10 Interesting Factoids About Scouting History

[mrkstvns 486]

Popular Mechanics magazine ran an interesting article about Scouting a few months back.  Some of their 10 facts about Scouting's history are well known to scouts and scouters, but a few are rather obscure, and may be a bit surprising.  For example, did you know that there were 5 U.S. presidents who were former Boy Scouts, only 1 of whom was an Eagle Scout...and there was 1 president who was a former Scoutmaster.

Want to know who those Scouting presidents were?  You can read the article....
https://www.popularmechanics.com/adventure/outdoors/g26145549/boy-scout-facts/ 

 

[dkurtenbach 348]

The article states that:  "The American program is the second-largest in the world, with the national organization claiming over 2.4 million members. As of 2012, the Gerakan Pramuka Indonesia, or Indonesian Scout Movement, had more than 21 million members, making it by far the largest Scout association worldwide."

I guess we know where to go for membership recruiting advice.  On the other hand, that was back in 2012.  A lot can happen in a Scouting organization in seven years.

[mrkstvns 486]

1 hour ago, dkurtenbach said:

The article states that:  "The American program is the second-largest in the world, with the national organization claiming over 2.4 million members. As of 2012, the Gerakan Pramuka Indonesia, or Indonesian Scout Movement, had more than 21 million members, making it by far the largest Scout association worldwide."

I guess we know where to go for membership recruiting advice.  On the other hand, that was back in 2012.  A lot can happen in a Scouting organization in seven years.

Yeah, the Indonesians seem to have wholeheartedly embraced the scouting program.

BTW: I see that for 2012, Indonesia claimed 21.6 million members and in that same year, BSA's membership was 2.9 million. 

In 2012, the total population of Indonesia was 248.9 million while the US population was 314 million.  Proportionally, the Gerakan Pramuka is kicking BSA's *ss when it comes to recruiting and retention.  

[ianwilkins 366]

13 hours ago, mrkstvns said:

Yeah, the Indonesians seem to have wholeheartedly embraced the scouting program.

BTW: I see that for 2012, Indonesia claimed 21.6 million members and in that same year, BSA's membership was 2.9 million. 

In 2012, the total population of Indonesia was 248.9 million while the US population was 314 million.  Proportionally, the Gerakan Pramuka is kicking BSA's *ss when it comes to recruiting and retention.  

"With the 2013 Indonesian Education Curriculum in effect, it is compulsory for all Indonesian students to join the scout movement as scouting is officially one of the study units in the curriculum."

Thank you Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerakan_Pramuka_Indonesia

 

[swilliams 157]

3 hours ago, ianwilkins said:

"With the 2013 Indonesian Education Curriculum in effect, it is compulsory for all Indonesian students to join the scout movement as scouting is officially one of the study units in the curriculum."

Thank you Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerakan_Pramuka_Indonesia

 

You've just found the solution to the BSA's woes,  lol.  In all seriousness, though, I've been pushing for our middle school to allow the troops in town to reach out to all potential scouts through either the 'Friday Folder' emails or the PTO.  There's also something called 'Enrichment Day', and while it's technically for exploring types of jobs, if they'll let the color guard of the high school take a slot, I don't see why not scouts.

[Cambridgeskip 658]

To add to the last one, Neil Armstrong actually took his scout world badge with him to the moon! If memory serves it is on display at world HQ in Geneva.

[mrkstvns 486]

21 minutes ago, Cambridgeskip said:

To add to the last one, Neil Armstrong actually took his scout world badge with him to the moon! If memory serves it is on display at world HQ in Geneva.

You're the only person to bring up the last point, which I think is the best testament of all as to the value of Scouting:   out of the 12 Apollo astronauts who walked on the moon, only *ONE* was never a scout.