re: Boy Scouts of America changing name to be more inclusive

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. It’s a significant shift as the organization emerges from bankruptcy following a flood of sexual abuse claims and seeks to focus on inclusion.

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I guess they’re doubling down on the stupidity.

Go woke, go broke. My kids will never join this organization.

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I’ll double down and say it really wasn’t earned when you type out a defense like you did. How big is his troop? Is he attaining leadership roles by default or is he actually being voted for over much senior troop members?

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I'll say this. I know there is no way I can change your mind, you've already made it up. But here goes. Ill be as transparent as possible.

His troop is about 20 kids, 10 or 12 that show up on the regular. They have a bunch of older kids in the 15-16 to 16 year old range that have already earned their Eagle Scout or are basically done and only have their projects to complete (many of the scouts they don't regularly see are these kids they come once or twice a months to the advancement meetings). There are also have a bunch of scouts that have just joined in the last year to 18 months and are working their way through the lower ranks.

There are 2 or 3 kids in the same cohort as mine, that are all Star or Life (one crossed over with him, another transferred into the troop.) As for leadership, he was selected by the troop to be on of the ASPL's last fall. The troop is voting on a new SLP tomorrow. He's running for Chaplin because the one we've had is great in that role, but has done it for 2 years (because the last kid that was elected Chaplin stopped coming to meetings as soon as he got the position).

The older kids in the troop some hold leadership positions (two of our Eagles are also SPL's) but others did not run the last election. They had already fulfilled the "Be active in your troop for 6 months) and "Hold a position of leadership in your troop for 6 months", Most of those kids felt they needed to focus on school at this point in their lives. FWIW, many of the kids in his troop go to a pretty rigorous private school (our is in public school)). So my best answer to your question is it's both.

And I'll finish up with this. Scouts can tick all the boxes quickly from Scout thru First class and they can do it quickly. But It's very difficult to scoot your way thru the Merit badge requirements. Especially when you're working with different counselors in different places on different badges. So be as skeptical as you want, but the kid is focused and has a plan. Those two things have allowed him to be strategic and successful. For example, last year at camp, when others were taking art, rifle shooting, or basketry, he took every Eagle badge that was offered that he did not have, That's "not earning the rank" it's smart.

I understand much of the uninformed commentary here (much warranted with the past tragedy perpetrated by pedo scum). Controls are now in place due to that and moving from that, it facilitates a wholesome growth in youth that encourages respect and patriotism.

Our 3rd son is closing in on Eagle and his brothers are both nesters. All three are the finest young men I know who respect their elders, are entitled to nothing and love this country.

To be fair, Scouting is not the same level everywhere. LA doesn’t provide as good a platform as TX does.

We welcomed the female participation as one of the first girl troops. I will be honest saying the org needs to emphasize separate activities……it can become competitive with the girls accomplishing things quicker than the boys. That does bug me. It’s not about pitting the sexes against each other even though that’s not the intent.

Agree with you.

Our district and troop eagle coordinator(s) are VERY strict on project requirements.

As it should be.

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LA doesn’t provide as good a platform as TX does.

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We welcomed the female participation as one of the first girl troops.

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our troop didn’t, which I think is awesome

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the girl scouts’ biggest problem was not being family friendly

I was a leader for 6 years and I could never take my younger kids with me and my husband had to camp on the other side of the campground

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100% This- my niece was a Brownie. Her mother (my sister) died when she was only 3 years old. Her father is a single parent. She wanted her Dad to go on a camping trip with her. Troop leader said he could...if he camped in a separate camp site.

The name change doesn't really change what the program has been since 2018 when they started forming girl troops in BSA. Girls could get involved in Venture Scouts since it was formed in 1998.

BSA is adapting for long term survival, and recognizing that families don't always have the time and resources to put their kids in different organizations that meet at different dates/times. People that think that the name change is them 'being woke' haven't been paying attention AT ALL for the past 20 years.

ETA: The headline should read "Boy Scouts of America changing name to better reflect the current goals and trajectory of the organization"

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Girls could get involved in Venture Scouts since it was formed in 1998.

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yep!! My oldest was a venture scout after I didn’t want to run the Girl Scout troop anymore - and my oldest son tagged along bc he was already a Boy Scout - unfortunately they quit venture scouts after Covid but they had fun

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I get your traditional/purist perspective (that I had), but sometimes things change for the right reasons.

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with a troop of 40-50 boys - I’m glad we didn’t take the girls

I’ll keep my purist perspective, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with keeping boys and girls separated. Girl Scouts should/shouldve worked on improving their program.

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how long ago was this? There are time requirements now. 4 months as First Class, 6 months as Star, 6 months at Life - plus a leadership role for 6 months but that can be during the time requirements.

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A couple of summers ago. It took him 3.5-4 months to earn his scout rank from the time they did their crossover (February to May). (FWIW, he was only 10 when he crossed over.) From there is was 6 weeks to tenderfoot, which he earned right before his first summer camp. But he'd been working on those requirements before he earned scout rank. Two months after that and an month or so after camp he earned 2nd Class. But as I said, he checked off many of the 2nd class requirements by earning 3 swimming, first aid and pioneering at camp. He took an additional 3 months to earn 1st class (December). For those that aren't aware, you can work on all of the requirements from Scout-first class at the same time.

After earning first class, it was basically just a waiting the 4 months for Star. He'd earned the 6 required MB at camp, and had the requisite number of service hours (6) for rank advancement. He also served in a leadership position during that time (Outdoor ethics guide (I will admit that is one of the easier position for younger scouts to lead in)). He was able to earn star 5 months after 1st class (had to wait on a board of review).

As a star scout, his path to life took and additional 8 months. During that time he helped on a couple of Eagle projects and attended summer camp. His additional merit badges came from camp and working with other MB consolers inside and outside of his troop during that time. The new SPL that would be elected that fall attended camp with him and saw how hard he worked at camp and nominated him from ASPL. That was several months ago. He has not been a life scout for required 6 months.

So that's the time line for the skeptical.

I’ll just add one last thought. Scouting is one of those things that is more about the journey than the destination. As someone said earlier, there just seems to be boxes being checked off as quickly as possible instead of actually applying the lessons learned along the way.