Bring Back Scouting?

My last post about people who sound ignorant suffering professionally, combined with this story from UK about kids knowing Dr. Who "Daleks" but not being able to identify a magpie outdoors, makes me think that we desperately need to bring back the old scouting tradition. Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, Brownies, Campfire Girls.

I read Robert Baden-Powell's original 1908 scouting manual recently, and was struck with the plan for organizing the lives of children who desperately need organization. The book is undeniably old-fashioned in its desire that boys be taught how to be proper citizens in addition to learning woodcraft skills.

The plan would help parents and adults, too, as it would require them to act as responsible for adults, for perhaps the first time in their lives. It has to be better than the situation that UK, especially, finds itself in with regards to rampant crime and hooliganism.

I think it's worth considering, anyway. Buy the book, and the similar US version published in 1911, and you'll see what I mean.