Light my fire

[Eamonn]

I don't play video games. I can't sit still that long.

I have however paid my dues as a Father when it comes to these things.

Like it or not these games have managed to capture the imagination of the young people they are aimed at.

The guy with the controls in his hand is transported into the world where the game is set.

Most of these games do little or anything to teach very much. Yes I know that the Air force has video game type controls for the drones. But forget that for a minute.

Kids want to have fun.

I think we all know that.

Kids have wonderful imaginations.

Back in my day there were lots of books, boys magazines and comics that captured my imagination.

Even as a young adult going pony tracking I seen myself as some sort of a cowboy from the wild west (Sadly the pony had other ideas!)

What we do doesn't always have to seem relevant.

While maybe building a monkey bridge where there is no need for a bridge, just seems silly? But I'll take a Patrol building a monkey bridge over any sit down and take notes leadership course out there.

Sometimes as I read the threads I wonder if we the adults are trying to make Scouting an academic subject?

I wonder if we forget that the boys have wonderful imaginations?

The guys who make the video games seem to know this and have made a lot of money tapping into it.

Ea.

[BadenP]

Eamonn

 

You are so very very right. Scouting has become more and more academic in nature from the time a tiger cub earns his first award to the completion of an Eagle Scout Project.

Remember your very first campout as a boy scout, it will always be my most memorable, from hiking 5 miles with full pack to the site through the forest, to putting up the camp, cooking over the open fire, and going on my first nightime snipe hunt.

 

Scouting was all about learning the skills to not only survive in the wilderness but how to appreciate, care for, and protect it, learning the skills to be a leader and a good citizen.

Merit Badges allowed you to explore other interests you might of had, but the required ones revolved around the outdoors, leadership, and citizenship.

 

That is why I personally feel so strongly about the further away scouting gets from its roots, mainly the outdoor emphasis, the less of an organization it will become. Scouting is not only supposed taught from a book but lived and experienced throughout a scouts time in the BSA, and those experiences continue to be revisited during the rest of their lives.

[desertrat77]

The strongest, most formative, scouting memories are those in the outdoors, "with your true scouting friends" as the old lyric goes.

 

Those hours spent in the camp mess hall, or church basement, listening to lectures on how to give lectures, are such a waste.

 

Same with the "homework" merit badges. Though its been well over 30 years, I still remember them with more than a little disgust.

 

 

[Scoutfish]

Anytime you take Cub Scouts outdoors..they will pick up sticks. It has to be some sort of kid instinct or something close.

 

We do tell the kids to be carseful. Don't swing them around wildly, and everybody is responcible for not hitting anybody with their stick.

 

But the parents...they have fits when kids pick up sticks. They just see a kid with a nasty germ laden object that is one step shy of being a CDC quarantined item.

 

You know what I see? Kids shooting rifles, kids demonstrating their talents with epees, swords, or even Star Wars light sabers. I see kids with baseball bats, walking sticks, and machine guns.

 

I see boys using thei imaginations...and having an awesome great time doing it!

[JMHawkins]

But I'll take a Patrol building a monkey bridge over any sit down and take notes leadership course out there.

 

We were at a Merit Badge Weekend last weekend (where the rainfall Saturday evening set a record for the most rain ever on that date - note, we are in the Seattle Area, but I digress). I was reading the list of merit badges the Scouts could work on and the question they kept asking was "Is that a sitting-around one?"

 

If it was a "sitting-around one" they weren't intersted. Pioneering, Wood Carving, Archery and Fishing got lots of attention though. I will say though that academic subjects don't have to be boring, sitting-around things. I watched the guy doing the Architecture merit badge, and he didn't have the kids sitting around. They were on their feet, moving around, looking at scale models... he knew how to tap into their imaginations and had their attention.

 

All that said, I'm not a big fan of Merit Badge "classes", but I sure was proud of the Scouts in our troop for gravitating towards the adventursome ones.

 

BTW, I happen to make video games for a living, and people in the industry like to talk about the "soul" of a game. Great games have it, flops lost it somewhere in the agony of the development process. I've always thought they were really talking about whether the game fired up your imagination or not.

 

 

[Eagle92]

Ditto what other have said, and i'll quote some more.

 

"Advancement is like a suntan - something you get naturally whilst having fun in the outdoors." - Lord Baden-Powell ...

 

"Outing is three-fourths of Scouting" William "Green Bar Bill" Hillcourt (the current BSHB has it MISQUOTED, or are they trying to lessen the outdoor importance in Scouting...hmmmm)

 

"SCOUTING IS OUTING!" William "Green Bar Bill" Hillcourt

 

I know that sometimes I had to have boring, indoor meetings for several reasons weather and the lesson plans, and some scouts had complained to their parents (wish they would have talked to me). One of my scouts who hadn't been coming finally came back to turn in his paperwork for the last pack meeting and be part of the party we were having. It was outside,

 

 

[perdidochas]

Anytime you take Cub Scouts outdoors..they will pick up sticks. It has to be some sort of kid instinct or something close.

 

 

 

I've never noticed--I'm too busy finding my stick :-)

[Eamonn]

I'm not an expert in anything.

Over the years I have found that Scouts really enjoy:

The Dark -Playing around with flashlights and just being up and about when they should normally be asleep.

Water: All the best ran camps in the summer should have a Troop wide Water Fight, with balloons and empty washing-up liquid bottles.

Fire: I have been in Scouting for almost 50 years. So far I've never seen a Scout eat a toasted marshmallow. But kids just enjoy fires. They enjoy a well ran camp fire program and just hanging out by the fire at night when all that's left are the embers.

Mud and Dirt: We have had the best-est of times on mud slides, mixing mud to cook birds and fish in. The more goopy and slimy the better.

Ea.

[Old_OX_Eagle83]

Eamonn, you have a perfect handle on what a young man wants, and few of us who are not so young. You are exactly correct, but there Is one thing I will add. Since 1910 vocations have changed, and a big part of merit badges is to sample vocational skills, and these are largely academic today. In my mind the core program should be active, and outdoors, but there must be academic components as well.

 

Our goal is well rounded, solid citizens, with deep rooted values, polished leadership skills, and a vision of the future. Video games lend little, or nothing, to these goals, but study and education are a necessity. Truth and Knowledge are obtained by academic pursuit.