To Whoever Says Traditionals Scout Skill Have No Place Today

[Eagle92]

A whiles back, there was a discussion on traditional scout skill. Some folks say they are not needed in today's society, others said yep they are still valid.

 

Someone pointed out the astronaut who stated that a simple square lashing would fix a problem on the shuttle, only to have to wait and while the engineers on earth go through a bunch of sims to say, "yep the square lashing will work."

 

Well I got another one. Using tan 550 cord I was able to fix a bamboo sofa where the wicker came apart. used 6 Japanese square lashings for the job..

 

So YES traditional scout skills have their place!

[mikecummings157]

I think of my scout skills whenever I see someone driving around town with something large "lashed" to the top of their car and barely hanging on;-)

[clemlaw]

I really don't consider myself an expert outdoorsman, but I know a large number of skills that I always assumed were common knowledge. But it turns out that they're not common knowledge, and I occasionally amaze people by doing something simple.

 

For example, the reason why bunge cords are so popular is because there are a large number of people who have absolutely no clue about how to use a piece of rope. Since the rope doesn't come with an instruction book, they don't know what to do with it. Or perhaps some of them, because of lack of experience, mistakenly believe that the bunge cord is "better" or "easier".

 

At first, I thought they were joking, but there are also large numbers of people who believe that it is impossible to make coffee or toast without the use of electricity. I encountered so many of these people on another website (about pop-up trailers), that I wrote the following website, so I wouldn't have to keep answering the same questions over and over:

 

http://www.w0is.com/outdoor/Coffee.html

 

As you can see, this is partly tongue in cheek. But lo and behold, it gets several hits a day, and more often than not, people find it as a result of a web search for something like "how to make coffee if the power is out". I assume that they fire up the generator so that they can use the computer. (And yes, if someone clicks on one of the Amazon links and buys something, I get a small commission, so every once in a while, one of them buys a coffee pot and I get a couple of bucks.) Occasionally, I'll get a comment from someone who is absolutely amazed by some observations, such as that it's possible to light the gas stove at home using a match. It had simply never occurred to them. Again, I had assumed that it was common knowledge, but I suppose if you never lit a stove using a match, you might not realize that it's possible.

 

So yes, we old scouts with these arcane skills are probably a lot less helpless than the general public.

[Kudu]

I would caution against promoting Traditional Scout Skills by their "practicality."

 

When Scouting was popular it was a game, not "practical skills" for a more rural society, as Wood Badge Staffers would have us believe.

 

The whole point of Wood Badge is to replace backwoods competence with fake indoor leadership formulas "because we must change with the times."

 

If Little League had a monopoly on the word "baseball" like we have a monopoly on the word "Scouting," then Wood Badge Cub Scout Staffers would be busy at work replacing "old fashioned, obsolete skills" like running, catching, and swinging a bat, with "21st century" corporate team-building exercises and homework citizenship.

 

Likewise, Wood Badge Den Leaders would be serving on Little League "heath and safety" committees doing their part to dumb baseball for teenagers down to the T-ball level, like Leadership Development has done to the Patrol Method.

 

Swinging a club became old-fashioned in the Iron Age.

 

Besides, "it's just a first year skill," so once you are "signed off," there should be "no retesting."

 

If Wood Badge turned baseball into something that most American kids hate as much as "21st century Scouting," Little League's chief professional millionaire would announce that Hispanic kids don't like baseball, so let's replace it with soccer

 

Yours at 300 feet,

 

Kudu

http://kudu.net

 

[Eagle92]

Ok won't promote pacticality of lashings, will promote fun of it.

 

Wolf son had fun fixing the sofa, so did middle son. When I told them all the cool stuff they could build with lashings, and showing them some pics, they were happy.

 

 

Now I gotta get my soon to be ex Den Chief to polish up his lashing skills, which I think are at the decent level for the moment as he built a survival shelter back in Dec. with the skills, so that he can teach his soon to be new Webelos Den how to build a catapult for engineering activity pin and for Webeloree. Kinda fun having an "old school" CM running Webeloree. To bad we lose him next year to a troop. Our loss is the troop's gain as he has already has his Webelos, one of whom is his son, pumped up about going to Philmont. Lucky dog has been there 3 times already, and can't wait for his 4th.

[HobcawChaos]

I find myself using bowline knots for something at least once a month. They continually amaze people. A taut line hitch secures our Christmas tree each year thanks to the dd who will crawl under the tree to the corner where the hook is.

[Stosh]

Hardly a day goes by that I don't use something I learned in Scouts. Every time I open a box shipped to me, my Toten Chip reminds me how to open and close my pocket knife properly. Same knife skills are appropriate in any kitchen along with food prep and safe food handling skills. Knots? I do enough canoeing, kayaking and camping that those skills are always useful and usable to make life easier.

 

Organizational skills and meeting operations are used in my other hobbies along with at work, leadership skills are a definite.

 

I live across the street from a school and the kids constantly are dumping garbage in my yard. Yep, I clean it up all the time. I've been practicing LNT well before it became in vogue. I have two cats so there's plenty to vacuum up all the time. Instead of dumping the vacuum into the garbage, it goes into my driveway for the birds to find and use as nesting material. (Neighbors don't like it, but it's my driveway!) I mulch and plant landscaping that encourages birds and other animals to find homes nearby. I have a huge wild flower bed out by the garage which I don't have to mow! I can identify at least 10 different varieties of sparrow at my bird feeder.

 

So, how much influence has scouting had in my life? Most of the patterns I follow in my life have a root or two from things I learned in scouting.

 

I teach all the traditional skills to my boys so that they have the advantages in life that I have.

 

Your mileage may vary,

 

Stosh

[drmbear]

I still use all the traditional Scout skills on a regular basis - can't even help myself. But last week I went in to my son's third grade class to do a presentation connected to my profession - but really seemed to focus on things I was learning working on merit badges as a Scout, particularly Energy MB and Environmental Science MB. By the time I was sixteen years old, I realized that although we should use renewable energy sources to the extent practical, we needed to take full advantage of nuclear power for our large scale generation. Scouting took me to getting a degree in nuclear engineering, and I'm still working in the industry today. My son came home from school saying they were studying energy, and when I found they had not discussed nuclear power, I had my son see if the teacher would have me in. Sure it's important to be self-sufficient and be able to take care of yourself no matter the conditions, but the things we get from Scouting goes far beyond tying a knot.