Scouting, Volume 10, Number 2, February 1922 Page: 1
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S C O U T I N G
FEBRUARY, 1922
Copyright, 1922, by Boy Scouts of America
VOL. X. NO. 2
7c* - • I
- -
(Don't worry about these Scouts: They are attending strictly to their own affairs and have
nothing to do zvith this article.)
Scoutmasters—Listen!
Here is an "earful" from a man
who knows what he is talking about,
by experience and observation
I KNOW a young fellow who was
popular enough some time ago to get
a troop started just because he could
use his ears—he could wiggle them.
As I say, this was some time back. The
troop is going yet, strong, and my young
friend who had the courage to bank on
what little he could do to interest boys
still uses his ears. But he doesn't wiggle
them.
Listen! I am going to tell you some
of his methods. If I don't make this
sound too personal, perhaps it will get
over with you quicker if I say what I
have to say in the form of a suggestion
to you in handling your troop problems;
giving two or three of his experiences
as though they were your own right now.
When a Hike Stubs Its Toe
YOU are off on a hike with a dozen
scouts. Your objective is observation
of trees in order to identify the varie-
ties in your vicinity. You think every
scout should be on tiptoes to locate as
many different species as possible. You
have tried to quicken their interest by
some remarks about trees in general. You
have rather run out of " dope," and as
you stride along you ars suddenly con-
scious that your scouts are having a hot
debate over the respective merits of two
prize-fighters. Trees, scouting, good man-
ners, you, Laws Four, Five and Eight,—
all are forgotten. It is time for you, you
decide, to adjourn the debate. Listen, Mr.
Scoutmaster—don't wiggle your ears, lis-
ten, and listen hard. Keep your mouth
shut. (Don't take offence, I am merely
telling you in this direct fashion what my
young friend of the gymnastic ears did
under similar circumstances.) He listened,
" listened in," and by the time the debate
ended satisfactorily to all concerned, he
had learned more about a few individual
boys than he could possibly have learned
in any other way. He discovered their
points of view on life in general, their
temperamental points, their skill at de-
bate, their measure of self-control, and a
lot of other useful things to know about
them. From that day he was a better
leader of those boys.
Getting His Real Point of View
YOU are having a troop meeting.
Your assistant scoutmaster is in
the chair. A motion has been
made and is under discussion. The
chairman has lost control, so have
the scouts. Everybody wants to speak
at once. The question has to do with
the disciplining of a scout who has
brought some discredit on the troop. You
rise to demand order. Quite right. Nine
times out of ten that's the thing to do.
But my young friend of the jointed ears
used them, instead of his authority, and
got a more serviceable line upon the real
understanding his scouts had of the
scout law and of the end and purpose of
the whole movement, than he had ever
been able to get before. In the heat of
loyalty more than one boy insisted that
he was right in his view of things, and
his view of things, of course, was a self
revelation of his governing ideas about
what his scout membership involved for
him.
Picking Leaders
YOU are seated on the bank of a
stream with a group of scouts about
you enjoying a period of rest on a
long hike. You bring up the subject of
a community Good Turn in order to get
the reaction of the scouts. Several ideas
are broached and discussed. You feel
rather at home on this subject and are
keen for one particular Good Turn. You
decide that there is so much difference of
opinion as to the most practical thing to
do, you had best merely announce what
the Good Turn will be and get things
started. But instead of using your pre-
rogative as a scoutmaster, listen. Ask
questions and listen to the replies. Let
each scout express himself fully. Thus it
was that my friend of the obliging ears
was able to detect infallible signs of
leadership qualities in individual boys. He
admits that his mental attitude was inten-
tionally " tuned up " to " catch " words
and phrases and tones of voices that
might indicate leadership qualities. Any
time your scouts are trying to decide upon
some serious activity as a troop, listen,
Mr. Scoutmaster, for something that will
never come out in the individual scout in
ordinary conversation or during the usual
run of scout activities.
Getting a Line on Yourself
YOU have called on the parents of one
of your scouts. You want to tell
them all about this scout, particularly
as you think he needs some parental
attention. You are primed with informa-
tion on scouting which will be useful to
these parents. You hope to get them
interested in the whole troop through
your talk to them about their boy. And
you have the right idea—but listen, Mr.
Scoutmaster. Give these parents a chance
to express themselves. You may be
amazed and either pleased or displeased
by what you learn of the attitude of scout
parents towards Scouting. If you listen
closely enough—at_ least this was the ex-
perience of my friend with the obedient
ears—if you listen closely enough, you
may discover why you have failed to
impress the parents in your community
with the possibilities of the Scouting
program to develop character in boys
and train them for citizenship. You
doubtless will also get some encouraging
reactions that will justify to you some
of the things upon which you have been
placing emphasis in your work. But the
parts of the conversation that my friend
listened to with both his ears stretched
tight had to do with the disappointment
of parents in the results they see in
their boys' home conduct and general
set-up.
When Deep Calls to Deep
THESE are just a few out of many
experiences related to me by my
friend. The fact that he began as a
scoutmaster with little to recommend him
to himself as a leader of boys excepting
a pair of trick ears, and yet is now a suc-
cessful scoutmaster, may suggest to much
better equipped scoutmasters who come
up against stone walls, at least one way
to increase their grasp of the problems of
troop management and boy leadership.
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Boy Scouts of America. Scouting, Volume 10, Number 2, February 1922, periodical, February 1922; New York, New York. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth310751/m1/1/?rotate=90: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Boy Scouts of America National Scouting Museum.