Education in Love

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Baden-Powell arrives from Paris to the Cornavin railway station of Geneva, on 31th July of 1922. Archives of Scouts de Geneve.

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BADEN--POWELL'S THIRD LIFE:PEACE AND LOVE RATHER THAN FEAR

On 31 July 1922, Robert Baden-Powell left Paris, where he took part in the World Organization ofthe Scout Movement's inaugural conference, for Geneva, where he was expected as the keynotespeaker at the 3rd International Congress on Moral Education. This series of congresses gave birthto the International Bureau of Education, in 1925, now placed under the auspices of UNESCO.TheCongress in Geneva was organised by the Jean-Jacques-Rousseau Institute.Parisand Geneva. Within the space of a few days, these two events enabled Baden-Powell to clearlyset out his vision of Scouting following the hard ordeal of World War I. Distraught by the effects ofwar, the Founder entered the third phase of his life. There were three of them: a period of exploringthe world, which lasted from his childhood until his return from the Boer War (1857-1901); afoundation period, involving observing the social ills of British society and experimenting (1902-1920); and finally a mission period, which lasted from after the War until his death. Enthralled withuniversalism, as a result of having seen the Scout Movement spread to numerous countries, hedreamed of making it the League of Nations' youth movement, which is the matrix of the currentUnited Nations Organization. Baden-Powell had become converted to peace.Back to Paris. The idea of an international conference of leading Scouters was born during the firstJamboree in London, in 1920. From 22 to 29 July 1922, at the prestigious Sorbonne University,Scouters met for a founding event. In his address to them, Robert Baden-Powell declared: "Wherethe young citizens, male and female, in all countries are brought up to look upon their neighboursas brothers and sisters in the human family allied together with the common aim of service andsympathetic helpfulness towards eachother, they will no longer think asheretofore in terms of waras against rivals, but in terms of peace and goodwill towards another." Deploring that "the warshowed ushow closedbelow the surface lie the primitive savage instincts of man", B.-P. committedthe Movement to being "summarised as a universal brotherhood of service". And he said: "Thisspirit is the soul that is needed to make the League of Nations a living force instead of a mereformal pact".

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On 1st August in Geneva, he confirmed his position before the participants of the 3rd InternationalCongress on Moral Education. His report, which was prophetically entitled "Education in love inplace of teet", suggested "a way by which a general voluntary training in goodwill and service canbebrought about, in co-operation with school education, in place of the old system of bringing up achild either in the resentment of repressive discipline or in unlimited seld-indulgence. rrThe former general asked a question that wasessential for his Movement's future: "few will disagreewith the feeling that manliness and character must be maintained, but the point is to devise amethod by which it can be done apart from the training of men to war and bloodshed". Baden-Powell explained to researchers from around the world that the Scout Method "would go far toabolish class and industrial differences and to replace fear by love, misunderstanding by sympathy,war by peace".In this little-known text, which is utopic in an era that dreamed of peace, but pragmatic bynature, Baden-Powell offers a vision that helps us to understand what he wanted to do for futuregenerations of boys and girls. It is therefore interesting to bring this text back to the fore in 2007and redistribute it as a conclusion to Scouting's centenary year.It helps us in asking ourselves questions that are still valid today: Are peace and love still at theheart of Scouting's education? How can the fear that all forms of fundamentalism, totalitarianismand social threats can impose on the lives of young people be evacuated?In order to answer these questions, members of the Scout Movement need to remember theFounder's observation that: "Fear has been the weapon of the powerful in terrorising the weaker".We hope that this text will inspire the debates of this Congress.

Introductory text UJritten by Richard AmalvyDirector of Communications , World Scout Bureau

Research and documentation done by Jecn-Clcede MaillardArchivist , Scouts de G e n e v e

'Robert Baden-Powell, in the "Iemboree" magazine, October 1922. WorldScout Bureau archives.-Robert Baden-Powell, Report presented to the Je d International Congresson Moral Education held in Genevafrom 28 July to 1 August 1922. Appeared in "Iemboree", January 1923."The 1924 WorldConference1924 reiterated Scouting's non-military nature (Resolution 16/24).

