hieudo

I can't take credit for this  It's been going on for 85 years... hehehe, but it works for our organization 

On the program side, our hierarchy has a few more levels than a traditional pack, troop, crew.  Since we are a Multi-Unit (If I made this up, the copyright 2016, hehehehe) made up of several units for bsa and gsusa, there is a Muilti-Unit leader / asst Multi-unit Leader that oversees the entire program from elementary school age through college and beyond (we actively keep up w/ our alums through social events to make the transition back easy and the bonds strong).  This leader works w/ the unit leaders (cub master, scout master, etc...) to ensure the program is of high quality across the board and support where needed.  He also manage the large Multi-Unit level events.  Almost all of our leaders for boys and girls are wood badge trained (dual registration).

We meet on every Saturday's during the school year from 12-2 all in the same place at church.  During this time, we could meet as a multi-level troop or down to dens and patrols levels, or any combinations of the above often in support of each others programs.  Our advancements are still w/ the respective organizations BUT there are a lot of over lap that we can combine our resources.

Planning at the beginning of the year or any given weekend often sounds like this:

This year, I want to get out and fish, camp, community service, push carts, do STEM stuff, paint, etc... 

Then the girls would be, count us in on fishing, camping, community service, push carts, and STEM, but we had enough of painting... or vice versa

Or Ventures are going to Swamp base this year, our Seniors (who are also dual registered ventures) can chime in and participate together.

Or this weekend I'm teaching Orienteering... who's in?  caddettes, boy scout, webelos... 

With our larger pool of leaders, we have people that are specialized in things such as shooting sports, carpentry, crafts, etc... that all levels can make use of.

Hope that rambling made sense... 

Apologies if I don't articulate my point as well... I'm merely saying we pine over the perfect environment (almost a vacuum) for our boys to flourish and worry about influences that may throw their development in jeopardy, when their own resilience and adaptive skills are a lot stronger than we think they are.  I may be incorrect, but that's what I read when you say "The Patrol in the Patrol Method is actually a somewhat fragile structure that can be disrupted by the smallest of interruptions".  Being a product of our system and serving as a leader for 20+ years, I just feel (no studies involved, hehehe) that this ominous distraction between the genders for US is non-existent because the kids have been together since they where brownies and cub scouts...

I understand that If we took a traditionally boy-only troop now, and injected a bunch of girls, that the disruption would be HUGE...

"We manage our developmental differences in our troop by keeping the patrols separate." You post is a bit conflicting, if not confusing.."
I guess a I should have given a little back information.. like I said, not the best at articulating... 

At the lowest patrol level, it's single gender for the flexibility of breaking apart from the whole troop to do gender specific events when we need to.  But things such high-adventure, skill training, songs, camps are done together.  Everyone goes to the same training for Junior Leader Training.  Everyone knows the same song and dances.  Everyone follows the same patrol method.   When we compete in skill based knowledge, it's together (the boys don't always win...).  In fact, large scale competitions are between boy scouts, ventures crews, caddettes and seniors, without consideration for age or gender.  The younger kids get into their paces and give the older kids a run for their money in a very short amount of time and their fewer success are sweet for all of their hard work to catch-up.  It's less confusing if you think of us as scouts, instead of boy scouts and girls scouts.

Our "angle of attack" is not to strengthen the girl side , but to do our best in providing one consistent and enduring scout impression for all of our children.

I'm fully aware of the politics involved between GSUSA and BSA and the chances of an integrated program in the near future is next to none... AND I know such an integration would prob be fumbled many times before they get it right...   It's just wishing thinking on my part that I can take this unified view beyond my troop and fully utilize the best of scouting from both worlds.

 

@ Ankylus - I have faith in the venturing program, but at 14+ years old, the optimum time to learn is over; just as in language or faith.  And at this point... they are merely guest in the boy's house.  Not real members.

@ Eagledad - While I agree that child development is different between boys and girls, I don't think that boys are so delicate that in a situation w/ sisters and mothers that they cannot thrive.   If that's the case we should consider keeping them separate for families, school and playground as well...  Adversities breed strength and character right?  We manage our developmental differences in our troop by keeping the patrols separate, but most all of our activities are together. So that if a patrol needs to be more "boy" or "girl" they are free to do so.  Certainly Scouting alone is not the end-all to maturity and personal development... but I know that when my sons and daughters leave for college (and eventually come back), they will have shared the same experiences and love for Scouting as I do, and the many generations that have come before me.

Though I get your point... I can see hypersensitive considerations to be PC could hurt the program...  I think we are strong enough to overcome it if we choose to be.

A testament of this philosophy is that 90% of the leaders that are in our troop are not parents following their kids through the scouting program, it's our G1, G2, Gx kids coming back to pay it forward to our next generation of boys AND girls.  They are full-time leaders in the age groups that they specialize in that don't change much from year to year.

Here's is an example of things that we do together (I called it scoutmobiles instead of cubmobiles):

The ideals of the scouting movement are broad and non-gender specific.  How you measure the success of a good program is not solely the # of eagles, outings, high-adventure, activities, how rough the boys are or outdoor skills, head count... It's the lasting impression of our bond w/ one another, w/ god, with our community and our country.  It's pushing our kids to the limit of what ever engages them mentally, physically, spiritually, etc....  It's thinking beyond ourselves... How you get to these goals vary vastly from unit to unit... So while BSA lays out a basic framework; there are MANY path of youth development towards the same success... 

That's why some units are far more sports minded, high adventure, science, technology focused, etc... None are necessarily better then the other.  Having girls in the mix with the addition of the things that interest them only widens the umbrella of paths to a lifelong commitment to scouting.  So if your unit wants to go camping AND enjoy art, more power to you as long as your youth, parent and leaders are having a great time learning / growing as Scouts... 

Another angle to consider are Boy and Girls with great scouting experiences turn in to mothers, fathers and leaders with tremendous Scout Spirit... That intern share them w/ their own children and their communities.  So to only consider the boys is only hurting ourselves.. 

As someone said in a previous post, the international community has be coed for ages.  So when Vietnamese scouting came to the US, it's always ingrained in our forefathers to be together.  Unit finances are tracked separately just as a traditional units are, but we have help each other on fundraising efforts to go to summer camp, etc...  If you think of it as a large eco-system, even when one unit supports another, its an investment in ourselves to have a consistently high program for our kids for their entire scouting journey.

Maybe our FB can shed some light

https://www.facebook.com/LDHDLaVang/

Council and district events only make up 20-30% of our outings (we have to pick and choose because we have so many)... those are the ones we participate as a traditional pack / troop / patrol.  But events such as the pinewood derby, rocket launches, fishing trips, camping trips, etc... are done together.  Since its one giant group, we pool from all of our units resources, leaders and skill sets, it's not uncommon for our older kids (boys or girls depend who's free) to work w/ your younger kids on a regular basis.  We all meet at the same place / time every weekend.  Another benefit is the path from cub/brownie through college and leadership is very clear.  I am the cub master of the pack was I a part of 30 years ago as a bear, and soon to be replaced by a cub that I mentored while I was in college.

My scout troop out of Houston, TX has been co-ed for 30+ years.  You guys are over thinking this...  We register w/ BSA and GSUSA, and our range is from Daises to Seniors and Tigers to Venture.  Our troops, patrols and dens are not mixed, but we do everything together.  Just as in school or family, it's natural for the whole family to be together (Mom's, dad's brothers and sisters).  There no weirdness or hinderenced of our programs, we take the best of each program and progress.  There are times when we do separate unit level activities, but by and large we are cohesive and it works.