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Issues & Politics

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2956 topics in this forum

  1. Star Wars, Organized Religion, and BSA 1 2

    By David CO,
    • 20 replies
    • 3.5k views

  2. What is the protocol? 1 2 3 4

    By ScoutMama43,
    • 55 replies
    • 7.5k views

  3. Is this the beginning of the end for Star Wars and the Boy Scouts? 1 2 3

    By SSF,
    • 41 replies
    • 6.4k views

  4. LDS girl wants to be a scout - BSA or GSUSA 1 2 3

    By Hawkwin,
    • 30 replies
    • 4.9k views

  5. Mike Rowe: Death of Boy Scouts? 1 2 3 4 11

    By RememberSchiff,
    • 154 replies
    • 29.7k views

  6. For the Sky is Falling , Gloom and Doom 'ers

    By RememberSchiff,
    • 1 reply
    • 956 views

  7. 2017 Annual Report

    By Jameson76,
    • 2 replies
    • 879 views

  8. National, Religion, Membership, Oath and Law 1 2 3 4 27

    By Hawkwin,
    • 396 replies
    • 48.9k views

  9. Fort Worth Catholic Bishop endorses Troops of St. George 1 2

    By RememberSchiff,
    • 17 replies
    • 3.9k views

  10. Getting the Value and Pride back in Eagle. 1 2

    By RememberSchiff,
    • 19 replies
    • 3.5k views

  11. Switching OA Lodges

    By Ernest_Stevens,
    • 3 replies
    • 1.1k views

  12. What is the National Catholic Committee on Scouting? 1 2

    By David CO,
    • 22 replies
    • 4.2k views

  13. President Trump Eagle Letters

    By Tampa Turtle,
    • 8 replies
    • 5.3k views

  14. From National: Official Name 1 2 3 4 13

    By John-in-KC,
    • 193 replies
    • 35.3k views

  15. Ramadan Mubarak (Happy Ramadan) to our Muslim friends

    By mashmaster,
    • 5 replies
    • 1.1k 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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