Jameson76

Sadly the DEI merit badge will be the straw on the camel's back for many volunteers / scouters. Not saying that some items occurring in society currently may need to be highlighted and the units could be venues for that effort. Most not happy with the handling of this will just fade away. Another loss of experience to the organization. Could aspects of the intent of DEI merit badge be rolled / updated into Cit in the Comm, Cit in the Nation, maybe Family Life .... absolutely. Was the DEI mb initiative a knee jerk reaction and viewed by some as attempting to play to and placate some constituency, likely. Rather than play on our organizational strengths (Scout Oath and Law), and clarifying or expanding some points already in use, the organization decided, with little understanding, study, or review, determined we were ALL deficient and needed to change paths. We just had to align ourselves with some seriously politically driven groups and rush forward with this. Again, as usual, the folks "running" the BSA and setting policy forget the folks that actually are running units and in fact, running the BSA. You know, working with the youth and families on a daily and weekly basis.

Agree. I continue to state that the BSA's reason for being in business cannot be solely to protect youth. It is vital and it is important. YPT is a critical component and as you noted it needs to be common place best practices. Our reason or "mission" is to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law. We do this with experiential learning, a game with a purpose, letting them fail and letting them figure it out. That is what we need to go to market with. If our "Go To Market" is we provide youth protection, likely families will determine / decide that their kids can be safe or maybe safer by being at home. Now we can state and cite statistics that may indicate that is not the case, but that will be the decision. To get to the next chapter of the BSA movement the organization needs to clearly state WHY the BSA is around and WHY it is important and WHY youth can benefit. That message cannot be YPT, That is part of what and how we do programs, not the reason we do programs.

Don't worry, there's always room at The Summit (do we capitalize The??). It's on the books for $345 million...and a bargain at that no doubt 😀

Cubs were at 649,284 for 2020 I'm sadly thinking overall BSA will be under 1 million

Not good update on the BSA Membership numbers

We had a WB beading ceremony (??) that was done at a troop meeting. Ran, I kid you not, 45 minutes. I too felt like we were hostages. Most leaders input was "and that's why I will never go to WB"

I continue to find it interesting that organizations, such as NOW, at various times called upon the BSA (as was an organization's free speech perogative) to open the membership to girls. The press release article qwazse noted was headlined - "Boy Scouts of America Denies Equal Opportunity Access for Girls" Yet, I am not able to find the same organizations, then or now, calling for the Girl Scouts to admit males. Please do not perceive this observation as being against the inclusion of Girls into Cubs and Scouts, it is what it is and honestly has not effected our unit at all. I hope the girls have great adventures and grow as youth in leadership and skills. Just wonder why the obvious hypocrisy is not even mentioned in any way in the media.

I work with our Life Scouts. They know who the SM is (title and name) but reference him only as Mr (name). I refer to getting the CC signature, they say who it that, it's Mr CC. Oh Adult to Adult is first name. Youth to adult is Mr (last name). Agree with others, if I am conversing with a Scout and they need something from another leader, it's see Mr (last name) If we're being smart alecky (which is often) it's title and first name - Scoutmaster Bob...ASM Pete

We ran our own summer camp and had monthly outings AUG through NOV. Maybe average of 24 Scouts and 6 leaders per outing. Did aquatics, kayaking, backpacking, and AOL visit. We did have our annual 3 day Winter trip last weekend, to the swamp, visit to a National Seashore Island, and some other side trips. We have been meeting outside since August, but we always met outside so no difference. Been some challenge due to CO (church) being closed at times so went to park across the street. They close at dark, so winter is iffy. We have picked up some additional High School aged Scouts. Basically we are the only group active. The challenge may be the Cub packs and their activities. We have tried to support but they have not been meeting and we have no idea how many we may get from crossover. It is a struggle to keep things moving forward.

1972 was the BIG change. Many of the core badges (swimming / camping / cooking) were part of the group that could or could not be earned. That was the change wherein one could become Eagle and not have camped at all and basically not have gone outside at all

Maybe they have learned to give the expected answers, please the questioner. I typically get they feel first aid, the shooting sports, climbing, and camping as important.

My hope would be (though not likely) is that they actually take one of 2 paths for this new set of requirements. Whether one thinks the DEI initiative is a good thing or a bad thing, it is likely not going away. BSA National has opened the door, so they will not be able to close that door 2 Hopeful Paths Restructure the Citizenship Merit Badges to include some new items. Some of the DEI requirements could relate to community, nation, or world. Remove the Citizenship in the World MB from Eagle required and insert the (obviously reworked) DEI merit badge in it's place Doubt that will happen, but it would be a good path

My thought is everyone read the floated proposed requirements and said WTH, this is worthless. Must have been a lot of pushback. The language was suspect at best and agenda driven at worst. They decided to punt.

If you recall Surbagh's Town Hall video, he as much admitted they (National gang) was pretty much out of ideas on how to add members to the program. The adding girls was a hail Mary. In reality they did not want to do the hard work of figuring out why some units succeed and others fail, that would require maybe a real reflective look at the program. Nope, it was the easy route they took "let's add girls". Not saying it was a bad idea, just need to be honest on WHY.

