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Is this just wrong?


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Yes this sure is wrong. Scouts today seem less committed to the program and that is why we are losing more lodges and troops every year. One reason is that they BSA has left the scouting basics behind that made scouting what it is or was in favor of more tech and science which is not what scouting is or supposed to be about. The patrol method, teaching leadership and organizational skills and the outdoor program is all but gone and so is the number of boys in scouting.

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Back in the 70's BSA started competing with existing youth programs and became just another one out there. Instead of remaining unique, they sold out to market pressures. I noticed the other day that there's a new local program run by the parks and rec dept that takes young people on hikes out into the woods. Kids are signing up all over the place for it. Too back BSA doesn't have a program like that anymore.

 

Stosh

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I am a bit disturbed by the tone of some of this discussion. So by leaving early, those kids are showing that they are feckless and without honor? Really? Way to show a "Scout is Kind".

 

Look, I agree that by leaving early they missed something valuable (one of my favorite parts of camping is sitting around the campfire with friends shooting the breeze). But maybe they had a good reason? Maybe if the answer to "can he leave after the ceremony?" had been no, they wouldn't have been there at all? Perhaps instead of showing lack of commitment, this is showing they really wanted to participate? Maybe leaving early was the only way to attend at all? How about giving the scouts the benefit of the doubt instead of automatically dumping on them?

 

Yes, it is possible that they left early because they didn't want to bother camping out, but it isn't automatic. Kids are way over scheduled today, and one of the issues with that is that the parents are scheduled along with them playing chauffeur and "supervising" (when I was a kid you saw kids on bicycles everywhere, going to the store, to little league, etc. I would bicycle to my troop's scout meetings - no parents needed. Now I rarely see kids on bicycles and only with their parents along). Today if the parents have a schedule conflict, that usually means the kid does too.

 

So we can say "too bad they missed out", and complain about how kids are overbooked today. But lets not automatically jump to "they don't care about honor or fellowship" and "have no commitment". Yes that will be true for some scouts, but do we have too automatically assume it?

 

We live in a different world. When I was little, by first babysitters were 12 or 13 year old kids from the neighborhood. Now in some states it's effectively illegal to leave a 13 year old alone without supervision (and it's getting worse).

 

OK, how did a post on "let's give the kids the benefit of the doubt" turn into a rant on modern fear and parenting?

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Rick you have excellent points and I usually give people the benefit of the doubt. Today was an Ordeal and I am about dead so I will keep this short. I know these boys, they are Dashing. One barely had the camping nights in two years to qualify, and two of those Euler with "another troop". I have my doubts. Another boy has left campouts on Saturday night before. His dad stated "he doesn't NEED the nights. They could have come back with me in the morning. A mom is driving 1 1/2 hours here tonight to get them at 11. They won't get home until nearly 1. FYI for the YPT police, I have partnered with mega troop for shared leadership.

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I agree with Rick on some points. One parent who has a conflict might want to leave early, and that's okay, but when that triggers a mass exodus, it's hard to run the "Benefit of the Doubt" flag up my flagpole. Same for when dads are stepping in and dictating details as to how to get by on the minimum.

 

Every case has to be dealt with separately. I do give the boys the benefit of the doubt a lot of the times. Usually the first time it's automatic, but when one sees patterns and certain behaviors, that benefit of the doubt turns into abuse rather quickly.

 

It's not unkind to point out reality in a learning situation.

 

Calling someone's response to a topic a "modern rant" may not be giving the poster the benefit of the doubt and be a wee bit unkind too. :)

 

Stosh

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Our Lodge just had an induction weekend, as the event's advisor I was one of the last off the property. After locking-up a cabin, feeling the first breeze of fall, I sat down on a picnic table under a massive tulip poplar. As I watched a fox move through the tall grass across the field I became sad, because I realized what so many attendees had missed out on.

 

Assuredly I would have never had this experience if my phone had not been turned off. The scouting program can't be presented through the lens of a projector in an air conditioned hall.

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The scouting program can't be presented through the lens of a projector in an air conditioned hall.

 

 

Which is one of my only complaints with the Wood Badge course, was the majority of the class was indoors :(

 

There is so much out there.. I wish I could get LOST for a week and no one get really upset, the wife and kids might just not know what to do.

 

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Which is one of my only complaints with the Wood Badge course, was the majority of the class was indoors :(

 

There is so much out there.. I wish I could get LOST for a week and no one get really upset, the wife and kids might just not know what to do.

 

When I took WB, the only time one had a roof over their head was when they were in the KYBO.

 

Stosh

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