InquisitiveScouter

It's not cynical if it's true, right??

No one at National will touch this... And since you said it was a couple of years ago, no one else will touch it either. Here is the sad truth: it is EASY to lie, cheat, and steal your way to an Eagle rank badge (and certificate). I see it happen on numerous occasions. One of the biggest dirty secrets in Scouting is the sham of a merit badge program most summer camps put on. But, ultimately, what we hope for is that the values we seek to instill will take root and grow into a way of conducting your life. For example, when a Scout asked me to be his Eagle Project Coach, I was looking over his record and asked him about his Hiking Merit Badge..."So, tell me about your 20 mile hike in one day...was it difficult?" He replied he had not done a 20 mile hike, and that the counselor (a lawyer in our community, council board member, and fellow "Eagle Scout") had signed him off on it because of hikes they did over a few days on a trek. I told him that, in that case, he had not earned his Hiking Merit Badge, and asked him what he thought he should do about it. "I'm gonna hike 20 miles" was his reply. When he had done it, he came back to me and said it was one of the biggest physical challenges he had in Scouting, and he felt proud of the accomplishment. He is an adult now, and still very active with our Troop as an ASM. I tell him this was actually a bigger ethical challenge than a physical one, and he passed it superbly. This young man IS AN EAGLE SCOUT. My suggestion is to let it go. You will see it again. Simply speak the truth when you do, and follow @MattR 's advice above.

You can set the example by getting (if you don't already have one) your own Scout Handbook, reading it, and practicing the skills and knowledge in it. This helps you understand what the Scouts are going through as well... Go to the source...

Correct, on paper and in theory, but that is not how it is playing out in reality in many cases. I think that is what @mrjohns2was referring to. Esse quam videri

Welcome! Is there a female over 21 who is willing to sign up with the G-troop??

She has to say that...whether the facts are otherwise or not. Notice, no stats or raw numbers in the article...

This^^^ The only reasons we cancel trips is if the roads are treacherous (ice storms) or we have a hurricane blow through There have been many times we have changed destination at the last moment and camped in the field behind our church.

Agreed. I find it extremely difficult to believe that, over 50 years, not a single month was without camping. Record keeping, weather, unit leadership, what constitutes camping (was it in one night in someone's backyard just to keep the record going??)...too many variables, with too much possible human error, bias, and stretching, to get to something like this. Knowing what I know from 35+ years of Scouting experience, I glance sideways at things like this...much like a Scout earning (actually, "being awarded") every merit badge.

Lone Scouts with an itinerant Scoutmaster working on a grant, if the parents are unwilling/unable to be the Lone Scout Friend and Counselor.

I like the idea, and believe you should scope the idea first by defining the problem. What, exactly, is the problem you are trying to solve? And then explore the question as to whether Scouting is a solution to that problem. The way to have phrased your OP, it seems like you are putting the cart before the horse. That is, you have a solution (Scouting) that is looking for a problem (some sort of public health issue that can be addressed by a youth program, and the crafting of a policy to implement your personally desired solution.)

And there are no lions in The Jungle Book.

Naw...every time they rehearse and prep, they gain a deeper understanding of what the Order of the Arrow is... "You need seek no rocky summit. These high places are within you. All the natural world around you shows you clearly your reflection. This Ordeal is but a pattern for a journey whose directions are the whispers, urgings, promptings deep within your hearts and spirits."

All those rules should be in your service's leave regulations.

P.S. Over my 26 years in the Air Force, my commanders awarded me 3 MOVSMs... Did you know your unit commander can authorize 10 days of Permissive TDY for a military member to support volunteer efforts like Scout Camp, so they don't have to burn leave? And the first O6 in your chain can authorize it up to 30!

Yes, use the whole time they are there. Even while sleeping, you are on call as an adult leader.

I wish that was my experience and perception...sadly, it is not. I could change my perception, but then it wouldn't be based on my experience.

Without volunteers, there would be NO Scouts

@vol_scouter, very glad your experience, in general, has been positive... But, help me please... on the one hand you say and on the other, you say... Those two assertions seem to be at odds. Our entire district program is planned and run by volunteers. We haven't had a DE in I don't know how long... Council program is non-existent, other than Summer Camp...there has not been a council program event here for units in over three years... (But there are at least five council fundraisers per year...golf outings, skeet shoots, silent auctions, popcorn, camp cards, etc, etc, etc...) And the last council program event??? It was organized and run by volunteers. Professionals here are most involved in scrutinizing the budgets of these events in order to set a price which guarantees income for the council... (I have been in many of those meetings )

And here is the essence of Kosnoff's stance...see in his tweet, "BSA has forfeited the moral right to exist." https://twitter.com/SexAbuseAttys/status/1359252870462205954 Has it?? Only individuals can be moral agents, not corporations. But, when the collective decisions of those individuals in a corporation tend toward objectives that seem, much of the time, to be in opposition to the beliefs/mission/ideals of the program they exist to support, then does the corporation take on the embodiment (which is what incorporation means ) of a moral agent? That's the question I struggle with, based on juxtaposing a heap of positive experiences in Scouting (which were 99% enabled or provided by volunteers), and a heap of negative experiences in dealing with professionals employed by the BSA at all levels. As Scouts, we promise to be "morally straight." And, ultimately, we ourselves must decide, under the tenets of our faith, what is "morally straight." I also often think it is time for the BSA corporation to go, but I continue to hold out hope that there is some way to scrub it clean of the service to Mammon... The one place I see "true" Scouting is in the local units. So that is where I focus, for now.

Another great resource... http://www.thedump.scoutscan.com/scouts.html

@SiouxRanger, you are scaring me only because it is like you are inside my head...perhaps I am schizoprenic, and you are just one of my multiple personalities exposing some of the demons I face in this council... Well...expose away But do tone down the rhetoric a bit, please...

Sure, continue the movement, but do not shuffle it into the hands of that organization. Get a new team together, and do it much better than they... Heck, I'll sign on...full time...at $100K per year. That's $900K less than Surbaugh got in 2018... https://filestore.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/Form-990-2018.pdf

Never underestimate this as a legal strategy some might take in order to achieve their desired ends... Insurance companies, in order to pay the minimum they'll have to pay... BSA, to a much lesser extent, but, still, in order to pay the minimum they'll have to pay... Kosnoff-ites, in order to bleed BSA into a Chapter 7 situation... As @David CO points out, "Bankruptcies are about money. Period." No matter what else we want this one to be about...

Nope...does not put a damper on it. A mentor of mine pointed out long ago...yes, there is often a price for telling the truth, but there is also a price for not saying anything when the truth needs to be spoken.

You mean, STILL required for Eagle, right? http://usscouts.org/usscouts/eagle/EagleHistory.asp