Not too long ago, my church asked me to work with the 11-year old Scouts. This really got me excited, because before this change I was teaching the 11-year olds in church. And, as anyone who has tried to make a group of 11-year old boys and girls sit down and be quiet for two hours can tell you, it's a difficult and stressful experience--for everyone. It's tough on the kids, it's tough on the teacher, and it's tough on the classroom (because you can bet a lot of that stress gets taken out on chairs, windows, blackboards, etc.) I really believe that the classroom is a very difficult environment to manage and I don't think it's a good place for a teacher to start out. Yet, what percentage of teaching is in a classroom? A lot! I don't dare give numbers, because I don't know, but I'm sure we can agree it's a lot.
So, where do you teach? The easy answer is, "in the environment where the skill or behavior is generally exhibited" (thank you Gilbert, Bloom, Skinner, Mager, etc.) The problem is it's rarely feasible (which is the easy excuse). Obvious examples like military training, crocodile hunting, and child-rearing should not be on-the-job (OTJ) training. I mean, more often or not we learn OTJ, but that doesn't make it always right. My thought is that learning needs to be more of a guided experience where the teacher acts as a safety net and councilor in actual situations, not necessarily the actual situation, but good situations (which is really stinkin' hard). But, this is exactly what I find in Scouting.
The training area is the outdoors, but how many kids will live outdoors the rest of their lives? Not many, but it's the environment where man learned fire. The outdoors, with simple shelter, is where man learned to build bridges and cook food. Because the surroundings are simple, simple problems become real to the boys. And, the best part is that the boys know there are answers to these problems, (we're not living in caves anymore) so they have faith that they can discover the answer. Scouts need real problems. Not the really real problems they face eventually like drugs, crime, and morality issues---those will come when I'm not there and neither are the parents. So, we have to prepare them with real problems so they're ready for real problems. What Scouting gives boys is the chance to solve problems regularly, which is how problem-solving skills are developed.
Also, in Scouting, the patrol is run by the Scouts. Not the Scout Master, not the parents, but the Scout. That's always the goal of Scouting; to get the boys to run the show. And, it's really a difficult system to manage because all I want to do as a Scout Master is get things done. Sure, I could do a good job if I ran the whole show, but that's not how it works. It's takes an immense amount of maturity on my part (and the parents) to make the Troop work. Because, again, you can't lead unless you've led. Scouting is a place for boys to get dirty, make mistakes, and come back from camping in -30° degree weather with a smile. Moms, Dads, and Scout Masters sometimes struggle with that because getting dirty (we've learned) isn't that much fun anymore; we've taken our licks. But getting dirty for the first time is kind of fun... if you can remmeber that far back, you'll admit it. It's especially fun when the Scout doesn't have to think about the consequences (like buying new clothes, getting clean again, etc.).
Anyway, I'm currently enamored with the Scouting philosophy. It's not a perfect organization, but I think there is a good structure for fun and I'm excited to see what will happen with this troop.