About the Boy Scouts of America

Note: All information on this page is from the Boy Scouts of America official website.



The purpose of the Boy Scouts of America, incorporated on February 8, 1910, and chartered by Congress in 1916, is to
     provide an educational program for boys and young adults to build character, to train in the responsibilities of
     participating citizenship, and to develop personal fitness.

Boy Scout Program Membership

Boy Scouting, one of the membership divisions of the BSA, is available to boys who have earned the
Arrow of Light Award or have completed the fifth grade, or who are 11 through 17 years old. The
program achieves the BSA's objectives of developing character, citizenship, and personal fitness qualities
among youth by focusing on a vigorous program of outdoor activities.

As of December 31, 1998, the Boy Scout program membership is

1,023,149
Boy Scouts/Varsity Scouts

53,184
Troops/teams

508,459
Adult volunteers

Volunteer Scouters

Thousands of volunteer leaders, both men and women, are involved in the Boy Scouting program. They
serve in a variety of jobs - everything from unit leaders to chairmen of troop committees, committee
members, merit badge counselors, and chartered organization representatives.

Like other phases of the program, Boy Scouting is made available to community organizations having
similar interests and goals. Chartered organizations include professional organizations; governmental
bodies; and religious, educational, civic, fraternal, business, labor, and citizens' groups. Each organization
appoints one of its members as the chartered organization representative. The organization is responsible
for leadership, the meeting place, and support for troop activities.

Who Pays for It?

Several groups are responsible for supporting Boy Scouting: the boy and his parents, the troop, the
chartered organization, and the community. Boys are encouraged to earn money whenever possible to
pay their own expenses, and they also contribute dues to their troop treasuries to pay for budgeted items.
Troops obtain additional income by working on approved money-earning projects. The community,
including parents, supports Scouting through the United Way, Friends of Scouting campaigns, bequests,
and special contributions to the BSA local council. This income provides leadership training, outdoor
programs, council service centers and other facilities, and professional service for units.

Aims and Methods of the Scouting Program

The Scouting program has three specific objectives, commonly referred to as the "Aims of Scouting." They
are character development, citizenship training, and personal fitness.

The methods by which the aims are achieved are listed below in random order to emphasize the equal
importance of each.

Ideals
The ideals of Boy Scouting are spelled out in the Scout Oath, the Scout Law, the Scout motto, and
the Scout slogan. The Boy Scout measures himself against these ideals and continually tries to
improve. The goals are high, and as he reaches for them, he has some control over what and who
he becomes.

Patrols
The patrol method gives Boy Scouts an experience in group living and participating citizenship. It
places responsibility on young shoulders and teaches boys how to accept it. The patrol method
allows Scouts to interact in small groups where members can easily relate to each other. These
small groups determine troop activities through elected representatives.

Outdoor Programs
Boy Scouting is designed to take place outdoors. It is in the outdoor setting that Scouts share responsibilities and learn
to live with one another. In the outdoors the skills and activities practiced at troop meetings come alive with purpose.
Being close to nature helps Boy Scouts gain an appreciation for the beauty of the world around us. The outdoors is the
laboratory in which Boy Scouts learn ecology and practice conservation of nature's resources.

Advancement
Boy Scouting provides a series of surmountable obstacles and steps in overcoming them through the advancement
method. The Boy Scout plans his advancement and progresses at his own pace as he meets each challenge. The Boy
Scout is rewarded for each achievement, which helps him gain self-confidence. The steps in the advancement system
help a Boy Scout grow in self-reliance and in the ability to help others.

Associations With Adults
Boys learn a great deal by watching how adults conduct themselves. Scout leaders can be positive role models for the
members of the troop. In many cases a Scoutmaster who is willing to listen to boys, encourage them, and take a
sincere interest in them can make a profound difference in their lives.

Personal Growth
As Boy Scouts plan their activities and progress toward their goals, they experience personal growth. The Good Turn
concept is a major part of the personal growth method of Boy Scouting. Boys grow as they participate in community
service projects and do Good Turns for others. Probably no device is as successful in developing a basis for personal
growth as the daily Good Turn. The religious emblems program also is a large part of the personal growth method.
Frequent personal conferences with his Scoutmaster help each Boy Scout to determine his growth toward Scouting's
aims.

