








file was made using scans of public domain works put online
by Harvard University Library's Open Collections Program,
Women Working 1800 - 1930)









             DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
                 BUREAU OF EDUCATION


              BULLETIN, 1921, No. 46


              EDUCATIONAL WORK OF THE
                    GIRL SCOUTS


               LOUISE STEVENS BRYANT
          EDUCATIONAL SECRETARY GIRL SCOUTS


 [Advance sheets from the Biennial Survey of Education in
            the United States, 1918-1920]


      [Illustration: DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR]


                      WASHINGTON
              GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
                        1921


                  ADDITIONAL COPIES
       OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE PROCURED FROM
           THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS
              GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
                  WASHINGTON, D. C.
                          AT
                   5 CENTS PER COPY




EDUCATIONAL WORK OF THE GIRL SCOUTS.

By LOUISE STEVENS BRYANT,

_Educational Secretary, Girl Scouts._


CONTENTS.--History and growth--Activities--Methods--Organization.


Do you believe that girls should like to work at home, to cook and clean
house and mind the baby? Do you believe that a girl should like to take
care of her clothes and be able to make them; that she should know how
to be thrifty and to conserve the family money in buying and using food
and clothing; that she should play a fair game and put the group above
her personal interests? Do you believe that she should value a strong
healthy body above clothes and cosmetics, and rejoice in the hope of
being some day the healthy mother of healthy children?

If you do, you believe in the Girl Scouts, for in this organization the
girls learn all these things in such a happy way that they _like_ to do
them, which means that they keep on doing them.

The Girl Scouts, a national organization, is open to any girl who
expresses her desire to join, and voluntarily accepts the promise and
the laws. The object of the Girl Scouts is to bring to all girls the
opportunity for group experience, outdoor life, and to learn through
work, but more by play, to serve their community. Patterned after the
Girl Guides of England, the sister organization of the Boy Scouts, the
Girl Scouts have developed a method of self-government and a variety of
activities that appear to be well suited to the desires of the girls, as
the 89,864 scouts and the 2,500 new applicants each month testify.




HISTORY AND GROWTH.


Girl Scouts and their leaders, to the number of 89,864, were in 1920
organized in every State, and in Hawaii, Porto Rico, and Alaska. There
are troops in 1,400 cities, and local councils in 162 places. This
represents a tremendous growth since the founding by Mrs. Juliette Low
in March, 1912, of a handful of enthusiastic "Girl Guides" in Savannah,
Ga. In 1915 the growth of the movement warranted its national
incorporation; so headquarters were established in Washington, D. C.,
and the name changed to Girl Scouts, Incorporated. In 1916 the
headquarters were removed to New York, and are now located at 189
Lexington Avenue.

From the start the organization has been nonsectarian and open to all
races and nationalities. Through the International Council the Girl
Scouts are affiliated with the Girl Guides of England and all parts of
the British Empire, and similar organizations in other parts of the
world.

At the 1920 meeting of the international conference at London, reports
were received from Italy, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Poland, Norway,
Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Portugal, Russia, Czechoslovakia, Brazil,
Argentina, Japan, China, and Siberia, as well as from all parts of the
British Empire, and the United States.

From a membership of 9,769 in January, 1918, the girl scouts grew to
89,864 in 1921, at the rate of nearly 10 to 1 in three years. The
greatest relative growth was in 1918, when the membership grew fourfold.
During 1919 the increase over the preceding year was more than
two-thirds, while in 1920 the relative increase was one-third. The
details are as shown in the accompanying table.

This growth is due to a spontaneous demand of community after community
for scouting for girls, and not to deliberate propaganda on the part of
the national headquarters. The reasons for it are therefore to be sought
in the activities and methods themselves, which make such widespread
appeal.




ACTIVITIES.


A glance through the handbook, Scouting for Girls, will show that the
activities of the girl scouts center about the three interests--Home,
Health, and Citizenship.

