Policy on Sexual Orientation and Atheism

[OldGreyEagle 5]

I am not sure I was ever sworn to neutrality, if thats what you heard, you heard wrong

 

Did you hear Lord Baden Powell say he wanted young men and women to be scoutmasters?

 

We could plow fertile ground over the advantage of having a "young" scoutmaster as in 21-35?

 

Of course it depends on how old you are as to what constitutes young. Most Scoutmasters seem to be in the 40-above range and I dont think that's what Lord Baden Powel was after. Younger people with less concern of their mortality may be whats needed as the older geezers slow down.

 

I wonder if there are records about what the average age of scoutmasters were in the 1920's, 1930's etc to see if its changed over the years and if some of the image problems scouting has is the aging of its volunteers.

[BadenP 93]

OGE

I partly agree with you that some scoutmasters need to know when it is time to turn over the reins, and that many hold on too long. That is why on my last birthday I turned over the position of Crew Advisor to a very capable and competent younger Associate Advisor, who happens to be female(thats for you Pint, lol), and I moved to the Crew CC and COR position.

 

As a scoutmaster when my son graduated from the troop I knew it was also time for me to move on and so I turned over the troop to the ASM.

 

Pint

Let me say no one has a greater respect for female scouters than myself. It is just in my judgement and experience young boys 11-14 really need that male role model image. In spite of what BP may have said and an early female scoutmaster that for boys in this age group really need that male bonding time. Women are more than capable of being excellent scoutmasters, IMHO, a boy 11-14 is at that stage of development where a male role model, and male bonding is critical to that development, it has NOTHING to do with whether or not a female can be a competent leader.

[Oak Tree 15]

BadenP, sorry for the misquote. I'll try to read more carefully.

 

So what you actually said was:

 

Female scoutmasters [...] just goes contrary to what boy scouts is supposed to be about.

 

but you still say any chartering organizations that wants single-gender Venturing Crews is

 

biased ... exclusionary ... narrowminded ... cultic

 

I still say "Wow."

[Pint 23]

Quote from BadenP:

"Let me say no one has a greater respect for female scouters than myself. It is just in my judgement and experience young boys 11-14 really need that male role model image. In spite of what BP may have said and an early female scoutmaster that for boys in this age group really need that male bonding time. Women are more than capable of being excellent scoutmasters, IMHO, a boy 11-14 is at that stage of development where a male role model, and male bonding is critical to that development, it has NOTHING to do with whether or not a female can be a competent leader. "

 

I see where your coming from, although in my opinion its incredibly useful to have a mixed leadership team as female leaders can bring something to a Scout meeting that male leaders may find harder ( is that sexist??) and its also useful to have a mixed age range in the leadership team.

 

As for atheists, Scouting and religion Baden -powell had this to say when asked where religion comes into Scouting " It does not come in at all. It is already there. It is a fundamental factor underlying Scouting and Guiding."

As For My local level Direct in your face religion ( stuff like prayers at the Scout meeting) isnt a part of our local Beaver/Cub/ Scout meetings, and the only Church stuff we do is the yearly remembrance day parade, and a St Georges day service.

As a part of my Scout leader training ( wood badge) one of the more tedious parts that had to be covered was Diversity, and as a part that that religion was covered with phrases like " The Scout Association is not a religious organisation, it is a just a youth organisation with a religious policy"

so on it went, and then it got to the point where we talked about a Scouts own ( religious) service that would be inclusive to all beliefs and belief systems such as Buddhists, Muslims, hindus, Jews pagans/druids/wiccans and whatever else may be lurking out there - not easy. The overall consensus was to just carry on as before.

The whole diversity thing was incredibly dull, and at times slightly ridiculous How can you make Scouting appeal to a minority community that doesn't exist except for the odd individual who may dress a little different during the Solstices, or the local politician who left her husband and family to live with another woman?

[BadenP 93]

Oak Tree, oak tree, oaktree

 

Putting aside the LDS special circumstances, why else would a CO want to exclude girls from a Venturing Crew, which is a coed program, except to promote some self serving, biased, and narrow visioned motive or ideal??? Are they afraid that the teens are uncontrollable if you mix teenage boys and girls together???

 

After advising a Venturing Crew for over 8 years with 50-60 members we have never had one single problem. In fact the girls motivated the boys into doing more activities, as well as being able to keep up with and even surpass them in all areas. So to me yes, even if it is allowed, I find any single sex crew to be suspect as to the real reason why.

 

WOW OakTree!!!

[le Voyageur 72]

If the above were true then why on earth would Scouting and Robert Baden-Powell aprove of female Scout masters in 1913 at the 1st Herrington Scout group ( and probably a few others), see this website for the early history of 1st Herrington Scout group Pint

 

The private life of BP was far different than his public life as protrayed. Having read a number of journals, diaries, dispatches, and etc written by those who knew both BP and Kenneth McLaren it's not a pretty picture...

 

[le Voyageur 72]

 

redacted...(This message has been edited by le Voyageur)