Scouting now and then

Look for an influence in my life with its ups and downs, variances and challenges and you'll find it within Scouting.

It's always evolving not just for me personally but across the whole movement sometimes in good ways and sometimes as within how your uniform is worn like here regardless each persons achievements in the wearing of jeans, trackpants and trainers not so for what was an "official" photograph.

They do not look smart whatever use they may have elsewhere.

Being smart in your uniform, being inspected and ordered to correct your dress was something my generation grew up in scouts as the girls did in girl guides apart from school and it shows.

This was nineteen seventy-three/four, not everything was right in that era but we always looked smart but had fun, knowing our limits because we were not mini adults but were acknowledged however embarrassing it might of seemed as children and if we were running away with the notion that we were grown up, promptly reminded we were not!

Scouts then was not co-ed because scouting while originally conceived in Edwardian times for Boys had produced a whole wing for Girls and which you joined depended on your sex which pretty much every boy and girl understood.

Personally and certainly with no criticism of the girls in it I feel that was not just a breach of faith with the guiding principals established by Baden-Powell himself but a shot against the bows of the authorized section for girls.

There is evidence from a number of fields that show boys and girls do better in single sex groups with their tasks and learning tailored to each's own interests and program style and the program content can and should reflect present day needs for each.

There is a place for adventure for girls as much as crafts and so-called soft people skills for boys.