_Home._--The program provides incentives for practicing woman's
world-old arts by requiring an elementary proficiency in cooking,
housekeeping, first aid, and the rules of healthful living for any girl
scout passing beyond the Tenderfoot stage. Of the forty-odd subjects for
which Proficiency Badges are given, more than one-fourth are in subjects
directly related to the services of woman in the home, as mother, nurse,
or home-keeper.

_Growth of Girl Scout membership, Jan. 1, 1918, to Jan. 1, 1921--Active
registrations._

 January 1.  Officers.  Increase.  Scouts.  Increase.  Total.  Increase.

 1918          1,314     ......     8,455    ......     9,769   ......
 1919          3,823      2,509    36,847    28,392    40,670   30,901
 1920          5,357      1,534    61,754    24,907    67,111   26,441
 1921          6,839      1,482    83,025    21,271    89,864   22,753

Into this work, so often distasteful because solitary, is brought the
sense of comradeship. This is effected partly by having much of the
actual training done in groups. Another element is the public
recognition and rewarding of skill in this, woman's most elementary
service to the world, usually taken for granted and ignored.

The spirit of play infused into the simplest and most repetitious of
household tasks banishes drudgery. "Give us, oh, give us," says Carlyle,
"the man who sings at his work. He will do more in the same time, he
will do it better, he will persevere longer. Wondrous is the strength of
cheerfulness; altogether past comprehension its power of endurance."

While the place of most production is to-day outside the home, much of
the final preparation of goods, particularly food and clothing, is still
done there. So that, while the homecrafts are far from being the vital
necessities they once were, they are still needed.

Handicrafts of many sorts enter into the program of the girl scouts. In
camping, girls must know how to set up tents, build lean-to's, and
construct fireplaces. They must also know how to make knots of various
sorts to use for bandages, tying parcels, hitching, etc. Among the
productive occupations in which Proficiency Badges are awarded are
cooking, house planning, beekeeping, dairying and general farming,
gardening, millinery, weaving, and needlework.

While production has left the home, consumption is increasingly the
business of the home-keeping woman. There are few purchases, even for
men's own use, which women do not have a hand in selecting. Practically
the entire burden of household buying in all departments falls on the
woman, who is thus in a position to learn how to spend wisely and make
the most of each dollar. In France this has long been recognized, and
the women of the middle classes are the buying partners and bookkeepers
in their husbands' business.

The girl-scout organization encourages thrifty habits and economy in
buying in all of its activities. The scout troops are self-supporting,
and are expected to earn most of their equipment by means of rallies,
pageants, plays, as well as by individual effort. One of the 10 scout
laws is that "A girl scout is thrifty."

_Health._--The girl scout learns that "a cheerful scout, a clean scout,
a helpful scout is a well scout. She is the only scout that really _is
prepared_." So that health, physical and mental, is the keynote to the
scout activities, which are calculated to develop the habit of health,
rather than simply to give information about anatomy or physiology.
Personal health is recognized by the badge of "Health Winner," given to
the girl who for three months follows certain rules of living, such as
eating only wholesome food, drinking plenty of water, going to bed
early, exercising in the open air, and keeping clean, and who shows the
result by improved posture, and by the absence of constipation and
colds. Outdoor sports, swimming, boating, and dancing are other
health-producing activities.

Of all health-promoting activities, camping is the best, and this means
all stages of life in the open, from the day's hike, with one meal out
of doors, to the overnight or week-end hike, and finally the real, big
camp, open all summer. Girl scouts learn how to dress for outdoor
living, how to walk without fatigue, and how to provide themselves with
food, warmth, and shelter, so that "roughing it" does not mean being
uncomfortable.

During 1920, 50 large girl-scout camps were maintained in 16 States.
These are self-supporting, and as they are open for 10 weeks as a rule
and accommodate about 50 girls at a time, they give an opportunity to
several thousand for the best sort of holiday.

The idea is to have enough camps to give every scout the experience. To
promote this work national headquarters maintains a camping section and
has published a book, "Campward Ho!" which gives full directions for
organizing and running large, self-supporting camps for girls.

