Jim Saville
Krysin
Trim it down Tighten it up
27 July 2005
Is the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Relevant to Modern British Youth
1 INTRODUCTION
The Duke of Edinburgh's Award started in 1956 as a scheme for teen-aged British boys. As it approaches it's fiftieth anniversary it has become an international scheme for both boys and girls and has candidates in over 50 countries on all 5 continents.
The scheme was the brainchild of a small group of influential men. The group were led by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh; Dr Kurt Hahn, and Sir John Hunt[1]. These men came from a widely disparate background. The husband of the reigning British Monarch, a German educationalist who was headmaster of a small Scottish school and the leader of the first successful expedition to conquer Mount Everest.
i) GORDONSTOUN
Gordonstoun was a new type of school that aimed to develop the whole character of its pupils and not just their intellect. It's founder was the German educationalist Dr. Kurt Hahn who had been forced to abandon a similar school in Germany following disagreement with the Hitler leadership in 1933 who first imprisoned and then exiled Hahn. On of the first three pupils was a young Greek aristocrat named Phillip.
Shortly after opening the school at Gordonstoun in the county of Morayshire Hahn instituted a scheme for he pupils and the local boys combining physical fitness, self reliance and an enquiring mind. This was known as the Moray Badge. This was extended into a number of schemes for various counties and became known as the County Badge but only after Hahn was persuaded to include a fourth section involving community service. [2]
ii) SOCIAL CLIMATE late 1950s
The anger and dissatisfaction of the post-war generation is shown in the rise of groups such as the bike riding rockers and is depicted in plays such as John Osborne's Look Back in Anger. Youth culture included distinctive fashions, hairstyles, behaviour. The stress was on novelty and being cool, on hedonism and individuality, on self-fulfilment and consumerism.[4] The hierarchy in Britain were worried about the likelihood of British youth following the pattern of American youth were social conventions were rejected, sometimes violently as depicted by Marlon Brando in The Wild One for example
iii) ORIGINAL REMIT OF THE AWARD
The award was designed to provide challenges that should require persistence and determination to overcome them. The challenges had to involve the participants in developing their minds, bodies and social senses. As such Hahn's County Badge scheme was considered a good model and, with slight modifications that was how the scheme was organised.
There were 4 sections summarised as Hobby - Sport - Service - Expedition and 3 levels of achievement. Bronze - Silver - Gold. To gain an award the participants must complete all 4 sections of a particular level by spending a given amount of time and reaching a given standard in each. The scheme was a novelty at that time since there were no specific standards to be reached. All that was necessary was to prove sustained activity within a section and improvement in skill or knowledge. Thus a first class athlete would have to improve his personal best in the Sport section in the same way as an absolute beginner. The scheme was designed to reward effort and dedication, in the words of HRH they had to show stickability. The ultimate accolade for the successful candidate at the Gold level was an investiture by HRH at Buckingham Palace.
2 DEVELOPMENT
i) CHANGING SOCIAL CLIMATE
The effect of pop music with it's instant gratification and the influence of American movies of the period provided a much more engaging stimulus than an award which required a minimum of six month's effort however. The era of mods and rockers and similar group or gang movements held greater appeal for youngsters in their teen years.
Also the growing republicanism amongst the lower class created a jaundiced view of royalty and organisations associated with royalty. There was also a movement among some of the upper class towards more egalitarianism which also swung against such institutions.
ii) CHANGING POLITICAL CLIMATE
At the same time the Conservative party which had long been associated with the middle and upper classes was loosing sway and the Labour party was regaining influence and power. The change of the school system from selective to comprehensive education with it's associated message of equality for all had an overwhelming effect on the youth of the day. More and more traditional organisations and activities were being altered or abandoned to keep up with these changes.
iii) CHANGING AWARD STRUCTURE
At first the Award went well and although it did not stem the tide of juvenile social problems. It did provide an engaging challenge for thousands of young boys and (after 2 years) young girls. However it too began to change. The original age range was altered from 141/2 to 18 was gradually extended to 14 to 21 and then 14 to 25. This was to keep in step with the longer period the average young person was spending in education but it did dilute the effort needed to gain the award. The time period had been doubled and apart from the introduction of a 4 day residential qualification there was no similar increase in the challenge. There was a lot of talk about a Platinum Award but it never came to fruition.
Another change introduced was the awarding of certificates for individual sections so that, instead of having to "stick-at-it" and complete the balanced award program as in early years, the candidates could now "cherry pick" sections and gain awards.
Thus the Award instead of trying to mould the young people was being moulded by them and thus loosing some of its original values
3 CURRENT SITUATION
i) CURRENT SOCIAL CLIMATE
In the post-monetarist era the prevailing theme appears to be "What's in it for me?" rather than "What can I do for others" which was the mood of the immediate post war period. Many people when faced with a problem now prefer to buy their way out of it rather than work at a solution as communities used to do.
At the same time the natural starting place for clubs and societies, the school, is much less involved in leisure activities. This is partly because of an unwillingness on the part of many teachers to organise extra-curricular activities and the increased pressure caused by external examinations throughout the pupil's school life.[5]
ii) CURRENT POLITICAL CLIMATE
Politicians are currently endeavouring to organise extra-curricular leisure hours in the same way as they have organised the school curriculum. There is a big push to involve everyone in some form of worthwhile activity and to certify that activity. However the push is for massive variety in the activities whilst at the same time attaining an equality of outcome or certification. This is producing a situation that many youth workers are unable to comprehend let alone the young people themselves. As a result many of the the youngsters do not see any advantage in following any organised scheme and judge all such schemes with suspicion as political interference in their free time.
iii) CURRENT AWARD STRUCTURE
The Award scheme at present is in a state of flux. It's corporate identity is changing with a desire to move from the patronage of the aging Duke of Edinburgh to the more youthful image of the Duke Of Wessex and the probable renaming of the scheme as The Dukes Award Scheme or even The Award Scheme. At the same time the emphasis is changing much more to a sectional award scheme where the candidate can pick up tokens and mix and match to gain an award is detracting from the unifying style of previous years. Ir is no longer necessary to commit to the Award Scheme in advance and to make a positive effort to work towards the goal of a Bronze, Silver or Gold award. Now that is seen as a fringe benefit as long as the young people are undertaking some activity. Ironically it is only in the more rigid uniformed youth organisations that the original spirit of the award is truly flourishing, and even there there is the danger of the activities been chosen for instead of by the participants.
