Day_Starr

I think "boy-led" is going to mean different things according to the troop and the boys and adults involved. When my husband took over as Scout Master, at one point he was told by the former SM (now Assistant SM) and the SPL that it's boy run and that the parents should have no say in it at all. The SPL followed it up with how annoyed he was with parents who would punish boys by not letting them go on camping trips. Lets see...if we don't have two adults...there's no camping at all. If we don't have adults who can sign contracts for meeting places...no meeting place. There has to be a balance, boy run -- but yet not completely. And with the low parent participation our troop has, they will love the idea of "its boy-run, you don't need me! lol We allow them to do *almost* all of what they would like to do, when they run it 'their' way, but there are certain times we have to say uh uh, when we see certain results. The older boys for example loved dodge ball which is a traditional scout game. But when we saw that it was a game where some got hurt (not seriously) and that the younger or smaller boys were constantly targets and sat out the game other choices were put on the list and that was taken out. Another problem was on trips the older boys, generally leaders of some sort, would band together as a clique leaving the younger or lower ranking kids behind. I let them know that this was not leadership, and "strongly suggested" (ok required them to) pay attention to the rest of the troop. I saw it happen often enough to know that without my insistance, this was going to be standard practice. Making phone calls on cells, playing with gameboys during troop meetings, not wearing uniforms, if they had a vote this would be a-ok, lol.

Khalil Gibran was a poet, and I believe that the focus of the school is cultural, as is the new Asian High School that is being built or recently opened here in Queens. Although the focus is on the Arabic culture any student can apply if they are interested. I have mixed feelings about the schools -- we've fought too hard to integrate here in New York, and it still hasn't happened. Schools are basically composed of children of the segregated communities that NYC is composed of. And schools in poorer communities still get the short end of the stick. After 911 I can understand Arabs feeling the need to have a culturally friendly high school, because anti-Arab/Muslim feelings are still high though not as strident. Still, I'd prefer to see schools were all cultures could be shared. PS: A poem from Khalil Gibran "And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, "Speak to us of Children." And he said: Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts. For they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness; For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable. "