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JAMBOREE: The World-wide Scout Journal, N9 JANUARY 1923

EDUCATION IN LOVEIN PLACE OF FEARBy Sir Robert Baden-Powell (Chief Scout)

The dominance o f FearI once saw in a temple in the East a three-headed God representing Love, Hatred andPeace; and on asking which of the three was themost worshipped, I was informed that Hatredgot the bulk of the offerings. It was not thatthe people desired to hate, but the fear of thehatred of others made them desire to propitiatethe evil genius.It may seem at first sight absurd that thesepeople should be ruled by fear, but after all,when you come to consider it, it is fear thatdominates our policies in every country in theworld.We desire peace and so we prepare for war,fearing lest the enemy should attack us; wepreach Peace because we fear the horrors ofwar. In our governments we largely use classrepresentation because we fear the legislationof some other class. We are moral to a greatextent because we fear the consequences,whether legal or sentimental, of being foundout.

The fear of poverty, impels us to earn money.Fear of God, in place of love of God, makes somepeople moral, though it means that superstitionhas taken the place of faithThe so-called discipline of an army or navy islargely gaines through fear of punishment.Education has in the past been conducted inits early stages much on the same principle.Fear has been the weapon of the powerful interrorising the weaker.

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A Different Spirit Needed in the WorldChristians when they pray use what is termedthe Lord's Prayer. I believe that historically thisprayer existed before the time of Christ and wasused by various forms of religion; so that thewish expressed in it to "Our Father" that "Hiskingdom may come and His will be done onearth" is very widespread among the peoples,including those even of non-Christian beliefs.In these words we understand that we are allthe children of one Father, not the slaves of atyrant nor enemies of each other, and we holdthe hope that God should come to His own in theworld. God is Love. Therefore it is the reign ofLove that we all pray for. Yet we allow ourselvesto live under the yoke of Fear.Can we not, in addition to passively praying forthe reign of Love, do something to actively hepin bringing it about? I believe that we can.

As the Rev. Alfred Wishart says: "Man is largelyresponsible for social life, and if that life breedswar, poverty, crime, and disease, it is man'sduty to remedy these evils that breed humanmisery. But there is very little recognitionof responsibility by the real agents of humanwrong, because the world has been brought upto believe that God must save and God mustrelieve. All this placing of responsibility uponGod for conditions of life for which man is reallyresponsible deceives men and postpones theadoption of proper remedies."To effectively eradicate an evil it is necessaryto substitute that which is good. To abolish thedomination of Fear we must put some equallypotent influence in its place. If we apply Love inplace of Fearto the various instances referred toabove we at oncegain the diminution of poverty,crime, and disease in our individual countries,and we gain Peacebetween the nations throughmutual trust, honour and goodwill.

Present situation in Europe Threatens Continuation o f MilitarismThe war that was to have ended war has giventhe blessings of freedom and self-determinationto a number of small States; but under theobject lesson of that war and from fear of theirown safety it means that more countries arenow armed for self protection than was the casein 1913. The few great armies of those days arenow replaced by numbers of lesser armies, buttotalling a larger number of armed men in theaggregate. Incidentally, many more sparks arethus available for starting a fire.The fashion of "self-determination" has led somenations to exaggerate their national ambitionwhile in their character they are as yet unripe forself-administration. They have been impatient ofthe slow stages of evolution and have preferredthe more rapide method of revolution. Nominallyrevolution is to secure freedom of the masses.In practice, it has proved itself a more forcefulform of militarism.

