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posted by CoolHand on Friday October 13 2017, @12:41AM   Printer-friendly
from the somebody-get-the-popcorn dept.

A major shift from the Boy Scouts of America:

Irving, Texas – October 11, 2017 – Today, the Boy Scouts of America Board of Directors unanimously approved to welcome girls into its iconic Cub Scout program and to deliver a Scouting program for older girls that will enable them to advance and earn the highest rank of Eagle Scout. The historic decision comes after years of receiving requests from families and girls, the organization evaluated the results of numerous research efforts, gaining input from current members and leaders, as well as parents and girls who've never been involved in Scouting – to understand how to offer families an important additional choice in meeting the character development needs of all their children.

"This decision is true to the BSA's mission and core values outlined in the Scout Oath and Law. The values of Scouting – trustworthy, loyal, helpful, kind, brave and reverent, for example – are important for both young men and women," said Michael Surbaugh, the BSA's Chief Scout Executive. "We believe it is critical to evolve how our programs meet the needs of families interested in positive and lifelong experiences for their children. We strive to bring what our organization does best – developing character and leadership for young people – to as many families and youth as possible as we help shape the next generation of leaders."

[...] Starting in the 2018 program year, families can choose to sign up their sons and daughters for Cub Scouts. Existing packs may choose to establish a new girl pack, establish a pack that consists of girl dens and boy dens or remain an all-boy pack. Cub Scout dens will be single-gender — all boys or all girls. Using the same curriculum as the Boy Scouts program, the organization will also deliver a program for older girls, which will be announced in 2018 and projected to be available in 2019, that will enable them to earn the Eagle Scout rank. This unique approach allows the organization to maintain the integrity of the single gender model while also meeting the needs of today's families.

I'll admit it, I was a little surprised by the announcement. As a longtime member of the BSA and an Eagle Scout, I find this extremely interesting. I know some who are dead set against it, and others who are totally for it. My personal opinion is that it will be a good thing, both for the BSA and for the young men and women who become part of the organization.

The biggest loser in all of this will probably be the Girl Scouts. I can see their membership numbers dwindling rapidly if/when this takes off.

As a side note, Scouting has been co-ed in many countries for decades.

Both the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts have seen decreasing membership in recent years, and both have been trying to find ways to increase their membership. In this context, they now seem to be butting heads:

The Boy Scouts will soon include girls, and not everyone's happy about it.

The 107-year-old organization announced Wednesday that younger girls will be allowed to join Cub Scouts and that older girls will be eligible to earn the prestigious rank of Eagle Scout.

[...] For months, Girl Scouts USA had a notion BSA would try to start recruiting girls. In August, Buzzfeed News obtained a strongly worded letter in which GSUSA President Kathy Hopinkah Hannan accused the BSA of courting girls to boost falling enrollment numbers.

From the letter:

We are confused as to why, rather than working to appeal to the 90 percent of boys who are not involved in BSA programs, you would choose to target girls.

What are your thoughts? Were you ever a boy scout, or a girl scout, or did they ever affect you in any way? And do you think the BSA should be praised for opening their doors to girls or should they be castigated for 'targeting' girls who would be better off staying with their own kind?


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  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 13 2017, @08:54AM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 13 2017, @08:54AM (#581651)

    Snowflake? How does that apply to the person you replied to?

    it was to teach boys to be men.

    Oh, it was to teach boys to aspire to meet some vague notion of manhood? I guess other people aren't True Men, which I assume is similar to True Scotsmen.

    If you mix them you can do neither, again you get confused freaks as a result.

    You just make all these vague claims without backing it up with actual evidence.

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  • (Score: 2, Flamebait) by VLM on Friday October 13 2017, @02:00PM (2 children)

    by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Friday October 13 2017, @02:00PM (#581747)

    it was to teach boys to aspire to meet some vague notion of manhood

    Its not vague at all, for example

    On my honor I will do my best
    To do my duty to God and my country
    and to obey the Scout Law;
    To help other people at all times;
    To keep myself physically strong,
    mentally awake, and morally straight.

    or

    A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.

    That stuff's been constant in scouting for a bit more than a century AFAIK aside from minor issues (UK idioms vs US idioms, etc)

    Just because its right wing values, not depraved left wing values, doesn't magically make it vague or unreferenced, LOL. Its a pretty explicit written moral and ethical code, its not some vague "we is john wayne movie character" ridiculousness.

    The boys have to do a lot of work over their careers explaining how they follow the motto and law and all that stuff. I'd dare say the average scout is more indoctrinated or faithful to their beliefs than the average churchgoer is to their churches beliefs. The scouts really do focus very strongly on this stuff. Which is good, and is what the parents and scouts want.

    Its not a bad moral code for all people, boys and girls although if you read the history of the BSA its basically a rip off of chivalry plus a few other militaristic codes. I would imagine a women's code would have something added for virtuous family life (slut shaming, basically you need some defense against teen male testosterone levels), promotion of house arts and crafts (which girls naturally enjoy), promotion of motherhood and motherhood related skills (duh). Stuff that's pragmatically worked for a few millennia rather than modern depravity already proven to have strongly negative results.

    • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday October 13 2017, @05:58PM (1 child)

      by DeathMonkey (1380) on Friday October 13 2017, @05:58PM (#581905) Journal

      I fail to see how a penis is required to meet any of those standards.

      • (Score: 2) by VLM on Saturday October 14 2017, @03:38PM

        by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Saturday October 14 2017, @03:38PM (#582303)

        Culture trumps biology yes