|
|
|
|
|||||
 |
White Stag and BSA's Junior Leader TrainingHistorical RelationshipIn the 1970s, the National Council of the Boy Scouts of America used the White Stag Leadership Development program as the basis for the nationally mandated Troop Leadership Development Staff Guide. Then, until the late 1980s, the National Boy Scout of America Junior Leader Training Program and Wood Badge were adaptations of the White Stag Program. In 2000-01, the National BSA revised Wood Badge, and in 2000, it also began to look at how JLT might more follow closely follow the Wood Badge program. White Stag Director Steve Cardinalli served on the JLT Task Force who were given the charge of revising junior leader training. Up until that time, the National Wood Badge and JLT programs cited White Stag as the Historical Origins of National BSA Junior Leader Training. During this time, White Stag continued to teach a set of leadership competencies, which both JLT and Wood Badge also taught, though the National programs' content was more generic. While White Stag had evolved into a three troop, six-year, phased structure, the National JLT program was always a single troop. White Stag relies heavily on ceremonies, generally inspired by Baden Powell's farewell speech at the 1933 World Jamboree, where he recited the story well-known to the Hungarian people:
The National Wood Badge and JLT programs allowed local councils to inject a few spirit and traditions, though they were not encourged. National Council Learns of White StagDuring the 1960s, the National Council learned of the White Stag program and adapted the eleven leadership skills into its training programs. In 1968, program founder Béla Bánáthy completed a report for the National Council of the Boy Scouts of America, titled A Report on An Experiment. The National Council of the Boy Scouts of America continued to study, adapt, and create national prototypes of the White Stag program. National Program is MandatedIn 1974 it published the Troop Leader Development Staff Guide, #6544, which credited White Stag with its origins:
In 1971, the National Council pilot-tested the program at Philmont Scout Reservation. The results were detailed in Scouting magazine in an article detailing the 1971 National BSA Pilot Test of White Stag— the Miracle on Maxwell Mesa. The program was then mandated for use by every council in the United States. Differences and SimilaritiesThe official BSA leadership development staff guides typically contained a subset of the White Stag content. Because White Stag is a multi-year program, we are a little more ambitious in the ideas we want to inculcate in our participants. In other words, we don't try to teach everything to everyone each year, but a portion of it appropriate to the learner's readiness, age, leadership position, and so forth. We encourage participants to return the next year for a bigger portion of the pie. If you compare the content of the White Stag program to the content of the pre-2004 JLT program, you would have found that the White Stag leadership comptency Getting and Giving Information was equivalent to BSA skill Communicating; Problem-Solving is related to Planning; and Manager of Learning is the parent to Effective Teaching. The BSA chose to change the names of these competencies, while we choose to use names more inclusive of the nature of the content as we understand it. For example, when Counseling, you are often also Problem-Solving-but definitely not Planning. You will notice our competency guide for Counseling refers the reader to Problem-Solving. Manager of Learning (MOL) is a much more macro-size competency than the name "Effective Teaching" implies. From our point of view, the name "Effective Teaching" contradicts the spirit of the MOL competency. Béla Bánáthy, the founder of White Stag and man whose research led to the articulation of the eleven leadership competencies, wrote: The significance of instruction is not questioned here at all. The point that is made here is that the learning task is the nucleus around which to design instruction. The role and function of instruction should be viewed in its proper relationship to learning. It should be planned for and provided for accordingly. Instruction is a means to an end and not an end in itself. Its function is to facilitate learning. [1] From the book Resources for Leadership:
The program also employs our 40 years of accumulated spirit and traditions. These are extremely important to the success of the program. These spirit and traditions are designed to affect individuals emotionally, securing in their hearts a desire to become better people. While enabling learning on an intellectual level, White Stag also positively influences people spiritually and emotionally. Individuals typically return again and again to participate in the White Stag program. And with that repeated exposure individuals begin to integrate the leadership role into their personal lives.
|
|
|
|
