InquisitiveScouter

Shame on you for trying to promote peace and harmony based on the commonalities of our human condition! Back to the education camp with you! You may return when you promote tribalism and identity politics veiled in terms like "diversity, " "equity," and "inclusion." https://medium.com/@samuelkronen/modern-tribalism-and-the-danger-of-identity-politics-33150fd257f2 https://nationalpost.com/opinion/jordan-peterson-when-the-left-goes-too-far-the-dangerous-doctrine-of-equity https://www.jordanbpeterson.com/blog-posts/lie-of-diversity/

Colleges and universities, judicial system, language, media, family, etc... This is just part of the long march through the institutions... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_long_march_through_the_institutions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institution

Clash of the Titans! (Although, they weren't Titans.)

@ParkMan How about this for the new DE&I MB requirements? 1. Don't judge someone until you've walked a mile in their shoes. 2. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. The End I could go for that...but I think those are already encapsulated in the Scout Oath and Law. And the only angst I sense here is yours. Physician, heal thyself!

Thanks, @CynicalScouter! This crucial piece hadn't even crossed my thoughts... Wonder if the MB writers and those who will make the final decision to promulgate will consider the wide body of state law?? Or will they push something and have it blow up in their faces??

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-power-prime/201908/perception-is-not-reality Or...if perception is reality, then what do you do with this? https://www.npr.org/2017/10/24/559604836/majority-of-white-americans-think-theyre-discriminated-against

The last time this was visible from Earth was during the Early Middle Ages in Europe between the Fifth and Sixth Crusades, and the reign of Genghis Khan in the East. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/jupiter-and-saturns-great-conjunction-is-the-best-in-800-years-heres-how-to-see-it/ If you can view it, it should be awesome!

Can't! Must complete the requirements "as written"

No, that's fine...and, oh, by the way...let's offer this one at Summer Camp, too! Jimmy is 15, and this is zir (Jimmy's preferred pronoun) second year on staff. Ze doesn't have the merit badge zirself, but if ze teaches it, we will sign it off for zim. Can you imagine how the merit badge mills will go with this one?? BSA has a good amount of work to do on this draft before they cut it loose to parents and some religious CO's.

How can you discuss those topics without the Scout understanding the meaning of the terms?

@Eagle94-A1 Right on...they should put in a blurb like that in Home Repairs MB: "Either a parent or the merit badge counselor may supervise the Scout’s work on any Home Repairs requirements." And Family Life "*This conversation may take place with only one or both of your parents or guardians."

Also, how does this jive with the Scouter's Code of Conduct? "6. I will not discuss or engage in any form of sexual conduct while engaged in Scouting activities. I will refer youth with questions regarding these topics to talk to their parents or spiritual advisor" As a parent, I would not want anyone else talking to my kids about topics of sexual orientation and gender identity. Our public schools don't even tread this ground...

Furthermore, will it not undermine the authority of that CO to exercise their prerogative to select adult leaders in line with their own beliefs?

That is a very slippery slope. By your reasoning, through today's lens (or the lens we would have foisted upon us by certain factions), we actually should remove any honors for many of the founders of this country. https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Founding-Fathers-and-Slavery-1269536 We should judge people based on their own times, not ours... "...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

There is something I don't get here. Please help me... If a CO has the ability to not select (i.e., make a discrminating choice against) adult unit leaders based on their choice of gender identity or sexual orientation, won't this badge introduce confusion and mixed messages to the Scouts in that unit?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Temple_Hornaday https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/06/nyregion/thecity/06zoo.html

OK, using your metric, the evil SE makes 7.61% of our $2.7M expenditures.

YGBKM!!! (You gotta be kidding me!)

Yup... DE's start around $35K here. (That's what current SE offered me. I declined ) And compounded with the COVID crisis, all our DE's have been let go. Not furloughed, mind you, ...dismissed. We now have one FD covering our council. Volunteers are not happy.

Where have you been all my Scouting life?? 😁

Ours gets over $210K, with the median income per family (not per capita) in our area at $88K. Parents balk at donating to FOS when they hear those numbers...

Agreed, but not on the backs of adult volunteers who are paying for their own training. Program events (camporees, summer camp, etc.), I get it... training events, especially required ones (like IOLS and BALOO) should actually be given for free. If BSA requires me to have some sort of training, then they should figure out how to offer mandatory courses for free. This would really show volunteers that you value their time and service. You have won me over with this...thank you!!

There is a toxic WB culture in this council. Heck no! When building budgets for training events, we always had to build in extra to the fees to provide revenue to the council (at the direction of professional staff advisers to whatever event it was.) Made me sick to my stomach... And now, how many events are we going to cancel because we don't have a Short-Term Camp Administrator? (Yes, this was pushed from national, but councils will be the enforcers.) Can't even tell you who our UC is this month (or is it this week??) ??? DE's, yes. But SE's?? Not buying it. I have recommended to our board on several occasions that we reduce the SE salary, and pay our DE's more...we might keep them around longer than six months 😢 Answer back was that National set salary window, and they had to pick one of National's candidates. Again, 🤢

Yes, you can expect that soon. Remember when they hopped on the bandwagon after George Floyd's death back in June? https://scoutingwire.org/bsas-commitment-to-act-against-racial-injustice/ Reviewing every element of our programs to ensure diversity and inclusion are engrained at every level for participants and volunteers by applying a standard that promotes racial equality and denounces racism, discrimination, inequality and injustice. Requiring diversity and inclusion training for all BSA employees starting July 1 and taking immediate action toward introducing a version for volunteers in the coming months. Conducting a review of property names, events and insignia, in partnership with local councils, to build on and enhance the organization’s nearly 30-year ban on use of the Confederate flag and to ensure that symbols of oppression are not in use today or in the future.

When I first met our new council SE, in conversation I asked him what his biggest headache was. He said (closely paraphrasing), "Volunteers who think that when they put on the uniform, they are equal to me." I knew right then we were headed down the road to dysfunction...and I have not been wrong these last five years.