Gwaihir

No implication made. Just that in a representative government, there should be a wider range of ages doing the representing.

and that is a primary fear for introducing family scouting, holding the boys back, or worse, forgetting about the boys in lieu of the girls. Boys have enough major challenges their facing down statistically (lower college graduation rates, higher HS drop out rates, higher suicide, higher and younger drug abuse, etc) in this country at the moment.

politics aside, I would love to see the age of Congress start shifting back to younger ages. When the founders wrote COTUS, they put 25 and 30 (house/senate) in there for a reason. Might be time to start exercising those ages and move the 60 and 70 year olds out. As an aside, here's a list of the youngest people in congress: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_youngest_members_of_the_United_States_Congress

So wait, is the sane, logical explanation that the article is legit, or that it's fake?

The old fans have dropped thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars on the property... tossing them away like rubbish is a rather distasteful business move. But hey, this is the company that has basically tossed it's creator, Walt Disney, into the same rubbish bin. The real question is, will the new fans hold onto Star Wars with endearment for 30+ years and also spend that money, or will they, like just about everything else in culture today, enjoy it for about 5 minutes and then move onto the next thing.

Ironic since BSA touts itself as "the best youth leadership program in the country" (if not the world)

Any uptick in traffic since the publishing of the article?

Fair, but Each requirement requires showing Scout Spirit over the course of time between ranks. Do you just have the scout give an example and that covers Scout through Eagle? There's also Positions of Responsibility and their time allotment.

How do you verify they've shown scout spirit, which is living by the Oath and Law, two things non-existent in their programs. Or do we just get rid of that "ridiculous" and sentimental requirement because it should be rubber stamped anyway.

I think it most assuredly has. Side note, Arrow of Light used to be the highest award you could earn in Cub Scouting and you needed to earn Webelos first. It was to show dedication above and beyond. Now, it's just another grade. It's degraded what the award means.

The great irony here is that because of who she is as a figure in this whole sea of change, that will carry far more weight than Eagle Scout on any application or resume . She will either be heralded as a hero and rubber stamped her application, or castigated as a villain and buried at the bottom of the pile. Having "Eagle Scout" on her paperwork at this point has little relevance in her college aspirations, even littler than what current Eagle Scouts experience.

It was downvoting the sentiment of the article and her statement, not you. I removed it.

I didn't get that at all, unless you feel the villain, Kylo Ren is right. By the end of the film, Luke realizes he was wrong. That said, the plot device used for Luke made little sense considering his actions in the OT.

Home Repairs, imo, is one of the most important merit badges on the list. You want to breed independence into a boy (or girl) let them fix their property.

Agree with others, look to see if their neighbors, church, other scouts, friends need those repairs done. tie service in to the MB, seems an easy solution. side note, I read (g) and "Made in china"

that's how I see it as well. The iconic blue and gold cub scout neckerchief with the wolf on the back shouldn't be relegated to the trash heap. Ironically... the idea was that everyone in the Pack was a wolf since Bobcats and bears are not pack animals.... the badges you earned were to designated that you were TRAINED by the Bobcat, the Wolf and the Bear before becoming a Webelos. Not that you WERE the animal.

bleh, terrible decision.

and yet without that "hazing", they wouldn't have learned, via a real world situation, conflict resolution. And now, as boys is when they should be learning that, not as men when nuclear war is potentially on the table.

Cabin camping, limited available camping, limited bunk space on a busy weekend.

My dad joined his troop with his gang of friends (15 and 16 year olds) as a whole. They told the Scoutmaster (who they also knew in the neighborhood), we want to join the troop as a patrol, together, or we don't join at all. There was hemming and hawing by the senior scouts about how that's not how it's done and who the F do these guys think they are, but they were allowed to join. Almost instantly became the best patrol in the troop winning patrol awards at all the events... much to the chagrin of the senior scouts.

I really wanted to do it this year with my son, but it was a busy weekend, and we just couldn't make it work.

No, never Cubs alone. I agree, sufficient prior notice and opportunity is quintessential.

Cub Scout camping trip, limited space available... Do you make sure all registered Cub Scouts have priority to fill those limited spots or Cub Scouts and their siblings get priority if they signup first?

When a journalist releases a piece.... the facts are laid out. If new information comes to light, it is clearly stated than an update has occurred due to new data. That's called transparency and integrity. If you have those things, you state that your original intent was X and that has evolved to Y based on new data. You don't just start modifying your statement. This isn't two people having fries and a beer and talking... this is a corporation with 2 million paying customers and is based on the concept of moral character and integrity, so stating your position has evolved shouldn't be beyond the pale. This whole affair has been devious and underhanded from the get go. With the deceptively named survey email, the fuzzy language when describing the situation, hidden survey numerical results, information being dribbled out. The organization has not earned trust and respect and if this was a personal dealing where your investment dollars were on the line, most of you would most likely not be moving forward with the business. From the start my issue has been more the shadowy nature of how it's being handled as opposed to the answer itself. We're adults... allegedly the model citizens the program prides itself on building... we can handle open, transparent and honest discourse... National however, has not taken that approach.

Just a general gripe... apparently 3 or 4 years ago, BSA switched from embroidered lettering on Troop/Pack flags to a screenprinted version. I gotta say, this caught me by surprise.. and the flag just doesn't look nearly as good. The letters don't pop off the flag. Everything is muted and kind of subdued. I wish there was a 3rd party alternative because I'd much rather get the Pack an embroidered flag.