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Be it on the soccer field or in the back woods we're going to teach citizenship. Here are some of my suggestions to make it successful: 1. Have the boys go over their rights and responsibilities with a lawyer. If you don't have a leader or parent in that profession, invite one to come camping with the troop, and while he's fishing he can give the instruction (a couple of boys at a time so as to not disturb the fish). 2. Soccer units: same thing only have the guest present between games or drills. 3. Get the boys in the habit of packing a small notebook and pen/pencils on every outing. Older boys should have the pamphlet (old one from the libray, forget those new multicolored money-wasting editions) of the one merit badge they will work on while on a trip. 4. There is nothing wrong with sitting on a log and taking notes. (It Served Thoreu and Audobon pretty darn well.) Just don't let it take up more than a few minutes at a time. 5. In every wilderness area that you hike, let the boys know the Act of Congress that was required to protect this land. (Soccer players, learn the back-story of every field they play on.) 6. Always make sure the boys have access to a map of the area you are camping/hiking in. For the older ones, give them a copy of a map with the names blanked out, and have them identify the named features. 7. Challenge the boys to get autographs from any international scout they may ever meet. 8. Ask if an elected official from a nearby community can stop by and visit your campsite. Trust me, THIS TYPE OF LEARNING IS NOT AT ALL WHAT KIDS WILL GET IN SCHOOL. But, this is exactly what it takes for more than 10% of them to know the material that we expect them to by the time they can fill out a ballot.

I guess if National's taking so long to complete their crew uniform, I won't grouse over my crew taking three years to design theirs. (Their only specification was "not any of those shirts in the BSA catalogue".) As far as the boy scouts are concerned: I can't imagine a bunch of people saying "Gee, now that those shoulder-things and numbers are green instead of red, I'll let my boy join a troop!" I have heard folks say "If I have to shell out another dime to by different colored cloth, my boy's staying home." We make it very clear that as long as it was an official uniform at one time, it's welcome in our troop. (Grandpa didn't want his kakis to be mothballed forever.) Vintage patches/epaulets are seriously cool. Also, we hand down shirts until they are WORN OUT. So look for us, the motley troop with red and green epaulets at a summer camp near you for years to come.

I remember as a youth watching a commercial where a guy was ducked into an alley at night to avoid some approaching shadows. He was relieved when he saw it was just a couple of boy scouts. Love to see that again! If the opposition at Goshen holds sway, we might have to convert a parking lot into a Scouting theme park instead of holding Jamboree, so hold on to that thought. Anyway, I think getting adults to put good troops in the spotlight is important. Our troop tries to get the local paper to every eagle project site and court of honor. At some of the larger projects in public parks we hang a banner announcing that this an eagle project of our troop. I went to a graduation at a major college where two of the top ten youth listed their scout rank as a major achievement (one was life, the other eagle). If councils set up a clipping service for these things, I bet they would have fresh material every month to share with prospective donors. A picture of scouts helping little old ladies ford streams in a wilderness recreation area would be pretty cool too!

I agree with xPanel that our forefathers brought us to this land knowing (to one degree or another) that they were setting aside certain standards of morality (e.g., "the King laws are God's", or maybe even earlier "the gods wouldn't want us to cross this land bridge"). So, we are subjected to a little moral relativism in the hope that we won't wind up fighting anyone else's holy war but our own. BUT that does not mean we do not set up a moral ideal for our children! Even the Christians listen to what the rabbi and immam says, and every now and then we try to learn something. Over our country's history, we've learned: Free the slaves. Don't drink. Don't smoke. Burkas are OK but not required (still working on that one). And, out of respect for marriage, DON'T GAWK AT SOMEONE ELSE's SPOUSE!!!! While you're with us as a boy scout, to help you along: we'll ban some of this stuff, don't bring it to camp (in any form). If you do, we'll confiscate it without endagering your safety. If you insist on bringing contraban (be it out of a sense of moral indignation or addiction) we'll show you the door. I'm sure your parents can find you an organization that suits your high-minded philosophy of moral relativism. When you are a venturer, you can hold an ethical contraversy over this stuff. When you are an adult (and hopefully a little less impulsive), we'll let you have a private life. But, please while you're out with our boys, conform. This isn't merely out of respect for our charter organizations (some of whom are pretty insistant about moral ideals), it's because we all have percieved that the odds are stacked against someone who crosses the line becoming a very compassionate and caring adult. Oh, and asking the parent to drive 500 miles? That really depends on the situation (first offense vs. repeat, threat to others etc...). That's why we SM's and Advisors have committee's and district execs.

Let's not confuse "what is normal" with "what is moral". The preponderance of young males may have looked at pornography. (The current statistic is probably less than what's been stated in recent posts. Look up Master's and Johnson if you really care.) But, if I were to ask them if it is right to gawk at images of someone else's spouse in a compromising position, the majority would say "no". (Note: your girlfriend is not your spouse.) If I were to ask most charter organization reps, the overwhelming majority would aggree. So, the moral standard that we uphold (for adults and youth) is to eschew pornography. Are we gonna throw stones at people over it? No! Are we going to require them to not bring it on BSA activities? Yes! If folks insist on bucking this widely accepted interpretation of "morally straight" then they can find another youth organization that doesn't make a big deal about it.

Regarding parents (or any of us, for that matter) who want to make this into grey area: Ours is not an organization that allows youth to skinny dip or otherwise expose themselves in mixed company. There are groups out there that offer such opportunities. (A friend, who happens to be a lesbian, said such was one of her more formative events.) Anyone interested in letting their kid to be "enlighted" while "eating tainted brownies," can find another youth movement. Most of our chartered organizations would expect us to tow the line. And that means removing pornographic images (be they of friends or strangers) from the possesion of our youth. That said, it is impossible to shelter our kids from the overwhelming influence of modern media. (Just try stopping in Miami on the way to Seabase.) So, in addition to having the cop/lawer come in and talk about the 11th point of the scout law; I would suggest you ask your charter organization or the youth's religious leaders if they have something to offer in terms of instruction/guidance. The important thing here is not to throw down a bunch of by-laws, but to introduce youth to various resources that they can go to as they tackle this stuff for the rest of their lives.

I would like to know how this turned out for acco40. It's worked okay for us. Three of about six of our Eagles who applied through the troop this year had their POR with our crew. That fraction is going to drop now that youth who were never in the troop (i.e., the young women) are crew officers. We did have a bump when turning in the last application to council HQ. They were certain the boy had to have his POR through the unit he was filing his application. They said they never approved that sort of thing (even though they did twice already). I waited patiently while they called National to hear what I was told by my district advancement chair three years ago. Bottom line: Folks may try to do you the favor of making rules for you. Repectfully decline. Stand by your boys. They'll do you good.