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The "Science" of Boy-Leadership
Leadership Development did not emerge as a distinct "Method" of Scouting in the BSA until 1972, when the Sixth Edition of the Scoutmaster's Handbook was published. During the 1970s the emphasis was taken away from the importance of traditional Scouting skills. The term "campfire," for instance, did not even appear in the index of the 8th Edition of the Scout Handbook.
The BSA's modernization and new "urban emphasis" was consistent with similar trends in Scouting all over the world starting in the 1960s. This subsequently inspired a counter-trend "back to basics" movement called "Traditional Scouting," starting with the UK's "Baden-Powell Scouts Association" in 1970.
The following passage conveys the modernist sentiment neatly:
In general, Patrol Leader training should concentrate on leadership skills rather than on Scoutcraft Skills. The Patrol will not rise and fall on the Patrol Leader's ability to cook, follow a map, or do first aid, but it very definitely depends on his leadership skill (Scoutmaster's Handbook [1972], page 155).
Leadership had emerged as a separate set of cognitive skills that could be learned indoors rather than as a natural consequence of using the Patrol Method in the outdoors, where William "Green Bar Bill" Hillcourt said all Scouting belongs:
Ideally, no Troop should have a single indoor meeting—all its activities should be in the outdoors! Ideally, we say—for Scouting is a Movement of the out-of-doors, teaching boys citizenship through woodcraft. Boys join Scouting to have fun under the open sky, not to be cooped up in a Troop room (Troop Meetings).
This devolution continues in BSA adult training as Wood Badge revisions increasingly substitute "managerial skills" for outdoor skills (with the later being moved to the potentially excellent "Introduction to Outdoor Leader Skills" course, which suffers primarily from the lack of using the Patrol Method).
It was in the 1970s that the BSA "modernized" away from traditional Hillcourt-style Scouting into a business and "scientific" methodology:
As a patrol or troop leader you're going to learn what [Leadership Skills] are in a more SCIENTIFIC manner (emphasis added).
This was a significant change for the BSA. The "Methods of Scouting" were rewritten to accommodate this stunning 180 degree turn in direction. Previously the first (and presumably most important) Method had been "The Scout Way: 1. A Game, NOT a Science (emphasis in the original)."
The new scheme also dropped The Uniform as a Method for a while and was called "The Seven Methods of Scouting."
Whatever your position on this trend, we can all agree that a Scout will not see a need for learning leadership skills until he has had some success (however small) in leading a group. Scouting in a Patrol still best provides every boy an opportunity to experience leadership.
Hundreds of ideas for creating these opportunities can be found elsewhere on The Inquiry Net, where we offer you traditional Scouting activities of special interest to Scouts. As a boy's skill in even one of these subjects increases he will gain the confidence to undertake his first experience at leading a group in some short-term activity related to his new interest.
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See Also:
JLT Skits: Skits That Can be Used in JLT Junior Leader Training.
Patrol Method: Junior Leader Training materials that use the Patrol Method rather than a managerial model for Patrol Leader Training.
Adult Association: Leadership Skills for Adults, and an in-depth study of the Aims and Methods of Scouting.
Outdoor Method: This is the largest area in The Inquiry Net. It includes hundreds of traditional skills of interest to boys, intended to build confidence in specific areas of expertise, including games, stunts (skits), camping and Indian Lore. A Scout can then lead a group in a subject with which he has some experience.
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