Scouting is effective whenever we take advantage of it's truth: The place where Scouting works best is also the place that boys want the most. The outdoors. There are a number of good reasons why the outdoor program is so special, here are the four that are especially good:

1. The outdoors is the best place for learning outdoor skills. How could it be otherwise? A Scout who tried to boil a potato on the gymnasium floor would be in hot water for sure - not to mention the boy who tried learning to swim by reading a book.

2. The outdoors is a great place for learning something about living with others. When Scouts walk on the same trail, cook and eat together, and share triumphs and troubles together, they are going to find out some important things about, say, patience, respect for other points of view, doing their full share, making a friend more easily, and saying no without losing one. Skills like these are among the "personal growth" skills we want from every Scout. The outdoors is where they grow up best.

3. On the trail or in camp, the boy's leaders will be challenged by the real thing - getting their patrols fed and sheltered, keeping them warm and safe, solving the problems they can solve, and knowing how to get help for those they can't. It's a time when leadership skills can deepen, patrols grow closer, and the troop grows stronger.

4. The outdoors is also a place where a Scout can get closer to the natural world around him - the land, the forests and their wildlife, the lakes and rivers, the mountains and the seas. Here, in the outdoors, he will learn of the "land ethic" - the understanding and respect for the environment we all share, and he will develop an active concern for it's health and a willingness to work to keep it healthy.