Where did the boy scout thread go?

[Doofy]

BSA caved to PC decades ago. I was a tenderfoot and then transitioned to the Explorers. I became an assistant scoutmaster when our third son was about 10, around 1998. Prior to that the other two spent time in Scouts, with one becoming an Eagle.

About 6 months later the local troop was "taken" over by a group of adults that focused on their son's getting eagle before they could tie a granny knot. For many badges it was evident that the parents had done most of the "work". We were not allowed to question the scout on specifics and many scouts did virtually no work for badges. Badges that a year earlier all the scouts had actually worked hard to achieve. When scouts sat down for interviews for badges we were told by the Scoutmaster -no hard questions, assume they know the stuff.

One Eagle scout project was building a park picnic table. The scout lived next to a little (2 acre) community park. The parents bought a little 2x4 picnic table kit. One afternoon the scout and three friends put it together. Couldn't have taken more than an hour from box opening to eating at.

The mentality was "all the boys are above average and deserved to get the badge because they showed up"

The "Dumbing Down" of America at it's finest. No need to excell to advance. Thank God there are still parents and kids willing to put in the work.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Newbury, saw some of that, more of a troop level politic thing.

Definitely favouritism for some. We were "outsiders" in our troop, we went there because closer troops met on nights we couldnt go. My boys went to a different school, and were not treated the same. But they, and i, stuck it out. Had a great scoutmaster first few yrs, a retired army col.

Both my boys got Eagle, but had to put up with more BS, and work harder than others. Like my youngest was eligible for eagle before he was 17, but the adv person took 6 months to get him his paperwork needed for his eagle board. Then at his last COH, they totally skipped over recognizing his Eagle. He also didnt get invited to the annual awards dinner with our sponsoring org, who always gave $100 to each new Eagle.

Meanwhile one of the chosen ones magically did his eagle project, and got paperwork submitted the day before turning 18.

I still support them, still some good people there, in spite of the not as good...

 

[Steppenwolfe]

The "Dumbing Down" of America at it's finest. No need to excell to advance. Thank God there are still parents and kids willing to put in the work.

When my son was earning his Eagle, we went to a true "boy's home". There was an ancient outdoor basket ball court that needed a complete makeover. We were there with several other scouts for 4 Saturday's in a row. No other parent in sight. We painted all the lines, added new posts / hoops, and built some benches. First Sat, no help. 2nd Sat a few of the boys from the home came out to help, 3rd Sat even more, final day everyone was there and these kids had a ball. It was an amazing learning lesson for all of us. A couple of the other Eagle's built bird houses for a park...

 

[Oldpath05]

One of the problems with the Boy Scouts is that the Girl Scouts has the cookies.......................

 

[Jstpssng]

One of the problems with the Boy Scouts is that the Girl Scouts has the cookies.......................

That's how they become Eagles.

 

[Oldpath05]

That's how they become Eagles.

And become self funded,,,,,,, what's the the boys selling? They should've started with donuts, I'll take a dozen raised glazed....................

 

[buckeyefarmer]

And become self funded,,,,,,, what's the the boys selling? They should've started with donuts, I'll take a dozen raised glazed....................

They sell popcorn. And everything else....

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Our son earned his Eagle Scout designation a couple years ago and submitted plans for 3 Eagle projects before finally getting on approved and the project was quite complex for a retirement center. I think mileage may vary depending on the current adult Scout Master and how long term the host support system has been in place. BSA was awesome for my son to improve his hands on skills as well as people skills. He still assists with moving the troop forward most weeks that he is now in college.

 

[cqaigy2]

They sell popcorn. And everything else....

I routinely bought popcorn from my nephews, and took it all to work so i didn't eat it. :licking: All three of them started in the scouts and one made it to eagle. I was in scouts too and don't see a problem with girls joining. My sisters were all in brownies and girls scouts, and to be honest, i wouldn't have wanted to join them as the scouts were doing, for me, more interesting things.

 

[aczlan]

Why don't they cut out the BS posts and keep it where people can see it. No reason to make it political.

Largely because of the time needed to prune the thread...

The main reason the mormons severed ties with the boy scouts was based entirely on their religious views and their desire to implement more programs to prepare teenage boys to go on church missions and proselytize to the world, pure and simple, and had little to do with girls being allowed to join.

Let's face it, if the main goal of your organization (the mormons, for example) is to convert other people to your way of thinking through, for example, proselytization, then an organization that tries to include everyone (the boy scouts, for example) is probably not a good fit for your members.
So they decided to start their own youth programs. In the past, every mormon boy was automatically enrolled in the scouts. Now they will be enrolled in mormon youth programs.

Currently, the LDS Young Men are both in the Church program and in the Boy Scout program (till 14, after that its only for the boys who want to continue) which makes things somewhat complicated at times when doing scheduling and being as the Boy Scout program is only supported in the United States, it makes the Young Men's program in the United States different (and significantly more expensive) than the program elsewhere in the world.

Our son earned his Eagle Scout designation a couple years ago and submitted plans for 3 Eagle projects before finally getting on approved and the project was quite complex for a retirement center.

I know of a council that would ONLY approve picnic table projects. We had 3-4 guys who submitted 2-3 different plans only to have council reject them. Try a 4th time with a basic picnic table at a church or a park and its approved right away.

Aaron Z