Girl Scouts: Their Works, Ways and Plays

by Unknown

IV. Woman, the citizen. 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 together and not only play 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 very earliest youth gregarious interests and occupations.

V. Woman, the human being. Political economy was for a long time known as the "dead science" and was quite ineffective socially. This was largely because it attempted to split man, the human being, into theoretical units such as "the producer," or "the consumer." In the same way many organizations for women have died because they have not remembered that woman is first of all a human being. Thus nearly all institutions for women, even those supposedly purely educational in character, have existed to shelter her from the world, or to segregate her, or have been designed to make her into a good servant or to "finish" her for society. The activities of the Girl Scouts have been selected on quite a different plan. They have not been designed for women as women, but for women as human beings. Real work may be followed with a great deal of enjoyment provided it is creative and awakens the instinct of workmanship. But it is when at play that a human being realizes his own nature the most fully. So dancing, sports of all kinds, hiking, camping, boating, athletics and story-telling are encouraged not only as a means of recreation and for physical development, but are made a basic part of the Girl Scout program.

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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 co-ordinated 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 the habits formed and the concrete information acquired in these activities both 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 Scouts 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.

To play any game one must know the rules, so the Girl Scouts have Laws that they believe cover most of the needs of the Game of Life.

The Girl Scouts Laws are ten:

I	A Girl Scout's Honor is to be trusted.
II	A Girl Scout is loyal.
III	A Girl Scout's Duty is to be useful and to help others.
IV	A Girl Scout is a friend to all, and a sister to every other Girl Scout.
V	A Girl Scout is Courteous.
VI	A Girl Scout is a friend to Animals.
VII	A Girl Scout obeys Orders.
VIII	A Girl Scout is Cheerful.
IX	A Girl Scout is Thrifty.
X	A Girl Scout is Clean in Thought, Word and Deed.