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If a Scoutmaster should feel that he fails in having success with the Patrol Method, let him ask himself a few pertinent questions, instead of looking elsewhere for a place to throw the blame.
"Do I always think of my Patrols in terms of the leaders? Do I always transmit announcements and information to the Scouts through the Patrol Leaders?
"Do I always answer the Scouts’ questions about routine details by saying, ‘Ask you Patrol Leader; he knows!’ instead of giving them the answer myself, thus doing my part to develop in them a certain amount of respect for those leaders, to whom they have to look for vital facts and guidance?
"Do I keep asking the Patrol Leaders for specific pieces of information about their boys, such as advancement, progress, home conditions, finances?
"Do I stick these alleged leaders right out in front at every opportunity where they get a feeling of leadership?
"Do I commend them publicly whenever they show signs of taking responsibility, and do I always refrain from criticizing them before their group?
"When something goes wrong in one of those Patrols during a Troop meeting, say a little matter of discipline, do I jump on the boys themselves, or do I first call the Patrol Leader aside and point out the situation to him, making him realize that it is his responsibility to handle it?"
Those are some of the questions a Scoutmaster may ask himself. If his answer to most of them is "Yes!" then he is truly a leader of boy leaders. But not only that—he is using the Patrol Method in his Troop!
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