It is not the abolition of armies that will do awaywith war anymore than the abolition of police willdo away with crime. We have to do away withthe cause of war; armies are rather the effect,that is the result of Fear and of the fightingspirit. And that is a matter for Education.In the past we have, almost invariably, beentaught to think in terms of war when anyinternational difficulty arises; and the present-day situation in Europe only seems to threatenthe continuance of this reign of Fear.The academic training has taught to generationafter generation their national history withall its victories in war, too often dishonestlyomitting its defeats, and maligning its enemieswhile extolling its piracies. The desirable courseseems to be to change all this and to teach therising generation the peaceful triumphs of theircountry and to think in terms of Peace towardsother countries.

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A Substitute Needed for Military TrainingPersonally I have spent a good part of my lifeas a soldier, and I have in war seen somethingof the brutality and horrors incidental to thisman-authorised murder of God's creatures,our brother-men, together with the ruin oftheir homes and the sufferings of the innocentwomen and children.On the other hand I have also seen for myselfthe splendid qualities of manliness that haebeen evoked through war and soldiering, andtheses are evident in the manhood of all themore warlike nations.The submission of self to rigid discipline, theendurance of hardships, the loyal comradeshipand esprit de corps, the heroism and willingcourage with which men will brace themselvesand go to certain death for their country- all these cannot fail to be appreciated as awidespread result of the military training of menas men in body, mind and spirit.The apprehension exists lest with the abolitionof armies theses valuable virtues of manlinessshould atrophy and die out.

In a notable article in the "Atlantic MonthlyJournal" on "The Moral Equivalent for War",William James has recently written that the timehad come when the human race should devisefor itself some substitute for war - trainingsuch as would make for Peace, but withoutemasculating a nation and making it a herd ofmilk sops and "so much human blubber". Hesays: "War's horrors are a cheap price to pay forrescue from the only alternative supposed, of aworld of clerks and teachers of co-education andzoophily, of consumers' leagues, of industrialismunlimited, and feminism unabashed. No scorn,no hardness, no valour any more! Fie uponsuch a cattle yard of a planet! ... Martial virtuesmust still be the enduring cement; intrepidity,contempt of softness, surrender of privateinterests, obedience to command must stillremain the rock upon which States are built."Lessons of history from the fall of the RomanEmpire downwards have proved the strength ofthis argument. Certain modern nations retainedconscription as much for educative as for warpurposes, and to preserve their race fromdeterioration in its manly qualities.

How to Preserve Manliness in a NationFewwill disagree with the feeling that manlinessand character must be maintained, but thepoint is to devise a method by which it can bedone apart from the training of men to war andbloodshed.Asa solution, Mr. Jamessuggests an idea whichbesides inculcating hardihood and disciplinewould give the idle rich their chance of learningmanliness equally with the destitute poor; hewould have conscription for the whole of theyouth of the country to serve for a term of yearsnot in the army but in coal and iron mines, onfreight trains, aboard the fishing fleet in winter,at road building, tunnel making, and work infoundries and stoke-holes, and on the frames ofsky scrapers, etc.This is truly a hardening process for the pupils,though how far it would meet the employers'views in training the inept youth at his expenseis another question.But physical hardness is not the only quality thatis needed. These occupations, though they dogive valuable results in hardening the individual

and breaking down class differences, do notnecessarily go far in character building which isthe urgent need in the education of the future.Universal seamanship, with its discipline, pluck,resourcefulness, etc., together with its friendlyintercourse with foreign peoples and the ease ofits application, commends itself as a means inthis direction; but unfortunately the amount ofseagoing commerce would make it applicableonlyto a tiny percentageof young men.

International sport will naturally suggest itselfas another means of promoting manlinessand good feeling. But this would rule out theworkers and the weaker. Moreover, in all theseremedies only one sex is referred to - the male.Women today are sharers with the men in thework of the world. On them more than on themen, depend the healthiness both of body andmind of the future generation. The effectiveeducation of women is therefore at least ofequal value with that of the men. They must bein the training too.

