Youth movement . . . or not?

[willysjeep]

First of all, you could change the name of an apple to a widget and people would still treat it like an apple. The name doesn't dictate the principle, it's just a formality so you have somehting to call it. If we didn't do this it would be too abstract to talk about.

 

 

wheeler, what you essentially said is that because boys have no experience leading we shouldn't allow them to gain experience leading? Isn't that keeping them in the dark on purpose, like saying "you can't practice this because you haven't practiced enough". I see the scoutmaster as an advisor and example, not some kind of commander. The SPL is for the most part a man, at least from what I have seen. Nobody takes an 11 year old and makes them the SPL. Most SPL's are on the verge of being technically adults, and are the most mature people under 18 in the troop. Why is a manly "youth" member not as good of an example as a manly adult leader? When I get the urge to nanny scouts around I remember that when I was a scout we were allowed to learn by experience, not just by decry from the adults. I see your point in a lot of posts, and I agree that the attitudes in scouting have changed, but I really don't like all of the argument over something like this.

 

You are allways citing the official literature to prove that there is something wrong. Official literature as I see it is not a good indicator of the program. People at national write the literature. Not every word in every scout book is followed to the letter. Heck, diferent manuals have had knots tied in diferent ways. One says the square not is fine for joining ropes, anothe says it's terrible. Which one is right? It all depends on who is interperiting the book. Just because our mission statement is vague or we have a policy on something doesn't mean it universally applies to every scout everywhere. The effect of scouting on boys is not dictated by the books, by the policies, by the rules, but by the people in their own troop who interperit the literature.