Building character and skills in uniform: Scouting at WPS (1963-65) Part 1

Scouts of Westlands Primary School, 1965. One of our Scoutmasters, Mr John Low Thean Hock, is on the left. We had two troops: 3rd Georgetown (North) and 15th Georgetown (North). Photo courtesy of Jim Lim Teik Wah

SCOUTING was fun, and usually the penultimate adventure for pre-teen urban boys. We got to wear uniforms with all sorts of insignias and familiarise ourselves with the pecking order they bring along; we learnt a lot of practical things like tying knots and lighting a fire; we experienced cooking outdoors; we went hiking and camping; we even worked to collect money for the movement one week a year — during the unforgettable Job Week.

At the base of these activities were some ground rules which we, in all innocence, imbibed. They spawned a subculture of organised character-building activities for a huge group of students.

Scouting for Boys, The Boy Scouts
Association 1963, printed in the UK.
Baden-Powell's Foreword in Pages vi
to ix are appended below.

Scout motto, promise and law — positive control: Scouting, like any other uniformed activity, was a form of group control. But it was generally a positive one for us – mainly because our Scoutmasters were people with the right values and, strong civic and environmental consciousness. Overall, I could never forget the motto “Be prepared”, telling us to be “always in a state of readiness in mind and body to do your duty”. For the record, Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Scout movement, asked us to:

• Be prepared in mind by having disciplined yourself to be obedient to every order, and also by having thought out beforehand any accident or situation that might occur, so that you know the right thing to do at the right moment, and are willing to do it.
• Be prepared in body by making yourself strong and active and able to do the right thing at the right moment, and do it. 

Our promise: As a Scout we made the following promise: “On my honour I promise I will do my best – to do my duty to God and the King (or to God and my country); to help other people at all times; and to obey the Scout Law.” There were 10 parts to the Scout Law which instructed us to be: (a) trusted (b) loyal (c) useful and to help others (d) a friend to all and a brother to every other Scout (e) courteous (f) a friend to animals (g) obedient (to the orders of our parents, Patrol Leader or Scoutmaster without question) (h) happy (“A Scout smiles and whistles under all difficulties”) (i) thrifty, and (j) clean in thought, word and deed. Read more here.

If I had a bone to pick with the Scout Promise, it would be the unquestioning allegiance and obedience. However, as I said earlier, our Scoutmasters then had the right ethical mindset. As a result, being a Scout was a powerful character-building activity.

The scouting movement is still very much alive today. Far removed from its activities now, I am not aware of what is happening. I can only give snapshots of the past. At Westlands Primary, scouting was normally confined to those in Standards 5 and 6. However in 1963, Mr John Low Thean Hock, our Form Teacher in Standards 1 and 3 and a Scoutmaster, allowed a few of us (Ewe Tee and I included) to join in Standard 4.

In full gear before our time: Mr G D Muir, Chief Education Officer, inspecting 

a guard of honour by Westlands School Scouts on Parents Day 1955.
Photo courtesy of Mr Hwang Hong Shi, the Scoutmaster

What I have written in this story and the two other parts that follow are some views and anecdotes from my three years with our troop, 3rd Georgetown (North), which was run by Mr Low and Mr Vellasamy. Many of the pictures used to illustrate the stories were taken by Mr Hwang Hong Shi when he was a Scoutmaster at WPS in the 1950s. He has diligently kept and cataloged them in albums. We are very thankful for that.

Paraphernalia for uniformity and distinction: All of us were excited when we bought our first set of uniform from Stanley Scout Shop along Light Street opposite the Esplanade. I was taken aback by the range of things sold there. Even the essentials are enough to satisfy, for a while at least, a shopaholic:

• Neckerchief and a leather woggle with the Scout’s crest to hold the "2ft by 2ft" cloth together;
• A green beret which could be folded and slipped into the shoulder loop of our uniform;
• A belt to which we could hang pen knives, short rope, etc;
• Knee-high stockings with garters to hold them up;
• Khaki shirts and shorts (the colours of 3rd GTN).

We should note that many parents had to struggle to buy such uniform for their children while others could not join the movement because they could not afford it.

Tests for the Tenderfoot badge: Courtesy of Saw Lip Chye of 15th Georgetown

(North). He took the tests in 1964. The Scoutmaster who passed him was

Mr Chow Guan Foo. Assistant Scoutmaster Ramachandran was among his testers.

Mind-changing ways of a uniform: Donning a uniform had an impact on us. We felt more confident, more willing to work as a group, and a greater sense of identity. This could cut a few ways when it came to acceptability by others. On the one hand, it could instil a sense of superiority in us, a better-than-others attitude – that would have been bad. On the other, it could steer us towards service and pride, even professionalism, once we were led the right way within a suitable overall culture. A 2017 article in The New Yorker argues against the unquestioning acceptance of the upside of uniforms. Read here.

Rivalry as patrol leaders: Ewe Tee and I were great friends (we still are, until today — we meet occasionally in Kuala Lumpur and London). We were rivals too. In Standard 6, both of us were appointed patrol leaders. With that position came two stripes on our shirt pockets and the right to choose the name of our patrol. I chose to name mine after the cobra (with orange and black ribbons to be pinned on our shoulders). He chose the mongoose (brown and orange ribbons). The reason: Mongoose can kill the cobra. We had a good laugh and moved on.

Tests for the Second Class badge: 

Courtesy of Saw Lip Chye

The skills that never left us: Scouts, as their name suggests, were supposed to acquire outdoorsy skills. Even in the limited three years, we learnt a lot of those. Many of them have stuck with me for life:

• Knots and lashings: The knots I still use are the reef knot (to connect two ropes or strings so that the knot can be more easily undone), bowline (to secure oneself to others as we ascend or descend a steep slope), sheepshank (to shorten a rope without cutting it) and round turn and two half hitches (e.g. to secure a tree trunk to a post, etc). As for lashings, I have not used them for some time but, in a home setting, they were good for securing temporary structures in the garden like shades for plants.
• Lighting a fire: The requirements for lighting a fire for a stove (outdoor or indoor) are the same. For our exercise, we built a small half-foot tepee of splintered firewood in which we had some dried leaves or crumpled newspaper. Around the tepee were three or four rocks placed a few inches apart to form a well-ventilated stove. We were allowed to use matches to start the fire. The tiny flame had to be carefully nursed, fanning and blowing it lightly, until it became viable. As it grew, we added bigger and bigger pieces of firewood. I had wondered why it was so much easier to light fires at home, only to discover that we used charcoal or firewood dipped in kerosene as starters.   
• Basic First Aid: A few basic things I learnt about First Aid were how to clean a wound, cool down a burn and help someone who had fainted. I cannot remember if it was from the Scouts or from my father first. I have not done much more than that though. In another vein of thought, when we were young, it was reassuring that we went outdoors with Scoutmasters who knew First Aid.

After I joined Penang Free School, I stopped scouting. It was for the most trivial of reasons. My expectations were high and I thought about being welcomed. On the first day, instead of an uplifting talk, the troop leader gave me a dressing down for no apparent reason. It was such a contrast to my experience at Westlands. Disappointed, I left and never turned up again. I often wondered what would happen if I had appeared again a week later.

This is the first of three parts:

• Part 2: Camping and cooking. Read here
• Part 3: Hiking, Job Week and a bit of history. Read here.

-- Lim Siang Jin

Appendix: Pages iv to ix of Scouting for Boys: Foreword by Robert Baden-Powell