An elegy for the BSA - interesting read

rjb said:
https://lawliberty.org/an-elegy-for-the-boy-scouts/
Click to expand...
From the article -

"Without compulsory military service, the only exposure many boys will have to discipline, teamwork, male authority figures, and the reinforcement of positive masculine traits, such as honor, courage, determination, chivalry, and self-reliance will be through participation in competitive sports, strong families, and programs like scouting (Even America’s service academies are no longer reliable instructors of these virtues.). The Boy Scouts used to take seriously its stated mission: preparing young men (now “people”) to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law. This is a critically important project that no other institution in America seeks to undertake."
 
Scouting shaped my life and my sons’ lives in fundamental ways and gave a code to live by. My son would have never found his way to USNA if not for Scouting. It has its faults but it has been an overwhelmingly positive organization.
 
ders_dad said:
Scouting shaped my life and my sons’ lives in fundamental ways and gave a code to live by. My son would have never found his way to USNA if not for Scouting. It has its faults but it has been an overwhelmingly positive organization.
Click to expand...
I have similar feeling regarding both my and my son's Scouting experience. I am currently a COR for a Sea Scout Ship and I am thankful that my son's Scouting experience is in the rear view mirror. The cost to participate in Scouting has exploded in the last two or three years. It is over $100 for a first time youth and this makes the program a luxury for many families. Also not a fan of girls in Cub Scouting. The GSA program is a better fit - IMHO.
 
ders_dad said:
My son would have never found his way to USNA if not for Scouting
Click to expand...
^ Me too.... I give alot of credit to my successes in life to my involvement in Scouting, Eagle Scout '77

I think (or at least hope) this writers conclusion that Boy Scouts is dead is greatly exagerated. Yes, many of the problems he identifies are true, and membership took a double whammy with the bankruptcy filing and COVID. Scouting wasn't able to get into Schools to recruit new Cubs for an almost two year period, and BSA National's handling of both the gay issue and roll out of Family Scouting (ie. girls in Scouting) was abysmal.

I became President of a local Scout Council in February 2020-- right before COVID hit. My first meeting, I spoke about storm clouds on the horizon-- I knew the bankruptcy was coming, but never fathomed COVID. It has been a tough couple years, but there have been some good signs for the future -- in the last few weeks, the Courts granted BSA summary judgment on the lawsuit Girl Scouts brought against BSA, and we are awaiting the Bankrupcty Courts approval of the reorganization plan. WIth this, I am optimistic that we will recover nicely and get our Membership back on track.

Scouting still takes its Mission seriously, and now more than ever people need to know and live by the Scout Oath and Scout Law. There are still amazing volunteers out there, doing their best to keep the Scouting movement alive and I know there a many young men and women who will benefit from the program in the future.
 
As an Army ROTC cadet, DS could always identify who had been a scout by how they packed their ruck during field exercises.
 
rjb said:
Also not a fan of girls in Cub Scouting. The GSA program is a better fit - IMHO.
Click to expand...
^I will be the first to admit, I was not a fan at first. I don't think National BSA did a very good job rolling this out, and their explanation or rationale of "family scouting", ie. little sister wants to come to Pack meetings etc, was bovine excrement. I know several people left our Board , and I was tempted .

I am certainly not the most woke, but have recognized that including girls in both Cub Scouts and Scouts BSA is a good thing. We have opened an outstanding youth development to the other 50% of the population - the Scout Oath and Scout Law apply equally to girls and young women as they do to guys, Further, this isn't a Boy Scouts v. Girl Scouts thing -- they are two completely different programs and some girls will find find the Scouts BSA program more interesting and challenging than what Girl Scouts has to offer. It also isn't about weakening one v. the other -- frankly, BSA and Girls Scouts together only reach about 5% of the kids int he demographic age group--there is plenty of room for both to grow and thrive.
Finally, for a little context -- Scouting has been coed in almost all other countries for years -- contingents to World Jamborees have included girls for a long time.

Are there challenges with boys and girls in Scouting together? Of course, I am a big advocate of ensuring that boys have the opportunity to be boys -- that includes learning by doing stupid things. I was fortunate to have a Scoutmaster who believed in letting us learn from our mistakes..as long as we didn't end up in the ER.
 
rjb said:
I have similar feeling regarding both my and my son's Scouting experience. I am currently a COR for a Sea Scout Ship and I am thankful that my son's Scouting experience is in the rear view mirror. The cost to participate in Scouting has exploded in the last two or three years. It is over $100 for a first time youth and this makes the program a luxury for many families. Also not a fan of girls in Cub Scouting. The GSA program is a better fit - IMHO.
Click to expand...
Unless you have a crappy GSA program in your area...like we do. My DD had a better fit in CAP when she realized she wasn't going to bother with a Gold Award. I can't even tell you the crazy hoops our council makes the girls jump through for their Gold Awards. I'd see friends posting on FB what their girls had done and just laugh because our council would say, "That's an Eagle project, NOT a Gold Award."
 
jaglvr said:
Unless you have a crappy GSA program in your area...like we do. My DD had a better fit in CAP when she realized she wasn't going to bother with a Gold Award. I can't even tell you the crazy hoops our council makes the girls jump through for their Gold Awards. I'd see friends posting on FB what their girls had done and just laugh because our council would say, "That's an Eagle project, NOT a Gold Award."
Click to expand...
It's funny you describe it like that; I left scouting because of a lousy program.

I moved back to the USA from the UK when I was a scout. I was in British Scouting and loved every moment of it. When I came "home" I joined a local troop. My troop was all about being an "Eagle Eyrie...we make Eagles." That's all they focused upon; making the boys Eagle scouts. Adults did as much or more of the work as the scout did. I'd never seen a 13-year-old Eagle Scout, let alone numerous 14-year-old Eagle scouts in my life. It soured me on scouting. When I discovered CAP, I left scouting forever.

Scouting is a superb organization however it needs to hold true to its ideals, not become an Eagle mill.
 
Some troops are Eagle mills. But I’ve been privy to several absolutely outstanding Eagle projects. And while I know it happens, every Eagle project I’ve been advancement chairman for was boy-led, boy-planned, and boy-conceived, with hundreds of youth volunteer hours involved.
 
It certainly has its problems. Including girls isn't necessarily a bad move, but is complicated to implement well. GSA seems to have lost their way, with many orgs becoming little more than cookie sellers, from what I can tell from the outside. This is also a society-wide issue. Bowling Alone really hit things on the head, imo.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top