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Voluntary SelfEducation in Manliness is PossibleAre there no ideals that we could offer to boyswhich without inculcating war and bloodshedwould yet give them the manly aspiration,admiration of pluck and daring, of self-relianceand heroism and self-sacrifice and chivalry?You have only to ask the boys themselves orlook at the books they read. They will read, itis true, books of fighting and battles, but givethem their choiceand they much prefer stories ofadventure by sea and land, tales of exploration,of big game-hunting, of backwoodsmanship,of airmanship and other lines of life where thehighest manly qualities are displayed by thecharacters.At the same time, it is not every boy that readsor can read, but there is not a boy, literate orilliterate, who is not eager to practise activitiesin imitation of such heroes.The craft and ceremonial and paraphernaliaof the Red Indian or the Zulu has its appealfor every lad; the adventure of actual boatmanagement, or exploration of a strangecountry, the clambering over wild mountains,naturalist research in woodland and forest, thecamping and the woodcraft lore, the pioneeringskill, all have their fascinations for him. It is byusing these attractions as the gilt that the pillof education can be administered. Education as

I read it means not so much putting knowledgeinto the boy as giving him the desire and themethod for acquiring knowledgeApart from the mere scholastic training, moderneducation aims at developing character in theindividual, and also technical skill and physicalhealth. These can be developed through themedium of the activities suggested above if onlythe organisers frame their schemes adroitly andwith understanding.Moreover, much of the open-air life with itsnature study, camping, exploration, mapping,sketching, etc., appeals with equal force andwith equal advantage to girls. Thus, the wholeyouth of the world appears to be ready and onlywaiting for the application of some such trainingif only it were made possible for them.And such training would be voluntary form ofself-education on their part, carried out with allthe energy and enthusiasm of youth.Nor should it interfere with their scholasticinstruction. It could be applied in their out ofschool time, that idle time in which so much ofthe good done within the school walls is undoneagain by wrong surroundings or pursuits.For this reason alone the idea will appeal toteachers.

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International PossibilitiesThen there is a wider possibility. If we are tobring about the end of the Reign of Fear andto have Peace in the world the remedy will lienot so much in legislation to control the warlikepropensities of existing Governments as inthe education of the on-coming generation tointernational goodwill.The ideals and activities that I have suggestedabove appear to have an equal hold on boysand girls of all nationalities alike. In theirpsychology children all the world over are muchthe same until they begin to grow up on thediffering lines resulting from their differentrespective environments. They are at first allalike in their keenness to imbibe ideas and topractise activities which really interest themat that particular age. So that for applying auniversal training you have in this enthusiasma medium ready to hand, and one that meetsrequirements half way.If we cannot get conscription, at least we canget voluntary effort.Already with common interests, improvedinter-communications, and closer similarity ineducational systems, national idiosyncraciesare daily becoming less pronounced, and thegeneral good of the world more effectivelyaimed for. A universal training in the suggestedactivities should therefore not be impossible. Itmerely requires sufficient encouragement andpropaganda.

Every country has its national games widespreadamongst its youth. If the above activities couldbe given the status of national games theywould eventually capture every boy and girl inthe land.They will not only do so in the case of thesoundest and strongest but by their variety andmodifications they also give the opportunity tothe physically and mentally defectives of takingup as much as they are individually capable of,and it cannot fail to do them good.If therefore, all nations come to adopt the sameactivities they will be doing something more thanmerely improve their own national physical andmoral health, for, by having common pursuitswith other nations, the young people will grow upwith a new and widened mutual understandingand an international sympathy with eachother. Inthat case, we should realise the principle of theirthinking in terms of Peacewith eachother insteadof in terms of war, yet without losing any manlyqualities.This may seem to many to be an Utopian dreamtoo visionary for practical politics, and thequestion would naturally be asked: "Could itever be brought about in practice"?

