Re: $ and Scouting
Gerald Demontgny (gdemontg@CCS.CARLETON.CA)
Tue, 15 Nov 1994 10:37:16 EST
Settummanque, the blackeagle writes:
>
> There are many Eagle Scout Courts of Honor that don't involve such a
> high figure. The actual award ceremony takes up twenty minutes of a
> regular Court of Honor, and the total expense is no more than the
> costs of the additions to the presentation kit (items that the Eagle
> candidate gets for his parents, his girlfriend, or someone else
> special), the additional Eagle Scout napkins and program covers ($40
> for both, for 200 people), and perhaps some other minor decorations.
> The total cost fo such an event should not be more than $100.
Thanks for the the information. Your view on this is quite similar to
that provided by Daniel R. Mott, as both of you emphasize
accessibility. As I reflect on the issue of scout ceremonies, I think
that there is a lot to be said for the KISS rule.
> This is one of the reasons why many chartered
> partners have decided to abandon Scouting in favor of other programs
> or their own youth movements.
>
I assume that your sections operate in a fashion similar to our own,
in that our sections are chartered by a group, in my case 3rd Aylmer,
which has Beaver, Cub, Scout, and Venturer sections. Our sponsor is
the Rotary. 1st Aylmer's sponsor is a coalition of churches,
Anglican, United, Presbyterian, etc. Are you saying ten that groups
like the Rotary, are withdrawing sponsorship from Scouting to either
establish their own organizations, for example a Rotary youth group,
or are providing their funds to other types of organizations like the
YMCA? I am not aware of anything similar to this happening in Canada.
It would be interesting to hear if this is happening in other
countries. What becomes clear to me through the recent postings about
Scouting in Germany, Spain, Italy before and during the last world
war, is that there were several types of Scouting organizations in
each country which were allied to scouting differently? But these
organizations with the rise of fascism were eliminated or went
underground. In the United States it seems as if all Scouting is
organized by the BSA. In Canada, I suppose we are probably more like
the European model as we have Les Scouts, and Scouts Canada. I do not
know a lot about the former, but their uniforms are different, they
are sponsored by the Catholic Church, and of course they are french
speaking, and based only in Quebec. We meet them from time to time in
our own community outside shopping malls, or during the Guignole
--sp?-- a community food drive organized by St. Vincent de Paul. I do
not know if Les Scouts takes a more nationalist or sovereigntist
approach to Quebec.
> In the USA, a similarily-outfitted Cub would cost his parents anywhere
> from $20 to $48, not including the three books. The three books place
> the total cost at around $60.
> Those on public assistance or with an low
> income not on public assistance cannot really afford Scouting and
> therefore it becomes a "special luxury".
>
I find this to be a fascinating issue of whether Scouting has managed
to reach into the inner city or low income neighborhoods or whether
the costs involved are totally prohibitive. I know that we love to
regale our Cubs with the story of B.P. launching the attack from the
side against the city lads who hurled vegetables and rotten food over
the wall on the boys attending Charter House, but even those lads
might have benefitted from Scouting. --sorry for use of non-military
descriptions-- . If there are members on the list out there who run
groups in economically deprived areas, in inner city, it would be
really interesting to hear from you. One of my ambitions is to write
a book about Scouting in the contemporary Canadian context. I find it
amazing that while considerable attention is given to the history of
Scouting little attention is given to the contribution of Scouting to
building youth and communities today.
As a final note, I tried to send an acknowledgement to Mike Walton for
his postings in general on the network as they are incredibly
informative and helpful, however, my message was bounced back to me,
so I will append my thanks here.
gdemontg@ccs.carleton.ca
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City |
