Leaderboard

Based on the variety of opinions expressed here, and seeing what governments and sports organizations have gone through struggling with this- it seems the BSA did something pretty rational. Just let the parents and local leaders work it out. If half- or some significant percentage of doctors and parents feel strongly either way, with no particular expertise (or business) taking sides on this, why would BSA want or need to weigh in? Actually the BSA never actually had a “policy” on this, and they never asked for the birth certificate to be presented in the past 108 years. So all they really

I agree with Peter Thiel 's statement in the posted video that reformation of college education will come from the outside. IMO, outside from education consumers, parents and students, in high schools. My younger son is not attending high school, he is taking courses at a local community college - better teachers, better courses. He has friends doing the same, other friends attending charter or private schools , others being home-schooled, and still others though physically in a public school are taking Virtual High School classes from Stanford or BYU. If grassroot's educationa

Absolutely agree. Even about two bullet points. Attitude is everything. The challenge though is using representing college was as a long-term way to lift income subverts the attitude and original purpose. Just like the Eagle rank. Now, college value is over-inflated and over-priced. Huge structures have been created around getting the college experience. For myself, my college experience was okay. Some good courses. Rarely were my eyes really enlightened. But for myself, my high school education was outstanding and easily bachelor degree. My math, physics, sciences, Engli

Seems like we've just worked through the embattled erstwhile privelaged class (EEPC) argument in a nutshell: Thesis: This EEPC is being marginalized. Counter: Show stats. Argument: See, The ratio of EEPC:non-EEPC with X is declining, so much so More non-EEPC than EEPC are getting X Soon EEPC will have no access to X and will be crushed like worms on the pavement. Counter: But in terms of odds of success: That ratio is: 9:10, not exactly the definition of "crushed under foot." More EEPC are getting X than ever before

Yup, but they already both have their degrees. Pete even has a JD to go with his bachelors (in philosophy). Now Pete will pay you to drop out of school and join his incubator (if you are good enough), but his portfolio company Palantir also has job postings labeled "new grad." Go over to Musk's Tesla, and you will find this line on some of the job postings "Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience; post-graduate or professional degrees a plus."

Last week I travelled to West Lafayette to see the Mizzou / Purdue football game. Along for the trip was my family and my brother's family and my sister. Well, during the tailgate I got a kick out of the fact that my boys (ages 27 and 26) used their old Patrol cooler and stove for the tail gate. My oldest was in charge of the grill - burgers for all (he had a steak!) and they cleaned up everything. Their aunts & uncles and cousins were impressed. Their Scout training came in very useful. It brought back a flood of memories of when we were all about 10 years or more younger and th

This is complicated. On the one hand, if I look at one schools National Honor Society members, there are a whole lot of girls and not many boys. On the other hand, when I look at CEOs of tech companies, or employees in a finance-related business I work with, there are a whole lot of men in the prime roles and not many women. I think it's great that some women are participating at the highest levels. Not all women want to get there, but it's still a harder road for women to get there than men. Randi Zuckerberg (Mark Zuckerberg's sister and the person who came up with the idea for

Scouting Magazine reached out to me, it will be awhile, but I think this can be good. @CherokeeScouter - I would surely if I used any names.

It's called Boy Scouts for a reason ... Well, the "reason" is to stand in contrast to military scouts -- to use the same skills but towards peaceful ends. This is quite the opposite of some folks' impression, who think our net effect is to fuel the gears of war.

I don't think there was any way the BSA could have "stayed away" from this issue. It was not like National woke up one day and decided it wanted to let "trans males" join the Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts. (It never would have been an issue with Venturing anyway.) A boy (using his preferred identification) wanted to join the Cub Scouts, with the approval of his mother. Based on then-existing policy they were told he can't join because his birth certificate says he is female. Mom filed a complaint with the New Jersey (it's always New Jersey) Division on Civil Rights, they decided to go after t

The tone of Scoutmaster conferences are a reflection of the Scoutmaster's personal vision of a scout. Their visions are as varied and different as their personalities. Scoutmasters can learn a lot from other scoutmasters in technique, but they can't hide the reflection. I've had many conferences with scouts and they never even knew it. Especially on drives to camp. I would drum up a conversation and we had good long talks. BORs should be the opposite. The 2 key requirements for productive BORs is a humble Scoutmaster wanting input from the board, and consistent BOR questions. A program

@Hawkwin Take a look at section 4.2.3.5 Unit Leader (Scoutmaster) Conference: "The conference is not a retest of the requirements upon which a Scout has been signed off. It is a forum for discussing topics such as ambitions, life purpose, and goals for future achievement, for counseling, and also for obtaining feedback on the unit’s program." The board of review is also not supposed to be a retest (section 8.0.1.1 Not a Retest or “Examination”).