The Boy Scout and Girl Guide TrainingThat question is already answered. The scheme isalready in practice. Although asyet young the boyscout and girl guide movements between themtoday aggregate two million members amongthe rising generations of the different nations ofthe world. They include among them members ofmost of the different religious faiths.Theyalready constitute arecognised Brotherhoodwhose aim is the efficiency of the individual forthe better service of others, i.e. citizenship ofthe highest quality.But the movement is, as I have said, young, andas yet not fully known or understood in somecountries, and this is my excuse for venturingto explain it together with the possibility whichunderlies it.

The principle of the organisation and training ofthe movement is the same for boys as for girls,though in details these necessarily differ.So, too, the principle remains the same, thoughthe details differ, in applying the training to thechildren in accordance with their ages. It is thusprogressive.Moreover it can be, and has been, applied withequal effect to children of every social gradefrom the highest to the poorest. It thus tends toeliminate class distinction.

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OrganisationThe unit is the "Patrol", consisting of six to eightboys or girls under the permanent responsiblecharge of one of their number as patrol leader.Four or five, but not more, of these patrolsare grouped together as a "troop", undera "scoutmaster" or a "guide". This gives asufficient number for one trained to deal witheffectively, since for character training individualattention is essential. In his or her relationshipto the young people the standing of the traineris that of the elder brother or sister rather thanof officer or teacher.

The patrol leaders of the troop form the "Courtof honour" or committee to administer thebusiness of the troop.The troops are classified in three kinds to meetthe age groups of their members. These aredivided into wolf cubs, or brownies, aged fromeight to eleven, for moulding them in the rightdirection; scouts, or guides, from twelve tosixteen, for self-development and education;rovers, or rangers, from seventeen upwards,for preparation for parenthood and for duties inlife.

TrainingThe training is directed to four main ends in each of the three above groups, to develop:(1) Character and intelligence, individual "manliness", i.e., responsibility and self-reliance.(2) Handcraft and skill.(3) Health and strength.(4) Service for others, collective co-operation and goodwill.

The method is to get the pupil to develop thesefor himself from his own inner desire rather thaninstruction imposed upon him from without. Thevarious subjects are presented under one orother form of wood-craft or out-door activities.(Take, for instance, one of the constituentsof character, viz., observation. This is taughtthrough tracking. Tracking is an attractive and

useful subject, and when the boy or girl haslearned to notice and distinguish the variousfoot-prints and marks on the ground or signs andsounds in the air, etc., he goes on to deductionby reading the story that they convey, and thusstimulates his reasoning powers and intelligence,which are contribuants to character.)

UniformThe Brotherhood has its recognised uniformwhich gives at once a fascination in the eyes ofthe boy or girls and breeds an esprit de corpsand self-respect, while its world-wide adoptionbrings the members together under a commonvisible sign in carrying out their common ideal.

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The Promise and LawAdmission to the Brotherhood is through aceremonial where they boy makes a solemnpromise to be loyal to God and his Country andto the ideals of the Movement, and to renderwilling service to other people at all times.These ideals are contained in the ten Scout laws,which are briefly as follows:

I. A Scout's honour is to be trusted.II. A Scout is loyal to the King, his country, his officers, his parents, his employers and

those under him.III.IV.

A Scout's duty is to be useful and to help others.A Scout is a friend to all, and a brother to every other Scout, no matter to what social classthe other belongs.

A Scout is a friend to animals.A Scout obeys orders of his parents, patrol leader, or Scout-master without question.

V.VI.VII.

A Scout is courteous.

VIII. A Scout smiles and whistles under all difficulties.IX. A Scout is thrifty.X. A Scout is dean in thought, word and deed.