Leadership Development
The Boy Scout program encourages boys to learn and practice leadership skills. Every Boy Scout has the opportunity
to participate in both shared and total leadership situations. Understanding the concepts of leadership helps a boy
accept the leadership role of others and guides him toward the citizenship aim of Scouting.

Uniform
The uniform makes the Boy Scout troop visible as a force for good and creates a positive youth image in the
community. Boy Scouting is an action program, and wearing the uniform is an action that shows each Boy Scout's
commitment to the aims and purposes of Scouting. The uniform gives the Boy Scout identity in a world brotherhood
of youth who believe in the same ideals. The uniform is practical attire for Boy Scout activities and provides a way for
Boy Scouts to wear the badges that show what they have accomplished.

Outdoor Activities

Local councils operate and maintain Scout camps. The National Council operates high-adventure areas at Philmont Scout
Ranch in New Mexico, the Northern Tier National High Adventure Program in Minnesota and Canada, and the Florida
National High Adventure Sea Base in the Florida Keys. About 70 councils also operate high-adventure programs.

The BSA conducts a national Scout jamboree every four years and participates in world Scout jamborees (also held at
four-year intervals). Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia, was the site of the 1997 National Scout Jamboree.

The Beginning of Scouting

Scouting, as known to millions of youth and adults, evolved during the early 1900s through the efforts of several men
dedicated to bettering youth. These pioneers of the program conceived outdoor activities that developed skills in young boys
and gave them a sense of enjoyment, fellowship, and a code of conduct for everyday living.

In this country and abroad at the turn of the century, it was thought that children needed certain kinds of education that the
schools couldn't or didn't provide. This led to the formation of a variety of youth groups, many with the word "Scout" in
their names. For example, Ernest Thompson Seton, an American naturalist, artist, writer, and lecturer, originated a group
called the Woodcraft Indians and in 1902 wrote a guidebook for boys in his organization called the Birch Bark Roll.
Meanwhile in Britain, Robert Baden-Powell, after returning to his country a hero following military service in Africa, found
boys reading the manual he had written for his regiment on stalking and survival in the wild. Gathering ideas from Seton,
America's Daniel Carter Beard, and other Scoutcraft experts, Baden-Powell rewrote his manual as a nonmilitary skill book,
which he titled Scouting for Boys. The book rapidly gained a wide readership in England and soon became popular in the
United States. In 1907, when Baden-Powell held the first campout for Scouts on Brownsea Island off the coast of England,
troops were spontaneously springing up in America.

William D. Boyce, a Chicago publisher, incorporated the Boy Scouts of America in 1910 after meeting with Baden-Powell.
(Boyce was inspired to meet with the British founder by an unknown Scout who led him out of a dense London fog and
refused to take a tip for doing a Good Turn.) Immediately after its incorporation, the BSA was assisted by officers of the
YMCA in organizing a task force to help community organizations start and maintain a high-quality Scouting program.
Those efforts climaxed in the organization of the nation's first Scout camp at Lake George, New York, directed by Ernest
Thompson Seton. Beard, who had established another youth group, the Sons of Daniel Boone (which he later merged with
the BSA), provided assistance. Also on hand for this historic event was James E. West, a lawyer and an advocate of
children's rights, who later would become the first professional Chief Scout Executive of the Boy Scouts of America. Seton
became the first volunteer national Chief Scout, and Beard, the first national Scout Commissioner.

Publications

The BSA publishes the Boy Scout Handbook (more than 35 million copies of which have been printed); the Junior Leader
Handbook, which offers information relevant to boy leadership; the Scoutmaster Handbook; more than 100 merit badge
pamphlets dealing with hobbies, vocations, and advanced Scoutcraft; and program features and various kinds of training,
administrative, and organizational manuals for adult volunteer leaders and Boy Scouts. In addition, the BSA publishes Boys'
Life magazine, the national magazine for all boys (magazine circulation is more than 1.3 million) and Scouting magazine
for volunteers, which has a circulation of 900,000.

Conservation

Conservation activities supplement the program of Boy Scout advancement, summer camp, and outdoor activities and
teaches young people to better understand their interdependence with the environment.