Community health habits are quite as important as the purely personal,
and the older girl scout is expected to become a "health guardian,"
which means that she takes an intelligent interest in the things
pertaining to public health, such as playgrounds, swimming pools, school
lunches, the water and milk supplies, clean streets, the disposition of
waste and garbage, the registration of births, and the prevention of
infant mortality. She also learns how to help in times of emergency as
first aid, in sickness as home nurse, and at any time as child nurse.

A scout whose mind is filled with interesting facts about birds and
animals and trees, and who is busy playing games with her companions or
in making useful and beautiful things and in rendering active service to
her home and community, is apt to have a healthy mind without thinking
much about it. And she has a little rule for the blue times, which is
"to smile and sing under all difficulties."

_Citizenship._--The basic organization of the girl scouts into the
self-governing unit of a patrol is in itself an excellent means of
political training. Patrols and troops conduct their own meetings, and
the scouts learn the elements of parliamentary law. Working together in
groups, they realize the necessity for democratic decisions. They also
come to have community interests of an impersonal sort. This is perhaps
the greatest single contribution of the scouts toward the training of
girls for citizenship. Little boys play not only together but with men
and boys of all ages. The interest of baseball is not confined to any
one age. The rules of the game are the same for all, and the smallest
boy's judgment on the skill of the players may be as valid as that of
the oldest "fan." Girls have had in the past no such common interests.
Their games have been either solitary or in very small groups, in
activities largely of a personal character. If women are to be effective
in modern political society, they must have from earliest youth
gregarious interests and occupations.

Among the scout activities that tend to develop this larger community
sense are games, athletic sports of all kinds, including team work and
competition between small, well-knit groups. Folk dancing and other
forms of amusement, such as dramatics, pageants, and story-telling,
serve a similar purpose because they all mean the possession of a
resource not only for the right use of the girl's own leisure time, but
for serving this need in the community.




METHODS.


The activities of the girl scouts are, of course, not peculiar to this
organization. Every one of them is provided for elsewhere, in schools,
clubs, and societies. But the way in which they are combined and
coordinated about certain basic principles is peculiar to the girl
scouts.

In the first place all these activities have a common motive, which is
preparation for a fuller life for the individual, not only in her
personal but in her social relations. It is believed that both the
habits formed and the concrete information acquired contribute to the
girls being ready to meet intelligently most of the situations that are
likely to arise in their later life. This concept is expressed in the
girl scout's motto, "Be prepared."

The method of preparation followed is that found in nature, whereby
young animals and birds _play_ at doing all the things they will need to
do well when they are grown and must feed and fend for themselves and
their babies.

The heart of the girl scouts' laws is helpfulness, and so the scouts
have a slogan: "Do a good turn daily." By following this in letter and
spirit, helpfulness becomes second nature.

Because the girl scouts are citizens they know and respect the meaning
of the flag, and one of the first things they learn is the pledge:

"I pledge allegiance to my flag, and to the Republic for which it
stands; one Nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

Some observers have criticized the girl-scout organization because of
its apparently military character. It is true that the girls wear a
uniform of khaki and are grouped in patrols corresponding to the "fours"
in the Army; that they salute and learn simple forms of drill and
signaling. But the reason they do these is because the military
organization happens to be the oldest form of organization in the world,
and it works. It is the best way men have found of getting a number of
persons to work together. Following directions given to a group is quite
a different matter from doing something alone, and most of us need
special training in this. A group of eight has been found to work the
best, because it is the largest number that can be handled by a person
just beginning to be a leader, and, moreover, elementary qualities of
leadership seem to exist in just about the proportion of one in eight.
It is probably on this account that children take so kindly to the form,
rather than because of any glamor of the army, though this must be
admitted as a factor. In actual practice the drill and signaling take up
a very small portion of the program and are nowhere followed as ends in
themselves, but only as a means to an end.

