Eagledad

>>I'm torn on this

No, but I think National wants the the CO to take on the responsibility and cost. Barry

>>I don't see why BSA seems reluctant to adopt what all other youth programs are doing. When I took a church youth group on an extended trip, they did a background check on me.

>> I sure hope that EagleDad is correct in his assessment,

>>In many respects, I fully understand why a lot of young men think Scouting is uncool because it is just like all other activities that are designed to instruct. Read the book, review in class, and maybe someday go out and actually use the skill taught.

>>I agree with Brewmeister, way too much book-learnin' and not enough get out there and have fun.

CubsRg is right, culture is driven by the leader. We had a big troop in our area that was like the successful troop you describe. The SM who built the troop from nothing decided to train a replacement for his retirement a couple years down the road. He picked a pretty sharp father who was also an Eagle and they worked together for two years as planned and then he took over. The replacement lost over half the troop in three years time and decided to retire to save the troop. He knew how the methods worked individually, but he just didn't understand how in the big picture they worked together to make the machine run. Barry

>>First I enjoy my boys for who they are....... BUT. Bottom line is I look at my boys at summer camp lined up for flags at summer camp, No quarterbacks, class presidents or kids popular with their peers at school.

>>I think parental decisions for their children is a private matter. I personally don't intend to spank mine after about the age of 4-5, simply because as a poster above me mentioned, taking away priviledges works better in my personal opinion.

>> I just hope this attitude is not displayed in front of the kids and scouting families

>>No desire to be CM...seriously. Just a desire for competent adults to run a program and a position they volunteered for so DLs can go back to doing what they do best.

>>A pack needs a committee that does quite a bit in da current program. Once yeh get out of that mentality, yeh realize that a group of Boy Scout aged boys from da same unit absolutely can plan and run a Pinewood Derby. In fact, they'd love to do it and probably do a better job than most pack committees.

>>It's not about unsuccessful or poor leadership (i.e. the wrong people). It's that scouting takes time to "get"; to understand.

>>It's not just da Canadians, eh? Most of da rest of the Scouting World runs on the Group model, and has done so ... forever. It's a more tested and proven design in a much wider variety of circumstances and cultures. It's da BSA approach which is the odd man out.

>>Some of da advantages in consolidatin' on the committee level is that it gets da committee out of the hair of the youth and youth-contact leaders, eh?

>>All I am saying with the religious making the laws about morality, is that the majority of the US population is not in agreement.. You can do things like that in the southern states if you wish, until your children grow up and out-vote these laws

Before the Canadian Boy Scouts changed their program in the 90s, they had what many believed was the most successful Boy Scout program in the world using the one-unit system. So Im open to the idea depending how National changes the administration part. The BSA loses most of their membership between Webelos crossover and the first year of the Troop program. If a one-unit system could dramatically improve those losses, it would in my opinion be worth the effort. BArry

>>My unit functions this way now.

>>We have had many a debate on this forum.

>>This model would be based upon how the UK/Canada et all run their Units. It's a good system,

>>And we have already debated and condemned the biblic views ..

I dont think you can know if it would create more weaker troops, the reason the BSA loses so many scouts at the younger age is because administration of the pack program today burns out families before they get to the older program. The administration of the one-unit program has to be less complicated than the present Cub program for the program to even have a chance of improved performance. Can it do that? Also, I wonder if there is larger risk of losing more scouts because poor administration of the one unit would affect all the age groups instead of just a couple. Barry

Well not only that, I work from real data, not emtional presumptions. I know some folks have personal experiences with familes choosing not to join because of the gay issue, but I can name many reasons why families didn't join scouts through the years. I'm not convienced, "At All" that the gay issue is a significant numbers problem for the BSA at the moment. It certainly isn't in my area. Barry

>>Very interesting from an anthropological basis.

Update on the San Francico Public Nudity Ban. A few months ago I posted here that San Francisco was considering banning nudity because it had gotten a little out of control. I can't find the post in the archives, but it must be pretty bad for San Francisco to ban it, the vote comes up tomorrow. So what does this have to do with gay role models? Here is a guote from the todays AP article: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_NUDITY_BAN?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-11-18-15-45-34 ""Supervisor Scott Wiener's proposal would make it illegal for a person over the age of 5 to "expose his or her genitals, perineum or anal region on any public street, sidewalk, street median, parklet or plaza" or while using public transit. ...........Exemptions would be made for participants at permitted street fairs and parades, such as the city's annual gay pride event and the Folsom Street Fair, which celebrates sadomasochism and other sexual subcultures."" Well of course, that makes sense doesn't it. There should be exemptions for Scoutmasters with other hobbies. But it does require the PLC to X-out those dates for camping. Barry