New to the Forum?
Tell us a bit about yourself so we can welcome you to the Virtual Roundtable
1245 topics in this forum
-
- 19 replies
- 2.3k views
-
- 4 replies
- 991 views
-
- 2 replies
- 778 views
-
- 0 replies
- 764 views
-
- 6 replies
- 1.5k views
-
- 11 replies
- 1.7k views
-
- 1 reply
- 1.2k views
-
- 7 replies
- 1.3k views
-
- 3 replies
- 1.2k views
-
- 5 replies
- 1.3k views
-
- 1 reply
- 1k views
-
- 8 replies
- 1.3k views
-
- 3 replies
- 1k views
-
- 4 replies
- 1.2k views
-
- 2 replies
- 1.1k views
-
LATEST POSTS
-
Gays had very little influence one way or the other on membership until National decided to allow gays. That caused the exodus in numbers as well as as alumni funds. And that was the beginning of raising membership fees. Forcing scouting out of schools was done by the atheist. Non of the progressive activism really affected membership except for the girls. What really hurt the BSA the most was the financial support from past members. While liberal corporations taking away their support got all the media attention, it was the huge alumni pockets that hurt the most as National tried to walk the political tightrope. Barry -
When we hear BSA plans to simplify the program (for Scouts), is the fear moving it back to 1972 and skill awards? -
You had me going there for a moment. Then I remembered that National only makes program changes that serve the folks at National. I’ve been wondering lately what the Boy Scout program has that would attract girls over the Girl Scouts program. Then I ran into a BSA girls troop fundraising at a local store yesterday. These girls were in full uniforms with every patch they could wear appropriate for their rank. They looked really sharp and any Scoutmaster would be proud. I think these girls are attracted to the legacy Boy Scout program. Sadly, National is going to shuck that away from them like they have been doing to the rest of us for years. Barry
-
BSA lost a million and a half scouts from the start of Dale to lifting the ban on gay scouts. They fought 15+ years and cemented their legacy of discrimination against the gay community. Yes they are much more inclusive now, but 15+ years digs a deep hole of mistrust. GSUSA who avoided that mess has 700,000 more girls than total youth in BSA. That said, it is tough to determine if BSA numbers would be better now if they accepted gay youth at the same time GSUSA did. Loosing relationships with public schools was damaging, but I expect trends would have worked against BSA regardless. Recent changes.... Did adding girls help stave off a deeper drop than would have occurred if the didn't add girls? I lean to the guess that short term, the impact on total membership has been a net negative. That said, the question will be in 10-15 years will BSA be better off accepting all youth? Time will tell. Note that this is just discussion members numbers, not how these changes could negatively impact the chance for boys to have their own space.
-
By ToKindle96 · Posted
I remember the first year girls were admitted the annual report emphasized that some 77K girls joined cub scouts, but neglected to mention there were 91K fewer boys in cub scouts. That trend accelerated. Compare the number of girls in the programs today (175K or so) to the massive decrease in the numbers of boys served (somewhere in the range of -1.1 million compared to 5 years ago. Maybe it was never about "serving more youth." Maybe it was about serving different youth. Remember, Surbaugh said the legacy clientele was no longer good enough for the BSA.
-
-
Who's Online (See full list)