_Uniform._--The uniform is simple, durable, and allows freedom of
action. It is of khaki because this has been found to be the best
wearing fabric and color. It is not easily torn and does not readily
soil. Wearing it gives the girls a sense of belonging to a larger group,
such as it is hard to get in any other way. It keeps constantly before
them the fact that they represent a community to whose laws they have
voluntarily subscribed, and whose honor they uphold. It is well, too, to
have an impersonal costume, if for no other reason than to counteract
the tendency of girls to concentrate upon their personal appearance. To
have a neat, simple, useful garb is a novel experience to many an
overdressed doll who has been taught to measure all worth by
extravagance of appearance.




ORGANIZATION.


The outstanding feature of the girl-scout organization is its voluntary
character. Among some 7,400 officers and leaders of girl scouts
throughout the country in the fall of 1920, just 211 were "paid
workers." This is about 3 per cent. The organization is actually a great
volunteer school of citizenship in which the women of the country share
with their younger sisters the results of their own experience in ideals
and practical working knowledge of community living. Scout troops are
organized either independently or in connection with public and private
schools, churches, settlements, and other associations.

_Scouts of different ages._--The original girl-scout program was
designed mainly with the needs of the young adolescent in mind, and the
age was fixed from 10 to 18 years. But the little girls wanted to come
in, and so a separate division was made for them called the Brownies or
Junior Scouts. Then the older girls and women wanted to join, and as
time went on the original girl scouts grew up but not out of the scout
movement, and programs are being made for Citizen Scouts who are 18 and
over.

The three age groups seem to be natural ones, and each has its own
methods and activities. The Brownies are formed into packs, under the
leadership of a "Brown Owl," and play games and learn self-help and how
to "lend a hand" to their families. The Citizen Scouts are expected to
be self-directing and to take actual part in the life of the community
and, either as wage earners or service givers, to pay their way.

But the large majority of all girl scouts belong to the middle group.
More girls register at 13 than at any other age. This is interesting, as
it marks the age of susceptibility to social ideas, shown also by the
fact that it is the most common age of religious conversion. It is also
the age of first crime. The distribution of ages at first registration
is shown by the accompanying table.

The organization of the regular girl scouts is as follows:

_Ages of Girl Scouts at first registration._

  ------------+--------+-----------
  Ages.       | Number.| Per 1,000.
  ------------+--------+-----------
              |        |
  6-9         |    440 |         5
  10          |  6,059 |        73
  11          |  9,130 |       110
  12          | 14,857 |       179
  13          | 16,434 |       198
  14          | 14,276 |       172
  15          | 10,707 |       129
  16          |  5,810 |        70
  17          |  3,486 |        42
              +--------+-----------
  Total 10-17 | 80,759 |       978
  18 and over |  1,826 |        22
              +--------+-----------
  Grand total | 83,025 |     1,000
  ------------+--------+-----------

_Patrol._--Eight girls form a Patrol, which is the working unit. One of
them is elected patrol leader and has charge of the activities for as
long as the patrol wishes. It is desirable to have each girl of a patrol
serve as a leader at some time or other.

_Troop._--One or more patrols constitute a Troop, which is the
administrative unit recognized by the national organization. The Troop
meets weekly and wherever possible at a place which "belongs" to it.
When possible troops should meet outdoors. The troops are
self-supporting and earn money for all equipment as well as for camps
and hikes or special activities. Troops are registered with national
headquarters and pay annual dues of 50 cents for each member. They also
have their own local dues, generally 5 or 10 cents weekly.

_Captain._--The troop is under the direction of a Captain, who must be
at least 21 years of age and whose qualification as a leader of young
girls is passed upon by national headquarters before she is
commissioned.

_Lieutenant._--A captain may have one or more Lieutenants, who must be
at least 18 years of age, and whose commissions are likewise subject to
control by national headquarters. Captains and lieutenants may be
organized into associations in any given locality.

_Scout classes._--There are three classes of girl scouts, the youngest
being the "Tenderfoot," the name given by frontiersmen to the man from
the city who is not hardened to the rough life out of doors. Even the
Tenderfoot, however, has to know some things, including the promise,
laws, slogan, and motto; how to salute and the respect due to the flag;
how to make an American flag; and how to tie at least four kinds of
useful knots. She must also have earned enough money to buy some part of
her scout equipment.

