Peregrinator

Some interesting results if you Google the phrase "Making Scouting Accessible for Families":

http://www.samoset.org/openrosters/ViewOrgPageLink.aspx?orgkey=1438&itemkey=14002- this one is open about its being about admitting girls into the BSA

My old time family doctor always said that you could do two things to a Poison Ivy rash:   If you washed it well, as soon as possible with warm water and Octogon soap, the rash would heal in ten days to two weeks.  If you treated it with Calomine lotion, it would heal in a week and a half to 14 days. 

I realize that this is a joke, but cold water is better because warm water will open up your pores.

I said, "60,000 boys worse" (about what we lost over two years).

She replied "You don't need them."

Where is that figure from? Is that just the losses in Venturing? Because the loss in Cubs and Scouts from 2014-2016 is around 85,000.

Co-ed scouting:

Sorry to interrupt this back and forth, but BSA is not a 501©(3). Why would you quote that when BSA is a 501©(1)?

The BSA National Council is definitely a 501©(3). 501©(1) organizations are "government instrumentalities" which the BSA is not, even though it is chartered by Congress.

Lastly, don't confuse tax-exempt status with being "non-profit". They are two different things.

That is true but for-profit organizations cannot be tax exempt under 501©(3).

"Because [current year]" has to be one of the lamest arguments for anything.

I don't think that's entirely true.  BP often discusses scouts being in a patrol with one's friends/peers.  The Boys who join together generally stay together, etc.  This would imply, but not codify, age based patrols.

That's true but that one's friends and peers would be made up entirely of boys one's own age is something new.

SCOUTING IS A GAME for boys, under the leadership of boys, in which elder brothers can give their younger brothers healthy environment and encourage them to healthy activities such as will help them to develop CITIZENSHIP.

@@The Latin Scot, I would love to read where B-P wrote about new scout patrols. It's not familiar to me.

If they are doing things according to Church policy, which is to follow BSA policy mind you, then they are running the program just as B.P. first envisioned it.

If you're running age-based patrols (which I know are not unique to LDS) then you're not running the program as B-P envisioned it.

From what I have heard, most LDS boys 14+ do not participate in scouting (hence the push to get Eagle before 14), whether or not they are registered.

Is that so?  The units formerly owned by the Knights of Columbus might be surprised to hear it.

That was a Knights of Columbus decision.

The  Baptists do not have a national "policy setting" group like LDS or the Roman Catholic church.

The Catholic Church does not have a national policy setting group either, at least as far as the BSA is concerned. There's the NCCS, of course, but they don't set policy for the Church.

TL-USA was founded in 2013 and started operations in 2014.  They have 26,000 members and only increased approximately 6,000 members from 2014 to now.  The BSA has 2.35 Million.

30% growth over 3 years (an average of over 9% per year) is "limping along"? I have my own criticisms of Trail Life but as far as I can tell they're not "limping along." 9% is good, sustainable growth.

The scandals have certainly played a part, but Catholic school enrollment has been declining for decades. Tuition goes up, enrollment declines. It's a never-ending cycle. And frankly, there is not much reason to pay tuition so your kids can learn the same thing in Catholic school that they would learn in public school.

And in the last 100 years, almost every school, college, university and work place has gone co-ed.  Go figure.  

It does not follow from that fact that co-education is better for youth.

The gender neutral ones are the worst!

They're in rut all the time.

I didn't say it shouldn't be done (married folks tenting together), I asked why it was "mad" (I guess that is British for "crazy") that they not.

separate tents for a married couple thats well mad. 

Why is it? This is scouting not family camping.

Ironically, Canadian immigration law is probably more restrictive than American.

No Barry, the scout law is not at all like the Ten Commandments.  I take my religion very seriously, and I would never compare the scout law to the Ten Commandments.  There is no comparison.

"The scout law is sacred and the Holy Bible its perfume. The scout law is our Lord Jesus’ law." --Fr. Jacques Sevin.

But it would remove one of the most compelling arguments - the inability of girls to access the program.

Then "they" will say that the girls aren't getting the real program because they are not working with and/or competing against the boys, or that the boys have the "better" scoutmasters, etc. The arguments they use now are just a means to an end, they will develop new arguments in order to reach the end they want.

Why not just have the BSA start a Girl Scout division that follows the same program as the Boy Scouts? Then girls could earn the same badges as the boys - including Eagle.

That won't be enough for the people who believe co-education is the be-all and end-all.

I have always found getting into Canada far easier than getting back to America

I've only crossed the border twice in each direction (both times when Obama was President), but my experience is the same.

If the "bump" in cubs is real and represents an infusion of more than Lions, there may be room for optimism.

Apparently about 30K of the cubs in this year's report are Lions. So there's your answer.

The annual report has different numbers. They've averaged 3% losses prior to 2013. Since, it has been closer to 6%.

My numbers come from the annual report, but I am counting the # of adult volunteers as well, and counting Venturers separately (as it's not a "traditional" program). And the steepest losses over the past few years have been in Venturing.

Anyway, as far as actual numbers are concerned, the BSA suffered a 5.36% loss from 2012 to 2013 (I am counting only traditional programs here) and a 6.08% loss from 2013 to 2014, but under 3% from 2014 to 2015 and possibly under 1% from 2015 to 2016 (I don't think official #s have been released yet). A lot of last year's non-loss is due to the Lion Cub pilot.