Boy Scouts of America deal another blow to boyhood

[amboy49]

If you read the announcement they're letting local Cub Scout packs decide how they want to handle it but they are having separate dens for boys and girls. I'm a huge believer in Cub scouts as a developmental tool and have no problem if there is a local demand and packs want to set up dens for girls in the community.

I would have a much larger issue if they forced mixed gender packs. That would be a big problem.

You are very naive.

What about the Girl Scouts is lacking that makes some young ladies ( or their mothers ) feel it is necessary they be allowed to join the Boy Scouts ? Some say the color line is blurred . . . . and the gender line is apparently now a little more blurry as well.

 

[phylodog]

Just caught a snippet about this on WISH TV news here in Indy. It included a statement from some Girl's Scouts which basically said "We're better for girls and have every intention of remaining female only". Color me shocked.

 

[Vigilant]

Co-ed scouting will definitely make the camp outs and jamborees more "interesting" at the higher levels of scouting?

 

[phylodog]

No way dude. The more we make things "fair" and "equal" the more perfect we become as a species. Nothing can possibly go wrong when we're on the path to glory.

 

[printcraft]

If you read the announcement they're letting local Cub Scout packs decide how they want to handle it but they are having separate dens for boys and girls.

Soooo.... still separate boyscout and girlscout dens then?

 

[dnurk]

Soooo.... still separate boyscout and girlscout dens then?

Thats the way the announcement came out and what I've heard from folks I have volunteered with for the past 5 years in Cub scouts/webelos.

No mixed dens. Packs could be mixed or separate and that's up to local decisions (I assume at the council level.)

The curriculum between Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts is very different. A quick look online shows these standards for grades 2/3
Summary: As a Brownie, girls can earn seven Legacy badges: Painting, Fair Play, CelebratingCommunity, Snacks, Brownie First Aid, Brownie Girl Scout Way, and Bugs. The followingStandards are applied when girls earn these badges.





So if you're a parent who doesn't have a daughter interested in those but prefers Bear scouting items like camping, using a knife, wildlife identification, community service, fishing, using tools....see the difference. That is why I don't have problem having girl only dens have access to the Cub Scout curriculum.

 

[dnurk]

You are very naive.

What about the Girl Scouts is lacking that makes some young ladies ( or their mothers ) feel it is necessary they be allowed to join the Boy Scouts ? Some say the color line is blurred . . . . and the gender line is apparently now a little more blurry as well.

The curriculua are are very different. Girl Scouts have always had a more traditional girl-friendly curriculum in a stereotypical kind of way. More art, plays, drawing, flowers, meal planning, crafts....you can see all of them by grade level at girl scouts.org.

In contrast the Cub scouts and BSA have a recently revised curriculum that heavily focuses on outdoor adventures, tool and knife usage, leadership, community service. I don't have a daughter but if I did and she was interested in those activities I can see where Girl Scouts would not be appealing but Cub scouts would be.

 

[Liberty1916]

The curriculua are are very different. Girl Scouts have always had a more traditional girl-friendly curriculum in a stereotypical kind of way. More art, plays, drawing, flowers, meal planning, crafts....you can see all of them by grade level at girl scouts.org.

In contrast the Cub scouts and BSA have a recently revised curriculum that heavily focuses on outdoor adventures, tool and knife usage, leadership, community service. I don't have a daughter but if I did and she was interested in those activities I can see where Girl Scouts would not be appealing but Cub scouts would be.

I'm pretty sure the end result of this will be more "art, plays, drawing, flowers, meal planning, crafts...." in the Boy Scouts that boys will be forced to participate in.

 

[dnurk]

I'm pretty sure the end result of this will be more "art, plays, drawing, flowers, meal planning, crafts...." in the Boy Scouts that boys will be forced to participate in.

Maybe way down the road a few decades but I don't see it. BSA headquarters in TX just spent a couple of years and a ton of money completely rebuilding the Cub Scout program. They had been seeing declining participation and found out boys and their parents want to "do stuff." Way more focus on camping, knives, tools, rocketry, STEM, outdoor cooking, fire skills. They completely rebuilt the handbooks from tiger through webelo2. The leadership and board of directors need to grow enrollments and they did a great job rebuilding Cub scouts curriculum.

Letting girls have their own dens isn't about watering down that curriculum. They just see a big demand for families with girls who don't care for what the Girl Scouts are offering. BSA is a not for profit but they are still tasked with growing enrollment. This is a way to do that.

 

[OldHoosier]

And as I kind of said in another thread, why not offer this program to girls as long as you don't hurt the experience for boys? Same-sex troops and same-sex dens or packs does this. And the girls that want to do Girl Scout stuff can do that.

The first time I went to the Boundary Waters there was a group of older teen girls that were at the start of week three of a four week canoeing trip. I don't see girls capable of this having any trouble with the outdoor/camping part of Boy Scouts.

 

[PistolBob]

BSA is now totally LGBT

They won.

 

[87iroc]

Maybe way down the road a few decades but I don't see it. BSA headquarters in TX just spent a couple of years and a ton of money completely rebuilding the Cub Scout program. They had been seeing declining participation and found out boys and their parents want to "do stuff." Way more focus on camping, knives, tools, rocketry, STEM, outdoor cooking, fire skills. They completely rebuilt the handbooks from tiger through webelo2. The leadership and board of directors need to grow enrollments and they did a great job rebuilding Cub scouts curriculum.

Letting girls have their own dens isn't about watering down that curriculum. They just see a big demand for families with girls who don't care for what the Girl Scouts are offering. BSA is a not for profit but they are still tasked with growing enrollment. This is a way to do that.

Its good to hear they rebuilt their curriculum. I only have a daughter and I see what she's doing in GS's....and it pails in comparison to my experience 25 yrs ago in boy scouts. She wants boy scout stuff but can't. She's so busy now in Jr High that I don't have the energy to get her in to BS's if they did it here. Leadership is a good thing Boy Scouts teaches and I see none of that in GS's as GS's typically fade away as the girls get older as its not fun anymore. About the time leadership could be taught, Girl's get tired of selling cookies.

On a side note, a friend of mine's daughter is currently an explorer? Or maybe High Adventure scout and hiking Philmont with her troop. I believe she's done Boundary Waters too. She's in college now.