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.
Leadership and The Patrol System. In general a troop should not contain more than thirty or forty girls. Many very experienced captains have larger troops when they have several lieutenants to assist them. The troops are divided into groups, or patrols of eight and treated as units, each under its own responsible leader. An invaluable step in character building is to put responsibility on the individual. This is done in electing a Patrol Leader to be responsible for the control of her Patrol. Leaders should serve a limited time and every girl in a patrol should have the experience of serving some time during her membership. It is up to her to take hold and develop the qualities of each girl in her Patrol. It sounds a big order, but in practice it works. With a friendly rivalry established between patrols a patrol esprit de corps is developed and each girl in that patrol realizes that she is herself a responsible unit and that the honor of her group depends on her efficiency in playing the game. The patrol system is an essential feature in Scouting. When this is lost sight of and the attitude of a teacher is adopted, making the troop a class, the vital spirit or meaning of Scouting is missed entirely. Although a powerful personality always can succeed with young people, in individual instances, it would be impossible to get enough of these people to make any impression upon the thousands of girls in the organization. Moreover, the average child is already overloaded with things to learn. What nobody teaches her is how to control herself, and thus learn to control others and take her share of responsibility. The whole Scouting technique is adapted to exactly this idea and the patrol leader is the key note of it.