NJCubScouter

They can. Quazse, you’re my candidate for National Director of Gender-inclusive Scouting. Go get this thing up and running.

They have to come with a name for the program. I’m mostly kidding, they should be able to come up with a name fairly quickly and then print stuff based on the name. But the fact is that they don’t seem to have come up with the name yet.

The Sinister Face of Doom?

I think this is just human nature on the part of the parents and girls. After all, we know who the first Eagle Scout was, more than 100 years later. For National, it is an opportunity to get some free advertising for the availability of Cub Scouts to girls.

In this case, it appears the odds were just high enough for a tragedy to occur. That presumes that one sees the power lines before going under them. Was there sun glare making it difficult to see the lines? Was there something else that I can't think of right now that could make it difficult to see the lines? None of us know the answers to those questions, or to the question of what the power lines were doing that close to the water in the first place. I don't think RS missed that point at all. That point is why the report should be released (with anything that is particularly sensitive redacted, since these were youths.)

While thinking back to missile emplacements that are not there anymore, I also thought back to other things I have seen that are not there anymore - like the BSA Headquarters in New Brunswick NJ (actually North Brunswick, which for reasons probably lost in the mists of time, is SOUTH of New Brunswick, but anyway) which my troop toured in the early 70s. As for Civil Defense shelters, there was one in the basement of my elementary school.

I have seen Nike missiles in two locations in New Jersey. There was a base in South Plainfield NJ and you could see some missiles from Interstate 287. I found an article on the Internet that says the base closed in 1971, but I was only 13 years old then, and I remember driving past missiles. I am going to guess that there were still missiles (presumably non-operational) visible there until the 80s or maybe even early 90s. The other place, and it is only one missile, and it is still there "on display", is on Sandy Hook. This article says there were 14 Nike bases in NJ, but from their locations is makes sense that I would have only seen the two I mentioned. Added: Here is a photo of the missile on display at Sandy Hook, though that does not look like the area where I saw it. Maybe there is more than one on display. There is also an article there about the "ring" of missile bases surrounding New York City, of which all of the NJ bases were presumably a part.

I believe that the bigger PR disaster would be for the first (or any) female Eagle to get the rank due to a change in the requirements, a loophole, an exception, a "creative interpretation" of an existing rule, or anything else other than the fulfillment of the same requirements that a boy must meet. And, whatever the Eagle may mean to any of us, to National "Eagle Scout" is a "brand." They may regard it as their most valuable "brand," even more than the name of the organization itself. I do not think they want to do anything to dilute that brand. Well look at that, the idealistic me and the cynical me turned up in the same post.

As I mentioned in another thread, my council now has a "Vice President, Family Scouting." I think we're stuck with double-speak.

As did my son. But at some point in the past, those programs, exams, etc. did not exist. (There was no "AP" when I was in high school, or at least I don't think there was. At Rutgers I tested into the second year of college Spanish, but they didn't give me credit for the first year.) Someone had to create those things. And what would have happened if a college senior found himself, say, 6 credits short to graduate in 4 years and at that moment, the AP program came into existence? Could he take some AP exams to retroactively pick up those 6 credits? I'm pretty sure that's a no. As for honorary degrees, are you suggesting an "honorary Eagle" now? (In effect, there already is one, Spirit of the Eagle, but to "earn" it you must unfortunately pass away before the age of 18.) Even if you are, an honorary degree is not the same thing as an actual degree, and an "honorary Eagle" is not Eagle.

There is a green skirt for female adult leaders, right? I think I have seen it worn once.

I really, really hope they don't do this for the Boy-Scout-age program. There is no need for it. The green pants will look just as ugly on the girls as they already do on the rest of us. But there is more than a fashion aspect to this. My main concern about "coed" especially at the 11-17 age level has always been the "distraction" issue. I have seen what happens when there is a girl in the room at a troop meeting, usually an older sister of one of the Scouts. Half the boys turn into blithering idiots and you start to hear the famous last words, "Hey, watch this!" And that is when the girl is wearing long pants. We really don't need to run an experiment on what happens when the girls are wearing a skirt (or even a skort.)

Great, let's emphasize the differences right from the beginning.

What are you, some kind of capitalist or something?

I wasn’t talking about a poll. I was giving my perception of how members of this forum feel about the subject based on the many posts on the subject. And I’m not talking about the number of posts, I’m talking about the number of people. I’m not claiming it’s a scientific approach. It’s just based on my observations. My conclusion from those observations is that there has been a mixed reaction.

Hmm, the name of that council sounds familiar, where have I heard it before? I had not received this letter, presumably because I am not involved in Cub Scouts. But I will send a copy to our person in charge of recruitment, they should at least know what is going on with the packs. I also was not aware that my council had a "Vice President for Family Scouting." Which is more evidence that the BSA is NOT de-emphasizing the term "family scouting," by which they mean only the sons-and-daughters part of the family. They don't seem to understand what "family" means in normal, non-jargonized English.

Well, since (officially, anyway) boys and girls will be in different troops, there will not be a "family troop model." Presumably.

The version I have heard is four wolves and one sheep voting on dinner, but the idea is the same.

I wonder the same thing. In this forum it has been somewhere in the vicinity of 50-50, or perhaps a better guess would be something like 40% opposed, 35% in favor and 25% not sure/waiting-and-watching/no opinion. Or the 40/35 could be the other way. Among the Scouters I know in person, the most common reaction is a shrug of the shoulders as if to say, It is what it is. I attended a portion of a Cub Scout RT session where this was being discussed and most of the leaders seemed to have gotten past the yes-or-no stage and were mainly interested in getting more information about what they were supposed to do now. If I were to take a vote among my relatives (including my Eagle-brother and Eagle-son) it would probably be a majority in favor. I myself was not in favor of this, and I don't think National is handling the transition very well, but now that it is going to happen I guess I am at the ok-what-do-we-do-now stage.

Well, even so. By early-80s standards, anyway. I don't know about today. Well, actually I sort of do. From what I can see, in local newspaperdom there has been an increasing emphasis on the readers writing the news, or in other words, the newspaper has a miniscule staff compared to 30 years ago and those who remain cannot possibly cover the community themselves, so they run a lot more press releases, etc. with not enough verification of the facts. So, sure, that could be an explanation for this. These days I increasingly wish that more of the truth were "here" rather than "out there."

That is my suspicion. There are too many hints in the article that this reporter has no knowledge of how Cub Scouting works and she is just repeating what she THINKS this 16-year-old girl said. Once upon a time, I was a newspaper reporter. If I had written an article in which the ONLY source was a 16-year-old girl, especially where the story was based on what she was saying about herself, I suspect (and hope) that my editor would have said to me, Can't you find at least ONE adult to talk to for this story?

Ok, I think that was announced by National a few weeks ago, but I guess now it has filtered down to the council level.

Is the pilot program just for Cub Scout packs? That is all that I have seen.

I have hidden two posts in this thread, one because it contained a personal attack and the second (which was fine in and of itself) because it quoted the personal attack. Further action is possible after moderator review. The requirement to "be Scoutlike" may be applied slightly more leniently here in Issues and Politics, but it still applies. Personal attacks are not permitted.

Bet you an imaginary dollar she never gets Eagle at all, unless they move up the start date for the new program and she can meet the time requirements.