Citizenship in Society MB Discontinued

[BetterWithCheddar]

15 hours ago, InquisitiveScouter said:

I have no problem with having the Merit Badge.  I did have a few issues when this all started:

1.  It was a knee-jerk reaction to the George Floyd episode.  Without having all the facts about what happened, BSA glommed onto the hysteria that developed in our country.  And, in doing so, I think BSA diminished the standing of Scouting in the eyes of most. 

This was my biggest issue. It catered to one side and felt very reactionary.

I'm not thrilled about the roll-back either for the same reasons.

The damage is done. There are no winners.

[theschles]

Our Scouts lose by not going through the requirements of the Citizenship in Society merit badge.  Let's go through a few of them (quoting from https://www.scouting.org/merit-badges/citizenship-in-society/ )

 

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1. Before beginning work on other requirements for this merit badge, research the following terms and explain to your counselor how you feel they relate to the Scout Oath and Scout Law: identities, diversity, equality, equity, inclusion, discrimination, ethical leadership, and upstander.

This exercise requires Scouts to learn the denotations of each of these terms so to become a better human being:

• Identities (this is not just pronouns; it also has to do with religious and ethnic identities as well)
• Diversity
• Equality vs Equity (they are DIFFERENT)
• Inclusion
• Discrimination
• Ethical leadership (a fish rots from the head down, as does an organization and a government)
• Upstander (we don't have enough of people doing this)

Image source: https://www.diffen.com/difference/Equality-vs-Equity

 

 

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4. Repeat the Scout Oath and Scout Law for your counselor. Choose TWO of the following scenarios and discuss what you could do as a Scout to demonstrate leadership and your understanding of what it means to help others who may seem different from you:

• (a) Scenario 1: While at camp, a youth accidentally spills food on another camper. The camper who gets spilled on gets angry and says something that is offensive to people with disabilities; their friends laugh. What could/should you do?
• (b) Scenario 2: Your friend confides in you that some students in school are making insulting comments about one of their identities, and that those same students created a fake social media account to impersonate your friend online and post messages. What could/should you do?
• (c) Scenario 3: A new student in your class was born in another country (or has a parent who was born in another country). Your friends make rude comments to the student about their speech or clothes and tell the student to "go back home where you came from." What could/should you do?

I'm not sure of anywhere else in the Scouting program makes Scouts think about these particular scenarios. 

I grew up with classmates making fun of disabilities with jokes like "What do you call a man with no arms and no legs who floats in the water? Answer: Bob".

Our current President ridicules women ("Quiet piggy!", "grab them by the p*ssy", "she had blood coming out of...whatever", "we're going to have to bring the women's team",...need I go on? ).

That "go back home where you came from" statement...gee, why does that sound familiar?

These scenarios force a Scout to mentally prepare for situations where they WILL come up in the future, making it easier to do the right thing and stand up for whomever is being attacked.

 

 

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5. Document and discuss:

• (a) Ideas on what you personally can do to create a welcoming environment in your Scouting unit.
• (b) An experience you had in which you went out of your way to include another Scout(s) and what you did to make them feel included and welcomed.
• (c) Things you can do to help ensure all Scouts in your unit are given an opportunity to be heard and included in decision-making and planning.

 

We ask Scouts during Boards of Review what they'd like to change about the Troop.  A few times now a Scout has mentioned that older Scouts are not always being welcoming to the younger Scouts. 

 

Requiring Scouts to THINK about welcoming in newcomers -- and making sure all Scouts feel they can be full participants -- is very important for the cohesion of the Troop.

 

 

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6. With your parent or guardian's approval, connect with another Scout or youth your own age who has an identity that's different from yours. (This means a trait, belief, or characteristic different from you.)

Or to quote Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird:
 

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First of all, if you learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view . . . until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.

 

This is why I feel Scouting America's executive leadership has sold out to the current Presidential leadership.  By removing the Citizenship in Society merit badge -- and not transplanting these requirements into other merit badges, the Scouting America executive leadership has effectively stated that the requirements of the merit badge HAVE NO MERIT.

And that's just wrong.