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All Scouting is Local


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16 hours ago, SSScout said:

Welcome home, Hedge.

I would ask your permission to reprint your "confession" in our Scout District  Newsletter , pretty please?

Certainly... if you allow me to edit and expand it.  Send me a messaged I'll send you an edited version.

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Agree that it is local and at more importantly at the unit level.  All else is window dressing.

The divide (rift??) between National/Region/Council/District and the local units seems to be a might wider at times.  There is a lot of top down directives, etc.  Is the Council there to support the units or does the Council seem to think they are where it's at.  With our unit we seem to be fine with little interaction from the council.  Close to 100 Scouts, High adventure every year, 13 outings per year, 10+ Eagles achieved each year.  Our discussion has been how can we support Scouting locally outside the unit without the morass of the district and the council.  We have not been able to solve the conundrum.  As a note our unit does not attend the district camporees or council encampments.  Past years we did, but those were the least attended events.  The Scouts asked do we have to attend these?  The choice was theirs and we have moved on. 

The Council Commissioner spoke with me on this, they asked why we did not attend such events.  I explained that the program offered at these was not engaging to our troop.  They wanted to know if we had tried to get involved and get it changed.  We had but the folks that ran the district ones were less than eager to look at changes.  So we went backpacking.

Agree that the first question that should/needs to be asked at a BOR is are you having fun.  The rest is bonus material

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All Scouting is local, and none of these decisions need change the experience for any of our Scouts ... unless they attend a summer camp, or a merit badge university, or a Camporee, or a Cub Scout Day Camp, or an OA Induction, or NYLT, or any other event sponsored at the District, Council, or National level. So the proposed solution is to draw inward, focus on the troop (la la la la la - I can't hear you Surbaugh), and insulate ourselves with as little involvement as possible with the larger Scouting world around us. What a sad commentary on the organization formerly known as the Boy Scouts.

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@gblotter that isn’t quite what I was trying to convey. My point was more along the lines of despite all the gloom and doom and despair on the forum, you can run programs within National’s guidelines that provide a quality Scouting experience for youth - both male and female.

Despite your suggestion, some of my son’s best experiences this past year have been at OA, NYLT, and Council Events and Summer Camp. All of which are run by youth.

My solution is for people to focus on what is in their control by building a youth-led, patrol-based fun seeking program.

I don’t think Scout units should be co-ed, but instead of complaining and walking away declaring the end of Scouting as we know it, I’m focused on building a strong, independent girl-led Troop with strong leadership. Guess what?  All of the girls’ parents LOVE the idea of it being separate and independent.  Trust me, 11 to 14 year old girls don’t want to be around 11 to 14 year old boys.  For those that want co-ed, we have the Crew when they turn 14.  

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47 minutes ago, Hedgehog said:

Trust me, 11 to 14 year old girls don’t want to be around 11 to 14 year old boys.

I'm curious to know how your 11-14 year old girls will feel about attending a co-ed summer camp with boy troops (because co-ed BSA summer camps will be the reality). Speaking only for our 11-14 year old boys, the idea of co-ed summer camp is anathema to them. They would rather skip summer camp altogether and do our own wilderness camp instead.

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On 6/17/2018 at 1:42 PM, Hedgehog said:

...I came back yesterday only to realize that, according to most of the threads and posts on the forum, THE SKY IS FALLING, SCOUTING IS DOOMED and everyone is RUNNING, not walking, FOR THE EXITS.  Just WOW.  

Former House Speaker Tip O'Neal would say that all politics are local, I would say all Scouting is local.  Scouting is thriving where I am...

Amen. Scouting is far from doomed, because of the local effect. Scouting is thriving here in my town as well. 

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2 hours ago, gblotter said:

I'm curious to know how your 11-14 year old girls will feel about attending a co-ed summer camp with boy troops (because co-ed BSA summer camps will be the reality). Speaking only for our 11-14 year old boys, the idea of co-ed summer camp is anathema to them. They would rather skip summer camp altogether and do our own wilderness camp instead.

I'm not sure.  If the girls in my Crew are any indication, I'm guessing the older ones will be out to kick @$$ at the camp games.

I do know that the majority of girls in my Crew opposed the BSA opening the Boy Scouts program to girls.  I also know that the Crew hasn't liked attending Boy Scout events (both the guys and the girls) but has loved attending Venturing Events.  

I"ll have to ask the guys in the Troop what they think when they are at camp this summer.  I'll also be interested in my son's opinion about how the camp he works at will be different.  My sense is that most of them won't notice a difference because our campsite is where all the fun happens.  There hasn't been any real effect when we've been at Camporees with Girl Scouts or Co-Ed Venturing Crews.

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