4 PROBABLE CHANGES IN SOCIAL STRUCTURE
The increasing emphasis on unquestioning loyalty to a sporting club rather than to a sport, the increasing relevance of pop music, the increasing pressure to pass examinations and engage in a career may be destroying the earlier, more leisurely development from childhood to adulthood.
The overt intervention of the state into the leisure time of young people is likely to continue for some time.
5 CONCLUSION
The Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme is likely to be lost in a mass of organised activities that are viewed as extremely desirable by Society as a whole but which are deemed as irrelevant by the young people individually.
SOURCES
Personal knowledge
Personal contacts within Award hierarchy
Old Award literature - Handbooks - Journals - Adverts
Social studies of modern Elizabethan era
HMSO Reports
Works Cited
[1] International Award History www.theaward.bm/about.html
[2] The history of the Outward Bound Trust www.outwardbound.net/about/history/ob-birth.html
[3] Youth Culture 1954 - 1964 www.bbc.co.uk/history/timelines/england/pwar_youth_culture.shtml
[4] A guide to the 20th century - Youth Culture www.channel4.com/history/microsites/H/history/guide20/part09d.html
[5] Working for associational space www.infed.org/association/clubwork.htm
This is a Homework piece for the group Trim it down tighten it up.
In order to show the notes and other structures more clearly I shall also e-mail it.
The Duke of Edinburgh's Award started in 1956 as a scheme for teen-aged British boys. As it approaches it's fiftieth anniversary it has become an international
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Thanks for ploughing through this post. Your comments are welcome.
I agree with you that the Duke Of Edinburgh's Award or the Duke's Award or whatever needs to go on. It would be ironic if it fails here and the 100 or so offshoots in commonwealth and other countries continued. Especially the award in the US. The President's Award I believe it's called.
Your comment on post-war Britain highlighted an error in my writing. The war I refered to was the 1939-45 war. In comparison with which most other wars my country has been involved in are local disputes. Bloody though they were / are.
On HRHs title. It is my understanding that it was confered on Philip when he married the then princess Elizabeth so as to give him precedent in British aristocracy. Her present children already have that precedent and more so the title will probably go into abeyance. However that's my opinion, facts may be different.
Jim S -
After almost 40 years with the scheme (I started my bronze in 1966 and became virtually a unit leader the same year!!) I have seen many changes and I am still an advocate of the scheme. However it is being viewed by many youngsters as too much a part of the establishment.
You are right that we need to get prominent youth icons to promote the scheme as it is and not water it down.
We tried with Chris Akabusi earlier but we should also promote its all-round appeal not just the sport or the expedition. OOPs my soap box is wobbling.
Jim S -
Well in my humble opinion, I think the award is still relevant. Though, as with most things today, sadly it has to up its image a little and become cool to do...I achieved my gold, many many years ago, in sport. I still look back on it with pride. It is still a great way to make friends. The sure way to see a surge in applications is to get the likes of Beckham to stand up and say how cool it is.......It is such a shame that young people of that age range are the very ones that feel Society has lost touch in them and abandoned them.
Ok I am off to lie down now, as my brain hurts after reading and digesting.......hic -
Thanks for ploughing through this post. Your comments are welcome.
I agree with you that the Duke Of Edinburgh's Award or the Duke's Award or whatever needs to go on. It would be ironic if it fails here and the 100 or so offshoots in commonwealth and other countries continued. Especially the award in the US. The President's Award I believe it's called.
Your comment on post-war Britain highlighted an error in my writing. The war I refered to was the 1939-45 war. In comparison with which most other wars my country has been involved in are local disputes. Bloody though they were / are.
On HRHs title. It is my understanding that it was confered on Philip when he married the then princess Elizabeth so as to give him precedent in British aristocracy. Her present children already have that precedent and more so the title will probably go into abeyance. However that's my opinion, facts may be different.
Jim S -
Evelyn Waugh once wrote (I quote from memory) "The spirit of the age is the spirit of the people who make up the age, and the more dissent from the conventionally accepted spirit, the greaster the possibility of diverting it from its present ruinous course." I think the award should be maintained, though the D of E with all due respect, cannot live an enormous number of years longer and the change of name to "The Duke's Award" or similar may be a good thing - on the other hand, will not one of the Princes become Duke of Edinburgh so the title will go on?
I think that if it only caters to a handful of people it is still doing a good thing and is worth maintaining. It is one of the things that make up our culture and our civilization, which isd under attack from several directions and which I think is worth preserving. Social and cultural fashions change - who would have though there was such a huge appetite in drab, post-war Britain for tasles of heroic romance as shown by the success of "The Lord of The Rings" and the many historical re-enactment societies. Young people are not all or exclusively interested in rock music. The US, which seemed in the 50's perhaps (I don't know for sure, I wasn't there) to be a source of juvenile deliquency and cultural degeneration (however defined) seems today in many ways to be a strong and vibrant culture despite its faults.
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