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Issues & Politics

In answer to many requests, we established a separate forum for these topics. Those not interested can skip this forum instead of spending time reading unwanted messages to identify content.

2956 topics in this forum

  1. Have you done the new Youth Protection Training? 1 2

    By WisconsinMomma,
    • 25 replies
    • 4.5k views

  2. Council and District Support?

    By arronisoutside,   
    • 4 replies
    • 1.1k views

  3. Familiar feeling?

    By skeptic,
    • 0 replies
    • 911 views

  4. Regulating Fall Risks and Nature 1 2

    By RichardB,
    • 15 replies
    • 3.4k views

  5. Gender Identity Issue 1 2 3 4 5

    By askyourspl,
    • 71 replies
    • 11.8k views

  6. Jim Turley, new National BSA Chair

    By Saltface,
    • 4 replies
    • 1.7k views

  7. Breaking Point 1 2 3 4 19

    By SouthScout,
    • 281 replies
    • 54.6k views

  8. REI weighs in

    By walk in the woods,
    • 9 replies
    • 1.8k views

  9. The need for personal liability insurance 1 2

    By cchoat,
    • 19 replies
    • 3.8k views

  10. Is this the new normal? 1 2 3 4 7

    By Saltface,
    • 97 replies
    • 17.1k views

  11. BSA National and Change Management 1 2 3 4 5

    By Jameson76,
    • 62 replies
    • 9.8k views

  12. National Meeting: Affirmation of DRP 1 2 3 4

    By John-in-KC,
    • 51 replies
    • 10.5k views

  13. Can a girl who gender identifies as a boy join a Scout troop now? 1 2 3 4 13

    By cchoat,
    • 181 replies
    • 29.7k views

  14. No parents allowed playground - risk, adventure, character building

    By RememberSchiff,
    • 11 replies
    • 1.9k views

  15. New and comprehensive Family scouting FAQs issued: 1 2 3 4

    By walk in the woods,
    • 55 replies
    • 10.1k views

  • LATEST POSTS

    • Tron
      End of 2024 membership numbers

      By Tron · Posted

      The argument around this sort of thing is odd. The standard is the standard. 21 MB, so many camping nights, pass the swim test, etc ... right? This is sort of a like the old school adage that A's may pay, but C's get degrees. For the scout that goes above and beyond, fantastic, but it does not redefine the standard. The kid that does just the standard is just as much an eagle scout as any other eagle scout. 
    • BetterWithCheddar
      End of 2024 membership numbers

      By BetterWithCheddar · Posted

      I had a pretty traditional Scouting experience that culminated in earning the Eagle Scout award after I had a lot of fun and finally got around to the paperwork. One of my best my friends could be described as a "Paper Eagle." He made it through the program with very little camping and had everything wrapped up by high school so he could focus more on academics. Today, he's a professor at a prestigious university and travels the world to present his research. He is absolutely someone we'd want to represent the program. Scouting just means different things to different people and we all have to be OK with that for the BSA to survive.
    • Prime00
      Boy in trouble

      By Prime00 · Posted

      So what happened with this? He straighten up?  
    • ramanous
      End of 2024 membership numbers

      By ramanous · Posted

      council: your troop has paying members, well "nothing to see here"
    • InquisitiveScouter
      End of 2024 membership numbers

      By InquisitiveScouter · Posted

      Agreed. I think BSA was hoist by its own petard on this one.  The focus of Summer Camp is, generally, the merit badge program.  This is a mistake, because it turned the focus to Advancement. And then, to do it on the cheap, camps hire 15 & 16 year olds to teach MBs, when this inherently violates the "spirit" of what the MB program is about.  (This is where you can go down the rabbit hole of the responsibilities of unit leaders and "actual" merit badge counselors as well...) Summer Camp is a "pay your fee, get your degree." operation. On the whole, we have a huge integrity problem when it comes to Summer Camps and the Merit Badge program.  Parents, Scouts staffs, unit leaders, paid professionals, National... all complicit.  This is one of our biggest "dirty little secrets." I used to work with Scouts after camp to go through their MBs and ask them how they completed the requirements.  Many, many times, I got the answer "Oh, we didn't do that one." or "My counselor said we didn't have to do that." or some such response.  After working with Scouts to correct, I filed quite a few of these: https://filestore.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/512-800_WB.pdf Know what became of them?  Nothing... ignored  

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