The "Second-class" scout has been a tenderfoot for at least one month
and can pass a test of distinctly greater difficulty. This includes,
under home interests, the ability to make fires in stoves and out of
doors, to cook a simple dish so that it will be palatable, to set a
table for two courses, to make an ordinary and a hospital bed, and to
sew.

Under health interests, she must know the main rules of healthful
living, her own height and weight, and their relation to the standard;
some simple first-aid points such as stopping bleeding, removing speck
from eye, and bandaging a sprained ankle. She must also have a variety
of facts at her command that will keep her alert and interested when out
of doors, such as an acquaintance with animals, birds, and plants, the
use of a compass, the alphabet of a signal code; and must demonstrate
her ability to observe her surroundings accurately and quickly so as to
report upon them.

Under topics preparing for citizenship she must know the history of the
American flag, how to prevent fire, and what to do in case of fire, and
must have served her troop, church, or community in some way and earned
or saved money for some personal or troop equipment.

The highest rank is that of "First-class" scout, and is to be attained
only by a young person of considerable accomplishment. She must be able
to find her way about city or country without any of the usual aids,
using only the compass and her developed judgment of distance and
direction. She must also be able to communicate and receive messages by
signaling. She must have shown proficiency in home nursing, first aid,
and housekeeping, and, in addition, in either child care, personal
health, laundering, cooking, needlework, or gardening. She must also be
an all-round outdoors person, familiar with camping and able to lead in
this, or be a good skater or a naturalist or be able to swim. Not only
must she know all these different things, but she must have trained a
tenderfoot, started a savings account, and served her community in some
tangible way.

_Proficiency badges._--After a girl scout has attained to first class
there are still other worlds to conquer, as the badges she has earned on
the way are only a few of the many to be worked toward. There are no
less than 47 subjects in which a scout may achieve, and more are being
added. Just to mention a few: A girl scout may be an artist, a
beekeeper, a business woman, a craftsman, or a dancer; an electrician, a
farmer, a flower finder, a horsewoman, an interpreter, a motorist; or a
musician, a scribe, a swimmer, or a star gazer. The highest award given
is the Golden Eaglet, which means the earning of 21 Merit Badges, of
which 15 are in required subjects.

About 2,000 Merit Badges are earned a month. An analysis of the subjects
shows that home nursing is the most popular, with 126 of each 1,000
earned. Laundress comes next with 97. First aid is next with 67.
Needlewoman, child nurse, cook, pathfinder, health guardian, flower
finder or zoologist, and home maker complete the first 10 most popular
badges, with between 61 and 38 in each 1,000. The details are shown in
the accompanying table.

_Local councils._--Where troops are numerous it is usual to form a
council composed of women and men representing all the best interests of
the community: Parents, schools, religious denominations of all sorts,
business, producers, women's clubs, and other social and philanthropic
organizations. The council acts as the link between the girl scouts and
the community. It has the same relation to the separate troops that the
school board has to the schools--that is, it guides and decides upon
policies and standards, interprets the scouts to the community and the
community to the scouts. It does not do the executive or teaching work;
that belongs to the directors, captains, lieutenants, and patrol
leaders.

One function of the council is to interest public-spirited women and
men, particularly artists and scientists, in girl-scout work and to get
them to act as referees in awarding proficiency badges.

But wisdom is to be sought not only in large cities, where there are
schools and museums, laboratories and studios. It is a poor community
that does not have at least one wise old person--a farmer learned in
nature's ways, a retired sailor stocked with sea lore, or a mother of
men who knows life as perhaps no one else can. The wise council will
know where to find these natural teachers and see that the scouts go to
their schools.

Another prime function of the council is to raise funds and to make
available such material equipment as camp sites, meeting places for the
troops, etc. The captain should turn to the council for help in
arranging and directing rallies, dances, fairs, pageants, and other
devices for entertainment or securing money.

