Scouting’s unchanging core values

Founded in 1907 by British Gen. Lord Baden-Powell, Scouting has provided a safe place for kids to have fun and learn about the outdoors for 100 years. Scouting has produced leaders who have changed the world in almost every field of human endeavor. So what is special about Scouting? Why has it lasted a century? With all the constraints on a modern family’s time and all the activities available to kids these days, why should a kid or adult devote time to Scouting?

On its most basic level, Scouting is a way for boys and girls (yes, girls – more on that later) to teach themselves how to make the world work for them and how to make the world a better place.

Scouting accomplishes this by:

. Providing an ethical compass through the Scout Law – an easy way to measure right and wrong.

. Shifting kids’ focus from themselves to others – “help other people at all times” and “Do a Good Turn Daily.”

. Teaching them new skills and ways to have fun, especially outdoors.

Scouting becomes very interesting at this point, because Scouting then turns the established adult-child order upside down.

This was Baden-Powell’s vision for Scouting in 1907: “Scouting is a game for boys under the leadership of boys under the direction of a man.”

If a Scout unit is operating according to Baden-Powell’s vision, the scouts are doing almost everything themselves. They motivate each other; they plan and conduct their own activities. They elect their own leaders. In a well-run Scout unit, the adults should have very little to do.

This tradition of youth leadership makes Scouting unique among youth organizations. How many youth sports teams bench the coaches and use them to teach each team member to rotate coaching responsibilities during each game for the entire season? How many school bands employ the music teacher to train the band itself to teach new members, select the music, arrange and sustain practice, and then conduct the performances throughout the year?

Scouting is unique in its expectation that each youth assume leadership responsibilities. Every ballplayer doesn’t become captain of the team. Every band member doesn’t become a soloist. Every Scout gets to lead. Every Scout learns leadership through practice, failure and success.

Diversity of trained adult leadership is another reason Scouting is a fantastic opportunity for any boy or girl. Scouting is one of the most diverse organizations on the planet. Scouting doesn’t just pay lip service to diversity. It is diversity. Our local Scout council has over 3,000 registered adult volunteers.

My current Scouting colleagues include a bus driver, a lieutenant colonel in the National Guard, three home-schooling parents, a research scientist, a mechanic, a vice president of one of the largest companies in Maine, a truck fleet manager, three accountants, network administrators, a fire chief, ministers, electricians, a bread delivery man, and a social worker for the elderly. Each holds a position of responsibility in our local council. Scout leaders defer to one another according to their Scouting responsibilities, not their social position in the community. The hierarchy of class or wealth, education or social position, gender or age is meaningless in Scouting.

Diversity in today’s Scouting includes women and girls. At least half of the adult leaders in our council are women. In the past a woman’s Scouting role was limited to serving as a den mother in Cub Scout packs. Thankfully, that has changed and women now serve as leaders in every level of Scouting.

Girls can officially participate in Scouting, too, in the Boy Scouts of America’s Venturing Program. Venture Crews are the most rapidly growing units in Scouting today. If a girl is 14 years of age or older she may join a Venture Crew. She has the same opportunity for advancement and adventure, learning new skills and practicing leadership as the young men of Scouting.

The face of Scouting changes but the ideals and core values of Scouting have never changed. Baden-Powell’s idea was simple: a game with a purpose. Scouts have been successfully teaching themselves the game with a purpose for a hundred years. Your son or daughter can learn the game with a purpose too and make the world a better place for themselves and others. These are some of the reasons why, after a hundred years, scouting is still, most definitely, worth the time.

The Rev. Dr. Wayne J. Buchanan is president of the Katahdin Area Council, Boy Scouts of America and pastor of Tremont Congregational Church.