I had one of my Scouts ask me about some of the musicians (that they all seem to listen to now) from the late 70's and 80's. Specifically Bowie, Elton John, and Freddie Mercury. Did we care they were bi or gay, was that an issue, what did we think of them. My answer was that (and this sort of shocked them), they were more defined by their talent and what they actually did than their persona. Did not recall if they were openly out or swinging at the time, but everyone sort of knew it, but we accepted that they were talented, that is what mattered. I see the challenge today is that many are defining people NOT by their talents BUT more by their races, genders, sexual preferences, and gender identities. It seems more important WHO you are and identify as than WHAT you can actually do. We as a society seem to have gone backward to almost the days of who you were being defined by your family (replace family for whatever group(s) people may want to be identified as) and their place in society, not what YOU individually can do and bring to a group.

There is no way to leave personal politics out of the discussion. Each of us brings our own experiences, political beliefs, personal beliefs into everything we do and express. To deny that is naive, we can try, but it is there. Also to deny the WHY of this merit badge is akin to putting one's head in the sand. It is being put forth as window dressing and to show compliance to an agenda. Now, can we as a nations do better, absolutely. Are we as a nation as bad as many have made it out to be, absolutely not.

I am not the one using this term (see below) in requirement #1 - Intersectionality. You speak of no politics, yet it is in the definition of the term Intersectionality is a theoretical framework for understanding how aspects of a person's social and political identities combine to create different modes of discrimination and privilege. Examples of these aspects are gender, caste, sex, race, class, sexuality, religion, disability, physical appearance, and height. What exactly do you think the goals of this merit badge are? Are they to "broaden horizons" or are they to prove to many the BSA is now WOKE and on board with SJW? Much like the National BSA accepting Black Lives Matter (note they capitalized this) and it's stated desire to do away with the nuclear family and embrace Marxist ideals. Diversity and Inclusion are noble and worthy goals, but who is setting those goals and do all agree on what those goals may in fact be? Note many of us did not wade into this discussion, but National led the way. Now we are here and yes, politics, however one may define that, is a factor and cannot be denied to have an influence.

Sadly you do not even have to attend a local event... or learn about such an event that occurred historically. 100% Classroom and discussion. No actual "doing". Just indoctrination

Great - another classroom MB. Quick read I can see this will be an MBU offering, if Scouts can stay awake, they are granted DEI and Scouts BSA improves it's wokeness factor

We have had recent visitors (AOL's) who the family definitely wants the Webelos III experience. Not so much Family Scouting but they want to stay in their group, advance together, etc etc. They also want the 60 page Troop handbook, specific advancement steps, very scheduled on outings and summer camp; etc etc. Our input is this is a boy led troop. The method is YOUTH led and each Scout finds their own path. We can facilitate, but it is driven by each Scout. Our success (IMHO) is judged by the number of Scouts we have a active that are in High School and come when they can because (wait for it....) our Troop is FUN and they get away from the parents for a weekend. Also the downtime on the outings in the afternoons is very welcome for them.

Good Lord, that would be the end for many people. Just want we need, YPT zealots descending on a meeting to "evaluate" and offer their sage advice. All I can think of is the political officers spread throughout the Soviet Union to keep an eye on stuff and make sure everyone drank the appropriate amount of party Kool Aid That would in fact be the end of Scouting. Also, the family Scouting concept (for Scouts older than 11 years old or middle school) will be the final nail in the coffin

Reminiscent of Supreme Court Justice confirmation hearings. No real way to validate or prove truth, you either accept or you are believe in the rule of law want to see evidence. There is not an easy answer. As was the case for many of these incidents, there was just the two of them there - victim and abuser. No other eye-witnesses. No physical evidence. No incriminating diary or photographs. Just the accuser's account. Families, Councils, Law Enforcement (maybe), Chartering Organizations, Troop Committees...did what they could with what they have at that time

Don't forget, we all fund 4-H, so it's not apples to apples on program costs. Funding is through state budgets and taxes. It is part of Cooperative Extension offices, likely at the County level in many states. In Georgia it is run through the University System of Georgia This is an advisement from 2019 on budget cuts - Those include a combined $4.7 million cut from the University of Georgia’s agricultural experiment stations, three research centers that teach farming techniques and management in Athens, Griffin and Tifton. The school’s cooperative extension service, which runs agricultural and 4-H programs, is penciled in for a cut of $4.4 million.

That was a long time ago, do not recall the youth(s) names as I was not directly involved.

It is a challenge with the age of accusations and the time in which they were handled. When I was a DE (Back in the 80's) there was a issue in one of the districts. None of the families wanted to formally involved the police. The CO (a church) did not want the police formally involved. As there was not a required reporter laws NOR shield protections laws, if we (the council) had called the police, that could have opened us up to slander issues. We terminated the alleged abuser's membership in the BSA, put his name in the file, and that was all we could legally and legitimately do AT THAT TIME. Spring forward 30 - 40 years, now the case is being made we should have done something. But in reality we did DO something. Is it comparable to today's expectations, no. Same as when I was in car wreck in mid 70's and got a head injury as there were no airbags. Can I sue GM now as they did not provide that safety feature as standard back then?