Scouting, Volume 79, Number 2, March-April 1991 Page: 3
50, E1-E12, [36] p. : ill. (some col.) ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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for your region).
The sample problem covers survival in the Maine wilder-
ness. (You can devise a more appropriate problem for your
own area.)
Equipment: A copy of the problem below for each Scout,
pencils.
The Situation: On vacation in July, you and your family have
been traveling through the wilderness of western Maine in a
pickup camper. In a blinding rainstorm, you made a wrong
turn onto an unmarked lumber road. You have wandered
more that 150 miles over a maze of truck routes into the
wilderness. The camper has run out of gas and now you, your
parents, a 10-year-old sister, a six-year-old brother, and the
family cat are lost.
After a family conference, you decide it is not wise to split
up. You are going to try to walk back together. You are pretty
sure that if you pace yourselves, you can cover about 15 miles
a day. Because of a fuel shortage, there are no helicopters or
jeeps patrolling the area, and you have seen no other cars or
houses.
The family is dressed in lightweight summer clothing and
everyone is wearing sneakers. Temperatures at night go down
to the low 40s. It is also bug season. As you look around, you
find the following items in the camper, some of which may be
useful.
fishing gear
$500 in traveler's checks
.44 Magnum handgun and ammunition
four Dacron-filled sleeping bags
five-gallon jug of water
instant breakfast (three boxes)
house and RV keys
_—i cigarettes
Coleman stove (two-burner)
family tent (10 pounds)
snakebite kit
alarm clock
five cans of kidney-liver cat food
five-pound tub of peanut butter
bathing suits
10-pound cheese wheel
transistor radio
six-foot tent pole
sheath knife
wool sweaters for everyone
raft paddles
inflatable rubber raft (two pieces, total of 20 pounds.
paperback books
first aid kit
matches
steak (three pounds)
marshmallows (four bags)
bug repellent
walkie-talkie radio
road map of Maine
The Task : You must choose, and put in priority order, the 15
most important items for survival in this situation. The other
15 may be eliminated.
Each Scout is to study the problem and choose the 15 items
he thinks would be most useful for survival. He then ranks
them in order of importance from 1 through 15.
Next, the patrols gather and compare rankings. Ask them
to try to reach a consensus for a patrol ranking—that is, make
a patrol list that satisfies most members. Explain that con-
sensus does not mean unanimous agreement. Rather, it is a
way to reach a group decision through compromise. Suggest
that the Scouts try to follow these guidelines in making a
patrol ranking:
• Avoid arguing for your own rankings. Present your position
as clearly and logically as possible, but listen to the other
members' reactions and consider them carefully before you
press your point.
• Do not assume that someone must win and someone must
lose when discussion reaches a stalemate. Instead, look for
the most acceptable alternative for everyone.
• Do not change your mind simply to avoid conflict and to
reach agreement and harmony. When agreement seems to
come too quickly and easily, be suspicious. Explore the rea-
sons and be sure everyone accepts the solution for similar or
complementary reasons. Yield only to positions that are ob-
jective and logically sound.
• Avoid conflict-reducing techniques such as majority vote,
averages, coin flips, and bargaining. When a dissenting
member finally agrees, don't feel that he must be rewarded by
having his own way on some later point.
• Differences of opinion are natural and expected. Seek them
out and try to involve everyone in the decision-making pro-
cess. Disagreements can help the patrol's decision, because
with a wide range of information and opinions there is a
greater chance that the patrol will hit upon more adequate
solutions.
Scoring: After the Scouts have made their individual deci-
sions, and the patrol has made a group decision, the results
can be scored and compared and a troop listing made. Scor-
ing can be done by having each person keep track of the
difference between his ranking of an item, and the troop or
patrol ranking. For instance, if an item is ranked by an indi-
vidual as #2, and the patrol or troop ranking is #8, the differ-
ence is six. The same difference would exist if the individual
ranked the item #14. Then each individual and each group
can total up their scores. The lower the score, the better. The
scores provide a useful basis for discussion.
Ask each patrol separately how many individual scores
were lower than the patrol score. If there are any (and often
there aren't), ask the patrol to consider how they arrived at a
group decision that was worse than one of their members'
decisions.
All groups should consider the value of the process, which
allows a group to arrive at a better decision than the separate
individual decisions.
The Experts' Rankings. Outdoor experts have rated the
items and listed them in order of usefulness for survival in
the Maine wilderness. Their rankings are:
1. Bug repellent—In early summer, the bugs in Maine are
so fierce as to drive people mad or bite them so badly that
their eyes become swollen shut.
LEADERSHIP 3 1991
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Boy Scouts of America. Scouting, Volume 79, Number 2, March-April 1991, periodical, March 1991; Irving, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth353654/m1/49/: accessed May 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Boy Scouts of America National Scouting Museum.