SCOUTING FOR TALENT

When out and about on public transport, I often see groups of Scouts setting off on an Adventure, or coming back from one, with muddy knees and woggles akimbo. They are usually groups of Cub Scouts accompanied by one or more older Scouts, all in uniform, usually boys but the occasional girl. The older Scouts are teenagers of an age where, in the UK, they would be wearing hoodies, £100 trainers and baggy jeans with the crotch between their knees, but these lads are quite unselfconscious in their long shorts (in summer), neckerchiefs in the trendy new scouting colours and proudly sporting their badges. They actually look quite good, as only continental boys can. The little ‘uns look up to the big 'uns and follow their instructions obediently. British boys of the same age would rather do time in a juvenile detention centre than be seen by their mates dressed like that and shepherding a bunch of seven-year-olds.

Before you accuse me of ogling young men’s legs, let me tell you a sobering story. This summer a 17-year-old Scout was murdered at Brussels Centraal Station on a weekday afternoon by a couple of teenage hoodlums who were trying to rob him of his iPod at knifepoint. Everyone instinctively thinks of him when they see these responsible young fellows with their charges.

These Belgian boys and girls will grow up with experience of taking responsibility for younger children, and I imagine many of them might well become teachers. In the UK there is a recruitment crisis in the teaching profession. Partly because of all the checks that have to be done before you can work with children, but partly I suspect because young people no longer have any experience of looking after their juniors. They are not allowed to, for one thing, as parents will not let their precious little Tarquins out of their sight unless they are accompanied by a couple of middle aged female vicars with a defibbrilator. And so the crisis builds on itself, as the numbers of graduates entering the teaching profession diminishes, the class numbers grow, the kids get more out of control and irresponsible and less likely to go into teaching themselves. The pressure to be “cool” is such that being identified as a Scout, especially after your voice has broken, is worse than being identified as a lout. It seems the only badge British teenagers are proud to wear these days is an ASBO.

I often complain about Belgium being stuck in a time warp, but sometimes I’m quite glad it is. I have a feeling it will eventually go the way of the UK. But for the time being it’s worth putting up with reliving the 1970s for the pleasure of seeing a young man’s woggle.