The end of the Boy Scouts

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Friday, May 4. 2018

The end of the Boy Scouts

I suspect that part of the problem the Boy Scouts have faced is the remarkable rise of organized sports for youth. Also, the nerdy, wholesome image which does not fit with the age of hip hop.

Is the idea of being a decent, kind, and honorable person who has many basic life skills an obsolete one? Of course not. Among other things I learned as a Scout, I learned to be always kind to the elderly, to change a tire, to confront bullies and jerks, CPR, how to start a fire in the rain with wet wood, basic riflery and firearm safety, point-to-point navigation on land and sea. I also learned that outdoor camping, regardless of weather, is better in the telling than in the doing. Still, there is nothing as fine as sitting around a campfire.

For adults like me who seek and aspire to living a strenuous life rather than a relaxed one, the guys put together a sort-of adult Boy Scout program: 12-WEEK INITIATION INTO THE CULT OF STRENUOSITY.

Posted by The News Junkie in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation at 16:28 | Comments (13) | Trackbacks (0)

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Those of us current in BSA membership aren't quite so pessimistic. While girls will be in Scouts- troops, the organizational level of Scouting, won't be co-ed. The difference between Scout troops with girls and Girl Scout troops will be simple. The girls will be able to do everything Boy Scouts have done and will continue to do. Activities which GSA has long since banned for girls. Troops full of young men will continue doing as they've always done. BTW- if you want to be a leader of a female troop, you need to get involved NOW with an existing troop and take the training BSA offers to new leaders. Or you'll have no clue.

But you are right about sports- particularly school sports. When I was in HS sports were not the be all end all of existence. They were part of life, not life itself. Missing practice for a youth organization meeting, Scouts or Church, or for Student Government, or other organized school activity was acceptable. Now, missing practice for any reason and a student athlete is prohibited in participating in the next game or match or meet, whatever.

Tough to raise a well rounded kid who participates in organized sports when the sports require the kid devote themselves 100% to the sport and forgo the activities that make kids well rounded.

#1 Gospace on 2018-05-04 18:19 (Reply)

Oh, BTW, being a Scout isn't cool or hip. Until a Scout makes Eagle- then he's really cool and looked up to. Personal observation I've seen with Scouts in my units, including my kids. And mentioning it at leader's meetings I'm not the only person who has observed this magical transformation from nerdy Scout to Cool Eagle.

#1.1 gospace on 2018-05-04 18:47 (Reply)

The phrase "slippery slope" was coined for a reason. The writing is on the wall. The leftists have assumed de facto control of BSA and we are seeing a gradual, but definite, drift.

The blurring of roles and differences between men and women is a significant move. Its dangers are not appreciated by mindless lemmings who have been raised by the state (public schools, media, etc) to believe in moral relativism, multiculturalism, etc. and abandon God, country and truth.

#1.2 mike m on 2018-05-05 10:12 (Reply)

Back in the day - and it was REALLY back in the day - a swimming teacher I respected recommended one of our offspring be enrolled in competitive swimming. I responded that would be glad to do so, but that said offspring would also be enrolled in Brownies on Tuesdays and Sunday School on Sundays; we would have to work around our family's priorities. Teacher thought for a moment, said he understood, and the matter was dropped.

I do not regret my response; I regret only that there was not at that time a program available for an aspiring competitive swimmer which also allowed said swimmer to maintain a life outside swimming.

#1.3 Frances on 2018-05-06 23:29 (Reply)

Australia tried this in the 1970s and it didn't work out. Before long, the single-gender troops morphed into coed troops. I don't see how National Scouts BSA leadership doesn't know this. And they are keeping this information from the membership. You're mindlessly spouting the corporate line. Coed scouting will be here soon. National is working down the list of the "Three G's:" First was Gays, then Girls, . . . and next will be God. Just you wait and see.

#1.4 Joe the Amused on 2018-05-11 10:59 (Reply)

I learned how to fight grassland wildfires in the Boy Scouts. Or was it, you start the fire, you put it out. A big regional event where troops hauled around a sled and did things like first aid, fire building/water boiling, calculate the height of a tree, etc. My group started the first wild(ish) fire. After building a fire in the water boiling contest in a field of dry grass, we were preparing lunch on the fire. It was burning out around when the downwind side got a bit big, as we tried to stamp it out, along comes a gust and we burned a nice swath. Lots of random fires like that but none got out of hand.

#2 JK Brown on 2018-05-04 18:47 (Reply)

What happened with the Boy Scouts is no different than what is happening with the confederate statues. The culture warriors do not want you to have YOUR culture they want you to have THEIR culture. The first step is to tear down and destroy your culture. Simple as that. The Boy Scouts were first targeted by the gays and now it is open season. Next will come the law suits and accusations of inappropriate touching/comments/intimidation/etc. And finally it will become a fully anti-male organization where your boys can be reprogrammed into metro-sexuals who aren't sure what gender they are.

#3 GoneWithTheWind on 2018-05-04 23:47 (Reply)

At age 54, this Eagle says you're wrong—the doing of living outdoors is far better than the telling. And the gear is far better now than it was, oh, say, during the Ford and Carter administrations.

#4 Bruce Anderson on 2018-05-05 06:52 (Reply)

I suspect that part of the problem the Boy Scouts have faced is the homosexual agenda which has first INTERNALLY corrupted the organization and now works to EXTERNALLY corrupt it, as it has in society in general.

#5 Kauf Buch on 2018-05-05 06:57 (Reply)

p.s. DECENT ALTERNATIVES
for BOYS - Trail Life USA
for GIRLS - American Heritage Girls

#5.1 Kauf Buch on 2018-05-05 06:58 (Reply)

My childhood family had as little use for camping as it had for any sports, but somehow I got interested in the inexpensive girl scout summer camps my friends went to. They went so easy on us that it was silly--you had to be nearly an adult before you were eligible for what they called "primitive camping"--but at least it was a little like camping. It gave me a lifelong taste for the practice. To this day I hate hotels, but I still enjoy camping, campfires, and outdoor cooking. It does make you realize, though, that one of the greatest pleasures of civilization, besides hot showers, is getting dry, warm, fluffy clothes out of a clothes dryer. If I had to give up either an indoor kitchen or a clothes dryer for the rest of my life, there'd be no contest.

#6 Texan99 on 2018-05-05 09:01 (Reply)

If I had to give up either an indoor kitchen or a clothes dryer for the rest of my life, there'd be no contest.

Sheets can dry in a half hour outside in the Texas sun.

#7 Gringo on 2018-05-05 22:35 (Reply)

Hmmm.... This 59 year old Eagle Scout says: I learned self-reliance, team-building, first aid, how to cook, orienteering (before the yuppies took it over), etc., etc., etc. Plus - I'm Order of the Arrow which means I had to spend 24 hours without talking or food and sleep outside without a tent, using whatever I brought or could build. It just so happened to pour down rain that night. Know what - I would not trade my Boy Scout experiences for anything else I've done in my life. Made me a better kid and a better man.

#8 BlackDog on 2018-05-06 08:48 (Reply)

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Friday, May 4. 2018

The end of the Boy Scouts