Going Co-ed

[Pint]

This week our Scout group will be going Co-ed, when the first girls will be joining the Cubs.

In the UK girls have been able to join Beavers, Cubs and Scouts since some time around 1991, with the Venture Scouts being Co-ed since sometime during the 1970''s this being at the Groups discretion, or in the case of sponsored Scout groups at the sponsoring bodys and leaders discretion, the only rule being is that once you went co-ed there was no going back.

 

In January of 2007 this changed, now there no choice for Scout groups in the UK, if Girls want to join a particular section, i.e, Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, Explorer Scouts or Scout network, then they can not be turned down, they have to be accepted into the group and treated the same as the boys.

 

Theres a few that im sure that are going to come up, for instance if your on a camp and you had three lads, one girl and some four man ( person?) tents, do you put them all in one ( mixed sex accomodation) or do you put them separate and have the odd one out in a tent all by themselves?

Would you want to have a female leader? although you dont need a female leader would you stil do a camp and other overnight activities?

 

At the moment in the Scout group that im invovled with we have:

Beavers: female leaders, no girls

Cubs: male/female leader team, girls starting soon

Scouts, Male leader team, currently no girls.

Explorer Scouts, Technicly a District provision, and not a direct part of the Group

Scout network, technicly a County/District provision, and not a direct part of the group

 

 

 

[scoutldr]

Thanks and good luck, Pint! In the US, girls can only join Venture Crews (age 14-21). Sleeping arrangements must be separate and a female adult advisor must be present on all outings.

[Slouchhat]

Hi Pint,

we just formed a new patrol last Friday and out of about 60 kids between 10 and 12 years of age who received the letter from our pastor and me, 7 kids responded: 5 girls and 2 boys.

 

Here in Germany, going co-ed is a standard procedure and we can sleep a mixed-gender patrol in one tent provided an adult is aleeping in the same tent.

However, as soon as we will go camping next year, I will try to have a female ASM with me to take care of those things I shouldn''t.

 

I can tell the boys to take off their shirts and check each other for ticks, but I can''t order the girls to undress. Just to use an example.

 

best regards,

Volker

[Eamonn]

Our Sea Scout Ship is co-ed.

Being as Sea Scouts come under Venturing this is allowed.

Back when I was a Venture Scout in the UK, Venture Scouting was co-ed, but even my sexy knees couldn''t entice any female members.

I''ll admit to being worried when we started. Having only ever had a son, my knowledge of teenage girls left a lot to be desired.

So far other than a few problems with one couple who were dating and then broke up! It has been a wonderful experience.

The girls are great and I feel truly blessed to have them as Sea Scouts. They do everything the male scouts do and at times do it a lot better!!

We do have adult female leaders and do follow the BSA guidelines.

It works if you let it work.

Eamonn.

[scottteng]

I was amazed at the powerpoint presentation at our roundtable with all the female boy scouts from around the world at the international jamboree they went to. I don''t think the US is ready for COED groups of teenagers tenting together. Must be our puritan roots I''m sure the youth would love it.

[OldGreyEagle]

From what I understand, there really isnt that many countries that have male/female public restrooms they tend to have unisex facilities. I await comments from all the international men of mystery''s comments (or women)

 

Just because the rest of the world does something and we dont doesnt make us wrong, but it should trigger a review to be sure we understand why we do what we do.

 

Pint and Slouch Hat, I am in Venturing, thats the Co-Ed part of the BSA. To have a co-ed overnight we must have a female over 21 and 2 (Or more)females under 21. Or in case of only having one under 21 year female, we would need 2 over 21 year old females

[Slouchhat]

Hi OldGreyEagle,

I''m not saying that we have sipped from the Grail of Truth to make everything we do sound right.

Sorry if I may come across that way.

 

I am well aware of the potential problems we might have or might be running into with a co-ed group. In fact, I''d rather have an all-boys gang, but now the boys are the minority in the patrol and we have to deal with it.

The youth program co-ordinator in our parish says that this is typical for youth groups in our town. It is completely different two towns over and across the Rhine.

Strange things.

 

best regards,

Volker

[Aquila]

I can''t imagine BSA *ever* going co-ed. And I''m glad for that.

 

[ozemu]

people worried about co-ed here back in the early 90''s too.

 

Only real change is that we have got girls around now. Boys did not leave in droves, parents couldn''t care less, more women became leaders maybe, and I think that there are a few small domes in each Troops gear inventory. That''s about it.

 

No big deal. Why would it be?

[OldGreyEagle]

Slouch Hat, I meant nothing towards you or Pint in any manner. My comment was more for Americans

[Slouchhat]

Hi OldGreyEagle,

no prob.

I just didn''t want to come across too confrontational. You know how easy it is to misunderstand each other on the Net.

 

best regards,

Volker

[Eagledad]

>>No big deal. Why would it be?

[ozemu]

Yes Eagledad isn''t the Girl Guides and girls in Scouts interesting.

 

I see it like this - Scouts treats them all the same. But GG has a positive discrimination toward women. That means that girls get more opportunities to get outdoors and break free of the ''I''m just a weak woman and can''t do outdoorsy things for myself'' attitude. Boys don''t need that.

 

Pint - if there are no guidelines or rules about women being present when girls are in Scouts just follow your common sense and treat it, as always, that they are all your nephews and neices; but your sister-in-law is is a worry wort. I run night meetings without an adult woman. I run camps with a mum-helper. If there are other female leaders somewhere about the place (big camps) I don''t worry about it. The girls are told to organise separate tentage. If there are only one or two they get a small dome. If there are more girls than boys in teh Patrol they get the big Patrol tent - and they love those tents (because they feel they are really Scouting in them and not getting a soft option).

[Pint]

We also have aGirl Guiding group who have all of thier sections ( Rainbows, Brownies, Guides, Rangers) with who we share the building.

Girl Guiding UK are a part of WAGGGS ( world association of Girl Guids and Girl Scouts ) where as we are a part of the UK Scout Association, which in turn is a member of WOSM.

 

ALthough Guiding and Scouting share a simalar purpose, Guiding isnt Scouting, and by( properly) goign co-ed then we are are providing Scouting for all ( with the exception of fully blown atheists - although thats a different topic or more in itself)

 

The only other problemis that the Guide leaders could see us a competition, and in turn poaching their membership.

 

Again as far as im concerned Scouting isnt Guiding and there will be no change to the range or type of activites or programmes that we do, if they dont like Scouting they can go elsewhere.

 

My only concern would be if Gilwell started looking at the numbers and started saying we should have X percentage of girls, and Y percentage of boys, althogh hopefuly that will never happen.

[Aquila]

Ouch, any parent of both boys and girls knows that there are innate differences. Study after study shows that co-ed education is far less effective for boys (and somewhat less effective for girls.) Pretending they''re the same doesn''t change that.

 

One of the big problems with government schools is that they''re set up for girls. (Part of the reason so many boys are drugged in school, but that''s another topic.) Boys learn differently. Scouts is a place for them to do a lot of that learning -- a place where being a boy is CELEBRATED, where their natures are allowed to bloom.

 

As for it being no big deal, I''m sure there are many that feel that way. I''m equally sure that the overwhelming majority of people I know IRL (in real life) take it seriously enough to leave the day that happens. Although we love BSA, they aren''t the only Scout organization.