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Read Ebook: Émile Zola Novelist and Reformer: An Account of His Life & Work by Vizetelly Ernest Alfred
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GIRL SCOUTS
THEIR HISTORY AND PRACTICE
GIRL SCOUTS
PROMISE
On My Honor, I Will Try: To do my duty to God and to my Country To help other people at all times To obey the Scout Laws
LAWS
GIRL SCOUTS
Mrs. Juliette Low, an American visitor in England, and a personal friend of the father of Scouting, realized the tremendous future of the movement for her country; and with the active and friendly co-operation of the Baden-Powells, she founded the Girl Guides in America, enrolling the first patrols in Savannah, Georgia, in March, 1912.
In 1913 National Headquarters were established in Washington, D.C., and the name changed to Girl Scouts.
In 1915 the organization was incorporated with the legal title, Girl Scouts, Incorporated.
In 1916 National Headquarters were moved to New York and the methods and standards of what was plainly to be a nation-wide organization became established on a broad, practical basis.
The first National Convention was held in 1915, and each succeeding year has shown a larger and more enthusiastic body of delegates and a public more and more interested in this steadily growing army of girls and young women who are learning in the happiest way to combine patriotism, outdoor activities of every kind, skill in every branch of domestic science and high standards of community service.
Every side of the girl's nature is brought out and developed by enthusiastic captains, who join in the games and various forms of training and encourage team work and fair play. For the instruction of the captains, national camps and training schools are being established all over the country; and the schools and churches everywhere are co-operating eagerly with this great recreational movement, which they realize adds something to the life of the growing girl that they have been unable to supply.
Colleges are offering fellowships in scouting as a serious course for would-be captains, and prominent citizens in every part of the country are identifying themselves with local councils in an advisory and helpful capacity. At the present writing, nearly 60,000 girls and more than 3,000 captains represent the original little troop in Savannah--surely a satisfying sight for our Founder and National President, when she realizes what a healthy sprig she has transplanted from the Mother Country!
The ideal background for the entire program is cheerful companionship in the open.
Laws
Promise
On my Honor, I Will try: To do my duty to God and to my Country To help other people at all times To obey the Scout Laws.
Motto
"Be Prepared"
Slogan
"Do a Good Turn Daily"
The best results are obtained by emphasizing the fact that these ways are the girl's own idea of the way to live, her choice. Success in expressing one's own ideas never fails to give satisfaction. Clever parents and teachers make use of this. "A Scout is cheerful" is a more effective method of influencing a girl, for instance, than any amount of advice on the subject.
It seems to be more and more difficult to induce girls to learn or practice housework. For the average woman this is still necessary, and the more advanced schools have taken it up. For the girl whom neither the home nor the school has been able to reach, Scouting offers a most successful and attractive means of getting the practical information to the young generation. They will do for "merit badges," in other words, what they will not do for their mothers or teachers.
An effective manner of upholding and exercising these standards, is, as has been abundantly proved by the great war, the uniform. Earning and proving worthy of it stimulates child, girl and woman alike. Uniform and ceremony, not overemphasized, but duly insisted upon, have a profound significance to the human race, and teach us to sink the individual interests and raise the standards of the group.
The program should be varied, and never iron-clad, but adapted to fill the needs of the special girl. Examples: Few city girls have much chance to be in the country. An effort should be made to get them out on hikes, and week-end camping trips. Some homes and schools do not teach the girls such practical things as cooking, bedmaking, while some groups of girls have no conception of obligation to other people or any sense of citizenship. In each case, the wise captain attempts to discover the novel activity, which besides being helpful, will attract the girls. The wise captain does not expect girls to pay great attention to any one subject for very long, and does not teach or lecture. They get enough of that in school. The captain is rather a sort of older playfellow who lets the girl choose activities which interest her and she will learn for herself.
Most of the activities will be of the nature of play. Play is always a means to mental and physical development. The best play leads towards adult forms of leadership, co-operation, entertaining, artistic execution and community service.
Any captain who finds herself judging her troop's efficiency by the old fashioned system of examination marks based on a hundred per cent scale, shows herself out of touch not only with the Scouting spirit, but with the whole trend of modern education today. When the tendency of great universities is distinctly toward substituting psychological tests for examinations, when the United States Army picks its officers by such tests, it would be absurd for a young people's recreational movement to wear its members out by piling such work on captain and scout!
In this connection great latitude should be allowed for the captain's knowledge of her girls and their real ability and attitude. The girls are also good judges of each other. Remember that the girl with the best examination paper is not necessarily the best Scout.
Officers, National Headquarters Girl Scouts, Inc.
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