the water, and everyone else had gone off to do something else. It was hard work for me, but I did it. I knew full well that I was the least athletic kid around, but I was able to swim a mile. There must be a lot of things I could do if I really had to. I was prepared.

 

I was actually surprised when I recently looked at my old merit badges to see that canoeing and rowing weren't required. In my troop, it was just the thing to do, so we all got them. They may as well have been required.

 

Again, I was the klutziest kid around, but because I had to, I learned how to paddle a canoe and row a boat. I haven't rowed a boat in a long time, but I learned that paddling a canoe is not only pretty easy once you get the hang of it, but it's actually fun.

 

Last year, my family and I were camping at Jellystone Park (no, it's not exactly camping, but you get the idea). We rented a canoe, and I asked how long we could have it. The question took them by surprise, because everyone else who rents one brings it back in a half hour, after getting frustrated by constantly switching sides with the paddle, never quite getting the thing to go the direction they want to. We, on the other hand, were going to look at different things, and much to the amazement of everyone else, we could actually point toward a particular destination and get there. I might not remember exactly the "right" way to do the J-stroke, but I do remember that it's actually possible to do it, and that's half the battle. I'm prepared.

 

Oh, maybe I learned a little bit of character along the way. I remember learning that if you goad another kid into punching you, then you might get into more trouble than the kid who punched you. Maybe I would have learned that lesson somewhere else, but maybe not.

 

But maybe that's also nothing more than Being Prepared. If there are people in the world who are predisposed to punching klutzy people, then maybe the best way to Prepare for that eventuality is to not place them in a situation where they want to punch you.

 

Who knows, maybe that's actually "character".

[UCEagle72]

Clemlaw --

 

Trust me ... *lots* of us here remember the "no outing in Scouting" debacle that started in 1972.

 

I was fortunate to finish my Eagle under the old requirements.

[Scoutfish]

" I don't really think that Scouting made me any more moral than I am otherwise. That's not to say that I'm immoral. It's just that I can't really point to anything in Scouting that made me that way. Yes, I'm trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, etc. But I probably would have been most of those things anyway. "

 

 

Yeah, you are right. But there's a bit more to it than that too.

 

I say thank you, yes sir, no ma'am, please. I do not steal, and I respect all people until they do something to lose that respect.

I am not predjudiced, nor racist or bigoted.

 

I didn't join cub scouts or boy scouts as a kid.

 

but here I am.

 

Why? Because my mom and dad raised me this way.

 

Scouting will not make an unmoralistic kid develo morals. It will not make a bad kid a good kid.

 

But it helps steera nd develpo them. HELPS being the key word. Ayt some pooint, the parents or some other influential adult had to be ebhind that effort.

 

Know what I mean?

 

Kids will grow up based on how the environment, society and family treat them and give example for them to follow.

 

Scouting just presents another choice for them to take.

In your case, my case and many others...scouting didn't necessarily decide it for us, but settled or enforced the choice we made on our own.

 

Thing is, there are some kids who are right on the line. They could go either way...to the dark sside or the good side of the force.

 

Scouting will not make them good kids, but may be enough...just enough to tip the scale towards the good side!

 

Now take a that kid who's dad skipped out on him at 3 years old. The male leaders at Cub Scouts may be the only father figure they can relate to.

 

Years later, that young teen boy scout may have a "guy question" that mom can't answer. Again, the SM could be the one who fills that roll.

 

Could even be that alot of good kids are naturally attracted to scouting, and the "on the line" kids will follow by example.

 

 

So, I suppose that: "think a lot of Scouters overrate Scouting in terms of turning boys into good men".... is true if people just think the program itself does it. It won't.

 

But with active participation by family and by leadership....it may hold somewhat true most of the time.

[Eagle92]

Yes it does. Yes parents play a big role in development. BUT not everyone has good role models Scouting provides that in the form of older scouts and leaders. I was one those scouts with a lousy father who walked out on us. With no father figure, and my older brothers literally married and out the house, Scouting provided both older brother figures and father figures that modeled positive character.

 

More later.

[AlamanceScouter]

Great character starts with "respect". If done right Cub Scouting teaches and/or reinforces that respect is essential.....respect for others, respect for leadership, respect for community, and most important, respect for yourself.

 

I can't speak to Boy Scouting but from what I read hear and other places I believe continues the theme of respect.

[AlamanceScouter]

I have just glanced at this article from the BSA website but I think it answers some of our questions:

 

http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/511-001.pdf

[shortridge]

Being prepared is so widely ignored these days that it's become a character trait of its own.

[GernBlansten]

No. Scouting does not build character. But it does offer those with good character to exercise it.

 

[Scoutfish]

"Scouting does not build character. But it does offer those with good character to exercise it."

 

WELL SAID!

[Beavah]

Nah, I disagree.

 

I'll agree that I don't think Cub Scouting builds character. I think Cub Scouting is in a lot of ways just a family activity that adds some opportunities for parents to work with their kids in different settings.

 

But by the time a boy is an adolescent, his peer relationships are contributing as much to his character development as his family is contributing. As a teen, even more. And what good scouting provides is an ideal environment to develop character and a range of "peers" from younger through adult.

 

So good, well-done Boy Scouting genuinely will develop character in ways that I personally feel are more complete and robust than other youth activities. There's nothing quite like what yeh learn arguing with your patrol mates over who is going to do the dishes. There are more chances for judgment and decision-making in Scouting than most other youth activities, and the feedback from being close to each other in a challenging environment is much tighter than it is in-town. Act a bit selfish with your buddies in town and yeh might get some feedback on it over da course of a year. Act a bit selfish in da field and you're going to hear about it much more quickly. Leave the dishes dirty, they stay in the sink or mom cleans them. Leave the dishes dirty and da bear or da fire ants visit.

 

In a good Scouting program, eh? Not all units do a great job of it. But I've met enough youth and adults who have said "A big part of who I am and what I value came from Scouting" to believe that done well, Scouting really does teach character.

 

Beavah

 

[clemlaw]

Well, yes, I guess I turned out reasonably well. Come to think of it, I guess I did learn things such as the fact that there are consequences to packing up the patrol box with dirty utinsels and taking it home that way. (It turns out, that's a bad idea, even though you're the first patrol that's ready to go home.)

 

[JMHawkins]

Like Beavah said, done right Scouting gives boys lots of opportunities to develop the traits of a good man.

 

The other things is, done right, maybe nobody notices! If a kid can play the trumpet without making listeners cringe, you know it's because of the practice and training. If he's a decent, honorable kid, where did that come from? Lots of places probably, but ultimately good character is something you develop while doing other stuff. A good scouting program tries to maximize the (relatively safe) opportunities for developing it. But I don't think you can take any decent man and point with total confidence to what made him that way, and you can't take a boy and lay out a study plan guaranteed to turn him onto a good man. All you can do is maximize the opportunities.