commandopro

I don't think that is entirely true. I appears that there is a lot of work time devoted to these forums.

Dave, I've been around the forums for a short time. I'm just curious where you find the time to post so many messages. Perhaps things are a little different in the Central Region (I'm in the Southern), but down here we are under an intense amount of pressure to perform. I don't understand how you can pay as close attention to these forums as it would appear that you do. I don't mean to be cruel, but perhaps you should be spending this time working with your DE's to raise more money, so that the Council wouldn't have to cut your position.

OK, OK, it looks like I was unsuccessful getting my point across. I was hoping to get some good ideas to improve the program we all love. But, apparently we have reached perfection with the program and any problems we may have are squarely the fault of undedicated leaders and a public that doesn't understand us. Here are the facts, I will watch and see what might be suggestions to fix them: 1) 2/3rds of boys drop out of the Cub Scouting program during their first year in the program. Studies show that the most common reason given leaving is disorganized & boring meetings.

Did I ever say we should comprimise our values? If something I said lead you to believe that, I'm sorry. I do not believe that. I am not speaking about comprimising our values at all. To me this is what Scouting is: Teaching the values of the Scout Oath and Law in a fun, outdoor setting. Everthing else MAY be comprimised but NOT that essential element. This in mind are the activities that we are using to teach the values of the Scout Oath and Law in a fun, outdoor setting effective? If we believe in the principles of the Scout Oath and Law, don't we believe that

Fotoscout is on target. There are many people saying that we have seen this before and that we have lived through it. In some ways they are right, but in other ways they are burying their heads in the sand. 1) The Boy Scouts has never in it's history been as controversial as it is now. During Vietnam, the uniform was unpopular, but Scouting it's self was not the issue. Nobody wants to inject their children in the center of controversy, no matter what they personally may feel about a particular issue. 2) We have suffered large membership declines in the past, true. However we

Dan, I think you have hit the nail on the head in a way. The specifics you are speaking about, we could hash out all day. Many of them refer to Boy Scouting directly. Cub Scouting however is a much different beast. First of all, I think we have a serious quality of program issue in Cub Scouting. It can be attributed to a variety of things, training, not using the Program Helps, etc. Also, our Troops (in general) are almost repulsed in, many cases, by the Cub Scout program. The amount of time and attention that are willing to give to support leaders in their feeder Packs is min

Dave, Sorry to hear you have lost your position. We in the BSA are facing a crisis of epic proportions. It is not widely talked about outside of professional circles, but there is a huge storm cloud on the horizon. Over the past 3 to 4 years the Cub Scouting program has been in a steady decline. Revenue to local councils has been falling, from United Ways, Friends of Scouting and Activities (b/c of falling membership). I'm not sure what the answer is, but professional positions are being cut all over the nation, and budgets are being hashed and rehashed. This much is true, if we