David CO

How do boys handle coed middle school? Under constant adult supervision. The big problem isn't putting middle school girls in with middle school boys. It is with putting middle school girls in with high school boys that's the problem.

I wear a jacket and tie to work everyday, and I still dress for church on Sundays. The added cost in wardrobe and laundering is worth every penny. The trend towards more and more casual dress annoys me. I wouldn't be caught dead in a pair of sandals. I was raised from an early age to believe that taking a little more effort to dress well shows a degree of respect for yourself and those around you.

Going co-ed ruined Physical Education. The difference between Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts is very much like the difference we once had between sex segregated Boys and Girls gym classes. The boys classes were great! We had all sorts of rough and tumble games. The girls did jump rope and badmitten. Today, co-ed gym classes are the rule. Competition is bad. Cooperation is good. The Presidential Physical Fitness Award program has been replaced with the very wimpy "Get Fit" program. No "pursuit games" like tag. No rough games like dodge ball. Instead of letting the girls in the boys class, they made the boys join the girls class.

Throughout most of the history of BSA, there were state laws against same-sex relations. It wasn't just against BSA policy, it was against the law. Perhaps it is no coincidence that the BSA bans were initiated soon after the courts started striking down those state laws. Perhaps BSA had not previously felt there was a need to formalize a ban since it was already against the law.

I might be a little bit off topic, but I overheard a conversation the other day that I think is interesting. The boys were talking about cooking shows on TV. Apparently boys watch cooking shows. One show in particular, a contest between children and adult chefs, seemed to be their favorite. My impression is that attitudes about cooking may be changing. Maybe BSA should place a little more emphasis on cooking? Maybe a local contest for the Boy Scouts' best outdoor chefs? Scouters vs. Scouts?

Eamonn makes a very good point. All of the after school programs I mentioned are scheduled for a finite period of time. They don't demand an endless commitment from either the parents or the boys. People seem to be willing to volunteer for a project, but unwilling to join an club. This is certainly true of the adult service clubs.

Boy Scouting is very unpopular with the boys. Less than 3% of our eligible middle school boys participate in Scouting. Why did we fail? We didn't fail. Most kids just don't like Scouting. It is not about competition for time. It is not about competition with other programs, either. Boys would rather do nothing than do Scouting. Scouting is that unpopular.

Our Science club has more middle school participants than Scouting. Our Science fair has more contestants than Scouting. Our community college offers a summer Science camp that has more campers than Scouting. You can mock the after-school Science programs all you want, but numbers wise, they're beating the heck out of Scouting.

Location. Location. Location. When I was a boy, we could have a very nice hike or camping trip just 5 miles from my home. No suburban sprawl. No highway noise. It was cheap and convenient fun. Today, the Scouts in my home town have to travel 50 miles or more to get away from all the congestion and noise. The trips are over-supervised, over-organized, and over-priced.

After our last middle school outdoor education trip, we took a survey of the kids to rank the activities. The 3 Science activities came in first, third, and fourth. The English department came in second (Storytelling). So, these top 4 activities beat out the Physical Education department (swimming, canoeing, and archery). Team Building, which was a perennial first place, took a huge plunge down to eighth.

Hi Stosh, Welcome to Lone Scouting.

Nobody in a non-profit or charitable organization should be paid $600,000. It's wrong.

No, there is no implicit assumption that Catholics would be forbidden from joining the Boy Scouts.

Divorced and remarried Catholics have not asked the Church to "charter" a group for them. Such groups do exist, but they exist without the formal recognition or endorsement of the Catholic Church. Scouting is different. A Catholic BSA unit not only seeks the formal recognition and endorsement of the Catholic Church, it is actually owned by the Church. For the Church to own and operate a group that openly contradicts its moral teachings is scandalous.

No. Many families can't afford it.

Most definitely go to Kudu's encyclopedic site if you want a perfect example of what not to do at a Scout presentation. Keep it simple. No pine smoke. No high-adventure stuff. No images of Scouts climbing cliffs, hang gliding, deep-sea diving, etc.. BSA has used this strategy for over a decade now, and it doesn't work. Do not call it a "Recruitment Night" or a "Join Scouting Night." This works for Cub Scouts, it doesn't work in a middle school. Simply call it a Scout presentation. An effective Scout presentation should look a lot like a middle school Science Fair. It should demonstrate the skills and display the activities that a new Scout can actually accomplish. Parents and boys should be able to wander around and enjoy the presentation. No sales pitch. No push to sign them up that night. Let them just enjoy the presentation. Remember that the most important thing on display at a Scout presentation is not the rope bridge, or the canoes, or the tents, or the campfire. The most important thing on display is you! Parents and boys coming to your Scout presentation are mostly interested in seeing you and how you interact with your boys. This will make or break your presentation.

I have a few suggestions about Scout presentations at middle school. First of all, do wear your uniform, but don't wear any unnecessary decorations on your uniform. Keep it simple. Don't look like a Latin American dictator on parade. Second, do a demonstration of a Scouting skill or two. Show them, don't tell them. Third, don't do a sales pitch. Let the activity sell itself. Last, and most importantly, never invite a DE to your Scout presentation. They will mess it up every time.

Yes, I have done Scout presentations in middle school. Before I switched over to Catholic schools, I was a Health and Science teacher at a public middle school. I used merit badge books in the classroom. I wore my uniform to class on meeting days. Everyone knew I was a Scoutmaster. My principal had no problem with it. He felt in fit in with the whole Science-guy thing. I think it actually enhanced my reputation as a good teacher.

Catholic Canon Law is a very interesting topic, but I think we are straying a little bit too far from this topic, which is the Lutheran Church reaction to the policy change. Perhaps this discussion of Catholic Canon Law would be more appropriate under the other two topics about the Catholic reaction? Does the Lutheran Church have an equivalent to Canon Law?

I believe that CalicoPenn in incorrect when he states that Charles Wilson or The St. Joseph Foundation is the Catholic Church's own canon law think tank. I don't believe Charles Wilson is a canon lawyer or holds any position of authority from the Catholic Church.

Nowhere in the Canon Law of the Catholic Church does it acknowledge any "superiority" of secular laws. Superiority is referred to in the Superiority Clause of the U.S. Constitution, but that only refers to the relationship between federal and state courts. To the best of my knowledge, the U.S. legal system doesn't acknowledge, recognize, enforce, or cite the laws of any religion. Nor should it. Canon Law, however, does recognize the need for secular laws, and instructs Catholics to obey all just secular laws. It does not say that secular laws trump Canon Law. Recently, after the SCOTUS gay marriage ruling, the Catholic Bishops released a statement criticizing the court decision, saying that the institution of marriage is ordained by God and no government or court has any authority to change it. Does this sound to you like the Catholic Church recognizes "superiority" by secular courts?

Obviously, the NCCS didn't speak for the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Bismarck.

Strange game, the only winning move is not to play.

Yes, the rules have been changed in the middle of the game. Worst yet, our opponents are rewriting history to claim that these were always the rules.

I've heard this argument before, that history moves in one direction, like a flowing river, from conservative to liberal, and that people should jump on the liberal bandwagon to be on the right side of history. I don't buy it. I've studied history. It appears to me that history and societal changes are more like a tide or a pendulum, moving in and out, or back and forth. The bandwagon approach doesn't work because, in the long run, the direction towards which the world is moving is temporary, and will change.