Educational Work of the Girl ScoutsBryant, Louise Stevens
General
Educational Work of the Girl Scouts
Bryant, Louise Stevens
Girl Scouts -- United States
_Citizenship._--The basic organization of the girl scouts into the
self-governing unit of a patrol is in itself an excellent means of
political training. Patrols and troops conduct their own meetings, and
the scouts learn the elements of parliamentary law. Working together in
groups, they realize the necessity for democratic decisions. They also
come to have community interests of an impersonal sort. This is perhaps
the greatest single contribution of the scouts toward the training of
girls for citizenship. Little boys play not only together but with men
and boys of all ages. The interest of baseball is not confined to any
one age. The rules of the game are the same for all, and the smallest
boy's judgment on the skill of the players may be as valid as that of
the oldest "fan." Girls have had in the past no such common interests.
Their games have been either solitary or in very small groups, in
activities largely of a personal character. If women are to be effective
in modern political society, they must have from earliest youth
gregarious interests and occupations.
Among the scout activities that tend to develop this larger community
sense are games, athletic sports of all kinds, including team work and
competition between small, well-knit groups. Folk dancing and other
forms of amusement, such as dramatics, pageants, and story-telling,
serve a similar purpose because they all mean the possession of a
resource not only for the right use of the girl's own leisure time, but
for serving this need in the community.
METHODS.
The activities of the girl scouts are, of course, not peculiar to this
organization. Every one of them is provided for elsewhere, in schools,
clubs, and societies. But the way in which they are combined and
coordinated about certain basic principles is peculiar to the girl
scouts.
In the first place all these activities have a common motive, which is
preparation for a fuller life for the individual, not only in her
personal but in her social relations. It is believed that both the
habits formed and the concrete information acquired contribute to the
girls being ready to meet intelligently most of the situations that are
likely to arise in their later life. This concept is expressed in the
girl scout's motto, "Be prepared."
The method of preparation followed is that found in nature, whereby
young animals and birds _play_ at doing all the things they will need to
do well when they are grown and must feed and fend for themselves and
their babies.
The heart of the girl scouts' laws is helpfulness, and so the scouts
have a slogan: "Do a good turn daily." By following this in letter and
spirit, helpfulness becomes second nature.
Because the girl scouts are citizens they know and respect the meaning
of the flag, and one of the first things they learn is the pledge:
"I pledge allegiance to my flag, and to the Republic for which it
stands; one Nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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