theschles

Our Scouts lose by not going through the requirements of the Citizenship in Society merit badge. Let's go through a few of them (quoting from https://www.scouting.org/merit-badges/citizenship-in-society/ ) This exercise requires Scouts to learn the denotations of each of these terms so to become a better human being: Identities (this is not just pronouns; it also has to do with religious and ethnic identities as well) Diversity Equality vs Equity (they are DIFFERENT) Inclusion Discrimination Ethical leadership (a fish rots from the head down, as does an organization and a government) Upstander (we don't have enough of people doing this) Image source: https://www.diffen.com/difference/Equality-vs-Equity I'm not sure of anywhere else in the Scouting program makes Scouts think about these particular scenarios. I grew up with classmates making fun of disabilities with jokes like "What do you call a man with no arms and no legs who floats in the water? Answer: Bob". Our current President ridicules women ("Quiet piggy!", "grab them by the p*ssy", "she had blood coming out of...whatever", "we're going to have to bring the women's team",...need I go on? ). That "go back home where you came from" statement...gee, why does that sound familiar? These scenarios force a Scout to mentally prepare for situations where they WILL come up in the future, making it easier to do the right thing and stand up for whomever is being attacked. We ask Scouts during Boards of Review what they'd like to change about the Troop. A few times now a Scout has mentioned that older Scouts are not always being welcoming to the younger Scouts. Requiring Scouts to THINK about welcoming in newcomers -- and making sure all Scouts feel they can be full participants -- is very important for the cohesion of the Troop. Or to quote Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird: This is why I feel Scouting America's executive leadership has sold out to the current Presidential leadership. By removing the Citizenship in Society merit badge -- and not transplanting these requirements into other merit badges, the Scouting America executive leadership has effectively stated that the requirements of the merit badge HAVE NO MERIT. And that's just wrong.