IMHO the point of all of these personal growth conferences, especially at the upper ranks, are: Increase the youth's comfort and skill talking eye-to-eye with adults. Help the youth reflect on his scouting career and make plans going forward. Help adults discover what is inspiring or discouraging a youth ... in hopes of finding ways to encourage or exhort him/her. Help adults discover what the youth would like from their unit, but really never thought to ask. I'm mainly thinking about the importance of that last item. Take your son for example, say he and his buddie

I’m sure people who take polo lessons or sailing lessons earn a lot more on average too, Does that mean you should send your kids to sailing school? Young people feel they must go to college because if they don't they are in trouble, they are told they doomed to a life of being poor if they do not go to college. Costs are outrageously high, but you pay them because you have to, and because the system makes it easy to borrow massive amounts of money. The nightmare begins when you can't get out of the debt. Since government lenders have pretty much unlimited power to collect on studen

I usually would meet with the SPL and ASPL to discuss the process a few days before. Someone mentioned there is some good literature on the subject. I've been out of the game for a few years, so I'm not sure what is out there. But, even with all the literature, we still developed our own style or process for planning, as most troops do. Simplicity is how I approached guiding the SPL to leading a planning meeting. Our PLC planned for six months. Actually we planned for a year, but since the next six months was planned by the previous PLC six months ago, we review the first six months sche

There is a movement now, a big movement, to accept statements of identity from kids at face value, without question. This movement expects ALL to comply--parents, doctors, teachers, anyone in contact with the kid. We are told that to not accept these statements, and to not encourage them along this path, is harmful. However, this is not "settled science." This movement is social in nature, and the evidence that accepting as fact a new self-identity is helpful, is not there. There is a call for more research. As Scouters, are we helping or harming these kids by encouraging them along

Practice Practice with the "right" committee members and other sensitive, informed adults is good Counseling the Committee on their proper role as supporters of the Patrol Method, inclusive of youth leadership/responsibility is also good.

Peter Thiel thinks college is a scam.

PETA = People Eating Tasty Animals 'Vegetarian' is an old Cherokee word for 'Poor Hunter'.

So much bad information in this thread. Yes, a few companies will hire without a college degree. Mine included. However, lifetime earnings are better for college degrees vs stopping with a high school diploma. https://cew.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/collegepayoff-complete.pdf "A 2002 Census Bureau study estimated that in 1999, the average lifetime earnings of a Bachelor’s degree holder was $2.7 million (2009 dollars), 75 percent more than that earned by high school graduates in 1999. Today, we find similar numbers — but since 1999, the premium on college education

Caveat about that "older scout's hero" gig, you might find yourself saddled with some serious discipline issues. Scouts who don't want to bend sometimes break bad. That's not to discourage. It's just to give your committee a heads up that they can still hold scouts to high standards yet don't take them for granted if all they do for the troop is be decent souls in their community until they age out.

That's a strong case for a program that doesn't let girls think they've "arrived" until they earn some type of personal management badge. Hmmmm ..... Seriously. Because she ditched GS/USA, and this isn't part of the venturing curriculum, Daughter had to be brought up to speed. Fortunately, Son #1 was willing to help with the training. He'd not only earned the badge, but had been through my "Need $? Submit budget." school of hard knocks.

More time to be wasted focusing on a process for working on problems. If you watch the videos about the Polaris Method on the BSA website, it appears to be an exercise in feeling happy about setting entirely unrealistic goals.

The whole tone of your posts in this thread is based on your opinion of whether or not these lifestyles are a choice. We can agree or disagree about choice, but that is not the theme of this thread. Accept for your comment about my opinion of scouters contributing to abuse in this matter, every poster has been respectful. Barry

As with any bully, the solution is simple. Ignore her. Do not respond to any of her emails on this subject. If she confronts you in person, simply tell her kindly and calmly "the issue is already decided." Do not offer up any other explanation, do not attempt to satisfy her demands, do not engage with her on this matter at all. She has absolutely no right nor authority nor legitimate reason to make any of these demands on you nor your son, so just let her scream and holler till her voice is hoarse and she collapses in frustration. These people always tend to dig their own graves, so

Occam's razor ... I learned it long time ago, but I always wanted to be a Philosophy major ... but the major doesn't pay.

If we aren’t supposed to eat animals, then why are they made out of meat?

@Thunderbird After the LDS exit on 12/31/19, the biggest block of support for single-gender Scouting will be gone, so I agree with your predicted timing. @HelpfulTracks Whenever folks mention single-gender troops, I feel they've missed the point. I support a single-gender *program*. I do not oppose girls in Scouting. For 100+ years, there has been a wonderful Scouting program tailored to the unique needs of girls (it's called GSUSA, and all three of my daughters have participated in it). What I oppose is the loss of that wonderful Scouting program (formerly known as

This morning was supposed to be a school wide assembly, however at the last minute it was decided to go to each classroom and give the talk. I am a DL so I didnt get to talk, but I did hear the talk 17 times and it was a good learning experience. We go to the other school this afternoon and I think it will be an assembly. I am anxious to see how many show up tomorrow night.