-THE; COUNTY BADGE SCHEME
SIR,—Prof. Julian Hindey's article on the County Badge in your issue of November 27th was most interesting to me as the headmaster of the first preparatory school to adopt the scheme. Possibly it would be of interest to others to hear of the reactions of young boys and their parents %then I introduced it. There was a certain amount of suspicion that it W3S intended to take the place of organised games and scouting, but games continued as usual and as the popular "expedition" test was limited to second-class scouts the effect was a marked stimulus to scout- ing; success in the badge tests almost inevitably ensures success in several scout prolic'ency tests and the two ideas are, or should be, mutually he:pful. As the Badge requires minimum standards in athletics—includ- ing swimming—creative ability and common sense it can only be won by a patient effort and a strengthening of the weaker sides of a boy's physical development ; this, I believe, is its greatest virtue. We run an experimental 10-12 age group as well as the official 12-54 tests and. though entrance is purely voluntary, nearly every boy competes. The most noticeable results have been: (r) The speed at which a "hopeless" boy can attain the standard in a weak subject with practice and en- couragement. (2) The reactions of the good gamesplayer or bookworm when faced with the prospect of "making something" and, very often, the surnrising discovery of some unsuspected talent. (3) The apprecia- tion of parents once they know what it is all about.—Yours faithfully,
F. H. MARCHBANR, Mozvden Ha:1 School. at Fal:barrow, Bowness-on-Windermere. •
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