_National organization._--The central governing body of the girl scouts
is the national council, holding an annual convention of elected
delegates from all local groups. The national council works through an
executive board, which meets monthly and conducts national headquarters
in New York. The national director is in charge of headquarters and his
direct responsibility for the administration of the whole organization,
with the general divisions of field, business, publication, and
education, each in charge of a secretary.

The field work is administered through 14 regions, each covering several
States, and in charge of a regional director, who helps in the formation
of local councils, the training of captains, and acts as general
supervisor and consultant for all work in the district.

Under business comes the handling of mails, all the work of the shop
where uniforms, insignia, books, badges, flags, and other equipment are
sold, and the distribution of material ordered by mail.

There are three classes of publications: First, a monthly journal, The
American Girl. Second, pamphlets and articles for general propaganda and
publicity; these are handled by the editorial and publicity staffs,
respectively. Third come publications of a technical nature, like the
official handbooks for scouts and officers and outlines for training
courses. These form part of the work of the education department, which
has general oversight of all that pertains to training for leaders and
the development of standards of work, including the important feature of
coordinating the girl scouts with the other educational and social
organizations. Camping also forms a part of the work of the education
department.

During 1919 and 1920 the following publications were issued:

     _Scouting for Girls:_ The official handbook, 576 pages.

     _Campward Ho:_ A manual for girl-scout camps, 192 pages.
     Designed to cover the needs of those undertaking to organize
     and direct large, self-supporting camps for girls.

     _The Blue Book of Rules for Girl Scout Captains:_ All
     official rules and regulations, 32 pages.

     _Training Courses:_ (1) Outline for 32-period course, 17
     pages. (2) Introductory course, 10 periods, 16 pages.

     _Girl Scout Health Record:_ Booklet form for recording points
     for health winner's badge.

     _Miscellaneous Pamphlets:_ Averaging 8 pages; 128,325 copies.

_Need for leaders._--The growth in membership has been twice as rapid
among the scouts as it has among the officers, as may be seen in the
table already given. For every scout in 1918 we have 10 in 1921. For
every officer in 1918 we have but 5 in 1921. For some time to come,
therefore, the energy of the national officers must be directed toward
the securing of properly trained leaders.

Colleges and higher schools are responding to a gratifying extent with
the introduction of training courses in scouting for girls. Within two
years courses have been given at the following colleges or
universities: Adelphi, Boston, Bryn Mawr, Carnegie Institute,
Cincinnati, Converse, Elmira, Hunter, Johns Hopkins, Missouri, New
Rochelle, Northwestern, Pittsburg, Rochester Mechanics' Institute,
Rochester University, Rockford, Simmons, Smith, Syracuse, Teachers'
College, and Vassar. Also at the following higher schools: Battle Creek
Normal School of Physical Education, Brooklyn Training School for
Teachers, Chautauqua Institute, Chicago Normal School of Physical
Education, Community Service Council of Marquette County, Mich.,
Manhattan Trade School for Girls, Milwaukee Normal, State Normal at
Pittsburgh, Pa., Washington State Normal, and Western State Normal,
Mich. The following schools and colleges are asking for courses:
Chicago, Cornell, Detroit Normal, Kalamazoo, Michigan State Normal,
Pennsylvania State, and Temple University.

Through cooperation with the deans of women in all parts of the country,
and with the Intercollegiate Community Service Association, the college
women are being influenced to take up scouting as an extra academic
activity before graduation, and as a form of community service in their
home towns later.

In addition to this work through existing educational bodies, many
special courses are conducted in connection with the organizations of
local councils.

The First National Training School for Girl Scout Officers has been
conducted for four years, the last two years at Long Pond Camp in
Plymouth, Mass. During the summer of 1920 special training camps were
also held in connection with the councils of Greater New York,
Cincinnati, and Harrisburg, with instruction given under the auspices of
national headquarters. Five such camps are planned for 1921, located in
Plymouth, Central Valley, in the Catskills, Lake Mohegan, N. Y.,
Philadelphia, and Cincinnati.

