Favorable Press for Scouting
Dave Hultberg (dave.hultberg@PAONLINE.COM)
Thu, 26 Jun 1997 17:54:59 +0000
>From today's Philadelphia Inquirer:
America doesn't have a lot of faith in its children and teenagers.
That's the essential finding of a poll released yesterday called
"Kids These Days: What Americans Really Think About the Next
Generation" by the nonprofit research firm Public Agenda.
"Americans are convinced that today's adolescents face a crisis --
not in their economic or physical well-being but in their values and
morals," the pollsters concluded. "Most Americans look at today's
teenagers with misgiving and trepidation, viewing them as
undisciplined, disrespectful, and unfriendly.''
<snip>
As for solutions, respondents said that the public schools should
teach values such as being responsible, on time and disciplined, the
value of hard work, and tolerance of others.
But they ranked government-funded child- and health-care programs
near the bottom in a list of 12 items that would be effective in
helping youngsters, citing instead the need for more community-based
after-school programs and more volunteer activities such as the Boy
Scouts to keep them busy.
<snip>
===========================================================================
We often hear comments about Scouting is out of touch with today's
Americans and that the values we teach are out of date. Based on the
above, it seems that the American public still thinks that our values
are relevent. <soap box mode> I would like to get a copy of the
entire survey and wave it in the face of the local United Way, who
doesn't want to fund us because we aren't relevent to the needs of
today's troubled inner city children. IMHO, it is just the opposite.
We need to expand the funding to Scouting, YMCAs and other youth
programs that teach values to our children, so that we don't have to
spend so much dealing with the problems caused by youth who weren't
taught values and have to much time on their hands. </soap box mode>
Dave
Dave Hultberg, ASTA #1781 dave.hultberg@paonline.com
Committee Chairman Troop 196 & Team 196 1407 Concord Rd
Adventure District Advancement Committee Mechanicsburg, PA 17055-1955
Keystone Area Council, Mechanicsburg, PA
I used to be a Bobwhite (NE-VI-34), but I'll always be an Eagle ('67)
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City | 