Opinions autoriseesThis is not merely a theoretical programme,but one which has been tested and proved bypractice in all countries. Moreover it has hadthe warm approval of educational authorities onall sides. I will only quote one or two examplesfrom the large number we have received.DeanRussell, Professor of Education of ColumbiaUniversity, New York, writes:"It isright that the Scout programme supplementsthe work of the schools ... Its curriculum isadjusted in such a way that the more you studyit and the further you go into it you who areschoolmasters, the more you must beconvincedthat there was a discovery made when it wasput forth. The programme of the Boy Scouts isthe man's job cut down to boy's size. It appealsto the boy not merely because he is a boy butbecause he is a man in the making. And it isjustat this point that the programme of so manyorganisations for boys and girls break down ...The Scout programme does not ask the boyanything that the man does not do; but step by

step it takes him from the place where he is untilhe reaches that place where he would be... It isnot the curriculum of Scouting that is the moststriking feature, but it is the method. And in themethod of Scouting, I ventu re to say, there issomething that we have not seen elsewhere inour day... My friends, as a schoolmaster I wantto tell you that it is my honest conviction thatour schools will not be equal to the task of thenext generation unless we incorporate into themas much as is possible of the Scout spirit andthe Scouting method, and in addition to that, fillup just as many as possible of the leisure hoursof the boy with that out-and-out programme ofScouting."Dean Russell goes on to say that he is confidentthat when schoolmasters realise their obligationto the State, when they understand what thepublic want and must eventually have, whenthey sound the depth of their own patriotismand realise that upon them, more perhaps thanon any other classdepends the future welfare oftheir country, they "will not leave untested anduntried an instrument that makes for so muchgood."

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Mr. Edmond Holmes, the British educationalist,in his latest book, "Give Me the Young", has putforward the axiom that "Practice must precedeProfession", and urgesa fundamentally improvedsystem of education to meet the needs ofmodern times. The old system has been wrongin principle, because it tended too much todevelop inthe pupil fear of punishment, greed forreward, and vanity or envy through competition,instead of encouraging the inherent interest andself-expression of the child. As an example inthe right direction, he says: "We have to askourselves on what general principles oughtschools to be conducted. Here, as it happens,we have been given a lead which we shoulddo well to follow. The Boy Scout movement isby far the most successful attempt which hasyet been made to provide for the education ofadolescents. And it owes its success to the factthat it makes due provision for the satisfactionof two imperious needs of man's nature - theneed to realise one's own self, and the need towork with and for others ... In the Boy Scoutphilosophy of education the balance betweenthe claims of the individual and of the communalself is steadily maintained ...To achieve andmaintain this balance should be the primary aimof all who are interested in education."

Learning by doing, through active self-expression rather than by passive receptionof ideas is the principle employed. This is theprinciple advocated by the Austrian ProfessorCizec when in reply to the questioner who askedhim how he managed to teach his pupils withsuch remarkable results, said: "I don't do it. Itake the lid off, other teachers put it on. That isthe only difference."This only difference, as Mr. Edmond Holmesremarks, "is very nearly the whole differencebetween the right and the wrong method ofeducation. "

ConclusionEducation has of late years widened its outlookbeyond the walls of the school and especiallyin its international development. I have hereventured to suggest a way by which a generalvoluntary training in goodwill and service canbe brought about, in co-operation with schooleducation, in place of the old system of bringingup a child either in the resentment of repressivediscipline or in unlimited self-indulgence.If this training be carried out for both sexes ona sufficiently universal basis it should have amarked effect on the character and well-beingof a nation.It would give a different impulse to action andwould go far to abolish class and industrialdifferences and to replace Fear by Love,Misunderstanding by Sympathy, War by Peace.

The training includes the development of Self-Reliance and Chivalry side by side with thepromotion of physical activity and prowess.It is therefore capable of developing a newmanliness among the boys side by side witha fuller character among the girls, such as willneutralise any loss of military training or theover-extolling of military virtues.If such training be encouraged in all countriesin such manner that the rising generationthroughout the world feel themselves tangiblylinked in Brotherhood, it is going to contributemarkedly to the abolition of war and to thecoming of that long-looked-for era of peace andgoodwill among men.

Robert Baden- Powell

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Education in Love

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