What's Up W/ the Gloom and Doom?

[OneHour 11]

I don't get it. Why are we discussing glooms and dooms of scouting? (brianbuf) 30% decrease in Boy's Life spells doom? Why aren't we celebrating the great recruiting season that some here are having?

 

Starwolfmom indicated that she had a great recruiting night increase her pack by 11 boys.

 

Blazer63 has trouble with his troop doubling its size! A great problem to have nevertheless!

 

WVCubdad indicated that his pack is getting 11 new tigers.

 

Our troop got 21 new scouts this past transition that brought us to 72 boys strong.

 

Our pack just got 48 new boys the other night that brough us to 110 strong.

 

I'm fairly sure that other troops and packs are getting their fair share of recruiting. So ... what's with the gloom and doom?

 

Why is Boys' Life down? Maybe parents like me are finally tired of paying for 3 of the same magazines!

 

In our household, we have three scouts and all that we need is 1 Boys' Life. By the way, the number of scouts increased by 33% in our household eventhough Boys' Life subscription decreased by 66%!

 

Come on ... celebrate the good stuffs instead of dwell on the negatives! What are the good stuffs? Scouting is the good stuffs! It has been for close to 100 years and will be despite others' attempts to do otherwise!

 

1Hour

[FireKat 10]

GREAT idea, 1HOUR!

We all need to 'stop and smell the roses'.

Revel in the small triumphs.

I love it when a boy's face lights up because he gets it!

[OldGreyEagle 5]

I agree that it seems we don't celebrate our sucessess enough, but we do need to question our losses as well. The numbers are down, whether they are down due to Councils correcting inflated numbers or not, the numbers are down and if you are in an area where numbers are not down, that's great and continued sucess to you. There are questions we need to ask, are we relevant? Is our message reaching its intended audience? I think the audience is the participants and want to fill their ears with stories of great adventures, others say that the best recruiting is to target the moms, one of the great assets of the forum is getting differing opinions. There probably isnt one magic silver bullet that will cure the program, but several little steps along the way.

 

BrianBuf, I have to say I was suspicious of your intentions when you first posted. We have had "trolls" ( I think thats the right term). This site has been set upon by posters who said they wanted to help scouting and then posted they were doing a psych experiment and the forum had showed what complete boobs we are were or something like that so some of the more suspicious members may not trust a whole lot at first. Next, when you say that scouting is in trouble and to see your website to get your views, it very much comes across that its as if you see yourself as the only one who knows this information and all would be better if everyone else would just adapt your point of view. Now, this may not be your intention at all, but when you present a group of strong willed ( as this forum constantly proves)people with opinions on topics they all hold very close, you will get reaction and just a little kick back, perhaps.

 

The overall discussion is good. What can be done to get more youth involved, certainly this type of discussion can only be good and I hope members and lurkers all get some benefit from the posts. I have to wonder about the final disposition however. What will happen to all these thoughts? Its the current hot topic, but in a few weeks, if not days someone will post a God/Gay or other legal story in the Politics section or people will tank out on wanting to comment on this subject and the forum will move on. What is the expected outcome? How will scouting be advanced by the posts? Here and in other forums? Getting people to think is great, getting people to share their thoughts is great, having people come together to effect change, now there is something

[FScouter 24]

"...having people come together to effect change, now there is something "

 

Hey, that sounds like a good Wood Badge ticket item!

 

[Chippewa29 13]

At Roundtable last month and this month, we had discussions about losing Scouts, etc. However, instead of a bunch of old guys (and a few gals) griping about it, we were presented with a solution.

 

Our District has a couple of young DE's (both in their mid-20's) that are very serious about their jobs and want the district to prosper. At Roundtable last month, they presented a novel idea (at least for our area) of Troops having an open house and recruiting the local sixth graders from the schools. They laid out a full scale plan of how to do it. I was very impressed.

 

This month, they talked about recruiting Webelos. In the past, they just handed out a list of the CM in the district and left it at that. Then, in the spring, the district Webelos-to-Scout transition chair would call us to see how we did. This year, they took a different tact. They gave us the names, addresses, and phone numbers of the CM, Webelos leaders, and the Webelos themselves from the four packs closest to where our troop meets. I was very impressed by this. Now, instead of calling the Cubmaster 3-4 times before I finally catch him and trying to get the numbers of the Webelo leaders, I can call the Webelos leaders direct. The troops left Roundtable last night much more pumped up about getting out and recruiting this year. We had about 40% of the packs in our district who were not even contacted last year about joining a Boy Scout troop.

 

No moping around in our district. We're actually stirring up the pot and trying some new things.

[OneHour 11]

Chippewa,

 

I'll go one better. Our District held a "transition fair" for the packs in the District. Just like a college night for the high school seniors, our District would have all the troops in the district to have a booth to show off their best and invited all of the graduating webelos to come and "shop!" It was very well received. One thing that our District stresses is for Webelos leaders to shy away from feeding into a troop. They encourage troops and packs to encourage their cubs to shop around "individually." If a webelos comes to our troop, I try not to sell our troop, but I sell scouting and its ideals. This is exactly what I did last troop meeting to seven Webelos who came to visit us. Within 5 miles radius of my home, there are 3-5 troops. Within 10 miles radius of us, there are 5-10 troops. So there are many specialized troops that do great stuffs that these cubs don't know about.