_Scouting in the public schools._--Only that organization for young
people can succeed which contributes directly to their chief business,
which is getting an education. One reason the girl scout organization is
received so cheerfully by school people is that it works into the
school's own plans to a remarkable degree. Local councils have a larger
representation from the public schools than from any other single
agency. Scout leaders are drawn largely from the teaching force because
teachers naturally have a better insight into the needs of young people
than any other single group.

In a few places this interest has resulted in the gradual assimilation
of scouting into the school system. At Fort Scott, Kans., this work has
progressed furthest, with 90 per cent of all pupils of scout age, either
boy or girl scouts. Supt. Ramsey made a most favorable report on this
situation at the Cleveland meeting of the Department of Superintendence
of the National Education Association in 1920. Among essential features
he mentioned the following:

The boy scout executive and girl scout commissioner act as recreational
directors and have charge of all the health education and vocational
guidance.

A room is set aside in the Junior High School for all scout work which,
however, is passed upon by a council, including persons outside of the
school force.

Through glee clubs and choruses great interest in community singing and
other music has been developed. The scout organization is helping to
solve the dress problem for both boys and girls.

"To give the modern ideals of education would be to state the ideals of
scouting." The modern teacher is increasingly well fitted to become a
good scout leader.

Scouting may best be promoted through the public school, because that is
the only organization that includes all the boys and girls. Moreover,
because of close daily association, leaders of school troops can insure
each scout being an active scout.

The school also benefits by scouting in a number of ways. Older pupils
stay in school longer because of their interest in scouting than because
of any other influence. "A year of work in scouting will do as much
toward acquainting a teacher with the ideals of teaching as a year spent
in any college or university of the country." Finally, scouting secures
the interest, attention, and good will of the parents to the public
schools.

        _Girl Scout badges earned in 1919-20._

  -------------------------------+---------+-----------
            Subject.             | Number. | Per 1,000.
  -------------------------------+---------+-----------
                                 |         |
   1. Home nurse                 |   2,852 |       126
   2. Laundress                  |   2,192 |        97
   3. First aid                  |   1,523 |        67
   4. Needlewoman                |   1,389 |        61
   5. Child nurse                |   1,267 |        56
   6. Cook                       |     991 |        44
   7. Pathfinder                 |     990 |        44
   8. Health guardian            |     923 |        41
   9. Flower finder or zoologist |     878 |        39
  10. Home maker                 |     861 |        38
  11. Citizen                    |     732 |        32
  12. Signaler                   |     647 |        28
  13. Bird hunter                |     636 |        28
  14. Health winner              |     600 |        26
  15. Pioneer                    |     595 |        26
  16. Artist                     |     592 |        26
  17. Musician                   |     580 |        26
  18. Interpreter                |     578 |        25
  19. Swimmer                    |     557 |        25
  20. Business                   |     424 |        19
  21. Cyclist                    |     422 |        19
  22. Gardener                   |     393 |        17
  23. Athlete                    |     345 |        15
  24. Horsewoman                 |     266 |        12
  25. Bugler                     |     254 |        11
  26. Scribe                     |     216 |        10
  27. Telegrapher                |     192 |         8
  28. Motorist                   |     190 |         8
  29. Dairy maid                 |     190 |         8
  30. Farmer                     |     187 |         8
  31. Sailor                     |     130 |         6
  32. Electrician                |     101 |         4
                                 |         |
      Total                      |  22,693 |     1,000
  -------------------------------+---------+-----------


TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:

On the second table, first column, the totals look a little confusing,
but properly read they are correct. The sub-total does not take into
account the first line (440) making the total 80,759. Adding it back in
gives the total of 81,199 plus 1,826 (18+) gives the correct grand
total. It has been left as in the original.

There is a variation between girl-scout and girl scout; girl-scout
denotes the organization, and girl scout pertains to an individual.
They have been left as in the original.

Only one typo found and corrected; susceptibility was misspelled as
"susceptibilty".






