yknot

When I'm discussing this issue I prefer to frame it as habitat loss. Climate change can be endlessly debatable. What is a much more concrete and obvious threat is that with 8 billion of us on the planet and at least three billion more to come before things supposedly level out, we are not facing a survivable future without behavioral changes. Even if climate change didn't exist, our destruction of livable habitat around the globe is turning many species into token fringe survival groups. People crow success when there are 30,000 of a species that used to number in the hundreds of thousands, if

Kind of how I see it. Maintaining a livable planet isn't political it's survival.

Who knows if the teacher had that challenge or not, the point is that her horror led her to report it immediately and she got results. My aunt was attached to the court system, not a district employee. It's a relevant contrast to the 1935 article detailing BSA's already long history dating back to the 1920s with moral perversion and degenerate behavior in scouting. I don't understand the prevalence nor the persistence in perpetuating the idea that BSA was simply dealt a wrong hand by the rest of the world and not a victim of its own actions. It met a moral challenge of its times and fell short

In my school district in the 1970s a teacher reported a suspected case of sexual abuse by a parent. My aunt was the child psychologist involved with the court system and delivered expert testimony in the case. People were plenty aware of CSA well, well before that. BSA certainly was -- it kept "red" files as far back as the 1920s where it documented moral perversion and degenerate cases in it's "red" files, as James West detailed in a 1935 New York Times article which you can easily google.

Here's one retrospective that was written after the Sandusky case: https://digitalcommons.law.villanova.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3262&context=vlr This recounts teachers being added to the list in many states by the 1970s. To me what's more relevant than the state laws -- because BSA was and is a national entity -- is that there was growing awareness of these issues and high profile discussions in youth settings from the 1960s forward, unlike what BSA seems to continually claim. As perhaps the nation's leading youth organization, with it's own long history of abuse inciden

There are two similar cases involving scouting within the past year in my area. In one case it was youth.

In about half of states, teachers were mandatory reporters by the mid 1970s, so... no.

To be honest, scouting has been mismanaged, both organizationally and financially, for decades. Better management could have resulted in better cost efficiencies, but the reality is that scouting has long had an over reliance on volunteers and families paying the way with no real back up plan in place. With membership declining, volunteerism interests shifting, fundraising become more difficult to do in general, and families less willing to contribute to FOS, scouting's old staffing and financial structures no longer work and the only real viable short term plan to survive is to raise fees. Th

That's why I'm certain fees will have to rise -- I can't recall where the settlement plan is but I think we were supposed to see a modest gain of around 1.2 million by now. There was a modest national annual fee increase attached to that plan so if the numbers are lower, the projected increase will likely be higher unless another revenue stream has developed.

Ours said the same thing when it increased council fees but never really actually stopped soliciting for FOS, it just became somewhat more low key about it for awhile. You'll have to see what yours does going forward. It's pretty certain that national fees are going to continue to increase.

I don't know what you're looking for but there are ranch and riding outfitters that make rain proof dusters that cover your back and near full leg on or off a horse. I think they'd do what you want. I had an old oilcloth Jackaroo duster I wore for 20 years and kept rewaxing. I think you can still find them but I replaced it with a regular raincoat duster. These are a lot lighter and they pack up nicely when not needed.

Arguing on the numbers it seems far worse. The next most egregious offender, the US Catholic Church, has had about 10,000 claims.

Thank you, Malraux. Interesting, because those numbers include rolling vs. old prorated new fall recruitment numbers that will remain valid even if they have dropped out before the end of the year. If you think of it, would love to see this chart again in January or February to see where everything lands.

There's a difference between competently managing an organization to maintain a healthy balance sheet while still effectively delivering your product, and propping up institutionalized dysfunction when you can't deliver your product. Our product isn't fundraising. If the results of fundraising in a nonprofit aren't being applied mostly to the product -- the unit level program -- then something is wrong.

I'm not sure I understand what you are saying but I think we agree. BSA is largely built around fundraising support, even to the local (council and unit) levels. It is not built around volunteer and unit support. Even the local fundraising model is failing, but I'm not sure BSA is too focused on fixing it beyond trying to recruit membership. I think they are more concerned with overall survival -- the survival of the national Congressionally chartered entity -- and have priorities elsewhere. If you look at where the bulk of its money has been invested, it is in Summit.

Personally I think their end game or at least back up plan is that Summit and Philmont are going to be the Disney Land and Disney World of scouting. Scouting will largely become a nostalgic activity at marquee regional destinations with some limited local units as satellites around whatever regional hubs are worth retaining. Easier to manage and monetize. BSA is not built around local scouting and really doesn't show any signs of changing that.

I don't know that you could have kids under 18 do much of anything that is actually hands on with animals because of liability issues but maybe if there was some kind of certification program that could qualify them or it could become an aspect of the pet care merit badge. I know the VMAT personnel generally have some specialized training in their roles. It's more likely that youth could assist with set up/custodial/close up type tasks. It's also not just small animals, many regions need to identify large animal facilities and a lot of help is required to prepare those more sprawling facilitie

Part of the reason packs are down is because during the pandemic other organizations stepped up to the plate with outdoor programming while scouting mostly shut down. Participation has remained high because parents saw that those programs are easier to participate in for a day or a season, cheaper, more focused, and generally led by more knowledgeable people. It also doesn't require fundraising or for parents to pay to volunteer. Scouters habitually gripe about youth sports, but the outdoors used to be scouting's turf and others have moved in very effectively. It's perhaps not as recognized be

Perhaps @malrauxwill be kind enough to post an updated number for us. I don't remember if they can do a cub breakdown, but I think they can see overall recruitment.

I think it's a mistake to look at cubs that way. Some things are just different. Nature centers do a far better job with pre-school level programming than scouts ever can, or should. It's far easier for parents to just plunk down a few dollars and show up for a few sessions with the naturalist. Youth sports is similar. Young kids mostly sample -- they'll play soccer in fall, basketball in winter, T ball in spring -- and cubs is not a sampling program. I don't think we so much as lose kids to other activites, I think some activities are better suited to kids at these younger ages. A lot of pare

One of the things to consider is that a 10 year old has a much easier time learning all the knots than a six or seven year old. They aren't cramming anything -- they are simply mostly more capable of it by that age.

I think it's easy to get way too carried away with awards. While some things in cub scouting may take some perserverence, nothing is hard. It is no more difficult for a 10 year old to earn AOL than it is for a six year old to earn Tiger because it's an age appropriate progression and the skills are easily attainable by the particular age. This seems to be reaching for ways to make certain groups of kids seem more worthy than another. Cubs simply isn't built that way.

Eagling, planning, budgeting, having everyone remind you for the rest of your life that you screwed up one meal -- these are the kinds of things adults think are great but are not what kids will think are great. It's also kind of weird that a new leader would come out the starting box making somewhat dated anti sports comments. Youth sports is not the reason why scouting is in trouble but it seems to be a perennially popular dog whistle for people who like to deflect blame there. There's more to be gained by a positive collaborative attitude with some of the nation's other youth organizations

Most schools and even COs have adopted a fee structure based on economics so the fee isn't the issue. What I agree with the Girl Scouts on is that the fee structure is odd. The districts I dealt with had a formula that computed fees on three elements: space requested, frequency, and profit/nonprofit status. There was also a fourth 'soft' element which was whether or not the entity involved offered something of use to the district's school children. So a classroom rental had a more minimal rental fee than the gymnasium or auditorium; if you met regularly once or twice a month vs. a one off even

I think some places are lucky and have a very competent CM or SM, or a well run unit, or a functional council. That can be a very mixed bag around the country though.