 

Have your District try it, hold a "Transition Night" and publicized it to all packs ... you'll be surprised.

 

1Hour

[packsaddle 753]

When I think about the hand-wringing, the lamentations, the bed-wetting over the numbers, I wonder....why? From the individual boy's perspective, the thing that really matters is his unit and the people involved in it. So what if every council in other states go belly up? I guess I don't buy into religious cults very well but as long as this unit is doing well, all that other stuff is just background noise.

[prairie 10]

I'm with packsaddle, the boys notice their troop, other troops only matter so that summer camp, camperees and other council type events can happen.

I'm returning to scouting after 30 years, my old troop is still there for me however is is in a slump right now as far as number of active scouts. Adult leadership is small and I suppose thats from parents leaving once their boy is done, I'dd like to think Scouting was rewarding enough for a few to continue.

I think some of the gloom is from prople seeking help with proablems here and not many reports of success because if things are going well why gripe here?

As far as Boy's Life, I don't think I hardly looked at it once I turned thirteen.

 

P.S. congrats to all whos troops are growing!

[GernBlansten 10]

Our troop has both gloom and hope. We had 19 cross over last spring and probably another 20 this coming spring. That's the hope. The gloom is nearly every boy over 15 is dropping out. These are the same boys who designed our schedule and program last winter. Maybe this is just the way things go. Maybe Boy Scouts is really a middle school program.

[Fuzzy Bear 12]

Scouting attracts something less than one percent of the population.

The numbers has fluctuated over the last 50 years but the % has slowly decreased in proportion to the total population growth. Even though it is small, Scouting is still an important part of the total fabric of solid organizations that helps young people learn values but it would be nice to see a much larger number.

 

National strives yearly to encourage all D.E.'s to reach out into communities across America to recruit new Scouts. Districts and units all are integral in the recruiting effort as well. Training and Activities soon follow to ensure the strength of the program and to retain membership both old and new. Individual units are asked to build quality units and the Commissioner Corps follows along to encourage that quality. Overall, Scouting is still a large organization that is sometimes unwieldy.

 

In the past few years, Scouting has had several sexual abuse problems and lots of litigation as well as losing many traditional sponsors. Internal number juggling has created its own problems with professionals playing with ghost units and creating quality units where little or nothing existed. Pressures come from all directions for professionals to perform or leave so they do what they can.

 

Since Scouting is built with volunteers, it becomes difficult and sometimes impossible to achieve the kind of quality that is expected of them, yet many do. What is asked of a volunteer that finds Scouting in decline? They are asked to do their job and do it well. They are asked to ensure that there is a quality program for the youth that they serve.

 

There are volunteers that are asked to serve at the National level and to give input. Many that do this find that Scouting is a large organization and change is never quick. Even if a person had a certifiably great idea that would pull Scouting right out of the slump and right into mainline America for all youth, I doubt that it would ever get off the drawing board. The reason is that volunteer organizations sometimes are messy. We no longer have kings that can change all with a command. I accept the problems given the alternative. FB

 

 

 

 

[mtm25653 10]

"The gloom is nearly every boy over 15 is dropping out. "

 

Why?

Have they all reached Eagle and don't know what comes next?

Are they involved in activities at school that conflict with Scouts, like mandatory [affects your grade] marching band activities that keep them from camping in the Fall or a heavy academic (AP/IB) schedule?

Or, do they stop advancing, get tired of the same boring activities, and then drop out?

 

Very different scenarios.

 

If they are bored, look at your program - is there something challenging for the older boys? When was the last time you went to Philmont/Northern Tier/Sea Base/other extended length backpacking/canoeing trip? Do you have a role for older boys in your troop - as Instructors (teach scout skills to younger/newer boys), or in a Venture Patrol or Venture Crew, or taking leadership in the OA?

Do you tell the high school boys with conflicting demands on their time that they are welcome when they can be there, or do you give them the message that they aren't welcome if scouting isn't there first/only priority?

 

Keep the program exciting, guide them to increasing responsibility, and show that you understand their lives.

 

Our troop runs about 40 boys. A few drop out along the way, but there were 7 active seniors this past year - 6 of them earned Eagle, 6 had been to Philmont, 1 had been to Northern Tier, 1 was Chapter Chief for OA (and Vigil). Their attendance dropped off through high school, particularly senior year when academics were very heavy, but they were made welcome, given/led to responsibilities, and offered a challenging program.

[GernBlansten 10]

Yes, we have an active HA program. Every year and they are well attended by these guys. These scouts (some eagles) are offered leadership positions such as instructor or guide and of course they could always run for SPL and ASPL. Some take us up on it. Most of the older scouts just aren't interested in attending meetings. They are active in the venture crew and still maintain membership with us. But Venture only meets monthly.

They simply lose interest in associating with 11 and 12 year olds.