Samira wrote:
Honestly I've always thought it funny to give badges and perks and whatever gewgaws there are, for indoor activities. Scouting was originally all about getting boys, and later girls, out of the house into the healthy fresh air. Rewards for basket weaving and making pot holders or whatever just always struck me as a little odd.
My basket turned out more like a hat than an actual basket. Never really did get the hang of that. There has always been a certain amount of indoor activity inherent to the scouting program. Lord Baden Powell, who set it up origionally in England after the Boar war, was looking to give potential military recruits necessary skills that he saw as lacking in his troops. Primarily focused on outdoor activities, compas work, basic camp hygene, foraging and huntiing, archery and rifle familiarity, swimming, lifesaving, etc. The other aspects, such as community relations and knowledge of the government and how it works that you find in the "citizenship in the World / nation / community" were aimed at generating qualtities that Baden powell thought were requisite in an officer. The other indoor ones, wood carving, basket weaving, etc, many of them were added later, but a few of them were there from the beginning having been identified as potentially useful activities when camping in the rough. Don't have a plate to eat off? weave one. Don't have a roof, make one out of leaves like a potholder.
As the program expanded and the U.S. version came into existance, they found that they needed to have additional activities for the various summer camps, especially for when normal outdoor activities got rained out. So they added more. They also added quite a few science related ones.
I ended up with 72 out of the 120 at the time merit badges at the end, and an Eagle Scout badge. Never tell that to a military recruiter though, or even worse have someone you know tell them for you. They will never stop calling you after that. Ever.
