Going Co-ed

[ozemu]

There was talk of 'when they let girls in I'm leaving ' he too. Don't recall any specific cases of that actually being followed through.

 

We have never been given a percentage goal.

 

Scouts Australia has remained boy heavy. Rarely do girls outnumber boys. Very rarely.

 

There are some guide company's that offer an almost the same as a typical Scout Troop program. But in truth we get a lot of refugees from GG.

 

Boys and girls are different. So (given the boy dominant natureof the Troop) we ran a few girl only things. Didn't really take off. Kids just wanted to be kids.

 

My only firm and clear observation is that when I was a boy I was not as well adjusted as I see the boys in the Troop now. I didn't know what to do with girls, I was uncomfortable around them and thought they were made of either putty or glass. Now some of that was the era in which I grew up. But if I had been in a coed Troop I think I would have been a much less awkward young man. Not that that would be a rule to be generally applied and is a 20-20 hindsight view of my particular personality and upbringing.

[ozemu]

On thinking about it there have been times when male leaders moan about the good old days before girls.

 

I've heard the comments a couple of times in different states so they opinion must be widely held. The main complain is that boys can't be boys anymore. They used to do good-for-boys activities like pull toads apart, set fire to their own farts, swear a lot, tell dirty jokes and skinny dip in the creek. The world, they say, has changed and that is bad.

 

Yes - I'm teasing. BSA obviously does not experience that behaviour. But those comments were actually made in those almost exact words. We have some dinosaurs who never really got the idea right in the first place.

 

What we do is more important to the question of who is included and excluded. Idiots will get it wrong regardless and good people will make it work well. Boy only works which is great but so does coed.

[Pint]

Its been two years now since we had the first few girls join the Cubs, in the UK Cubs are aged 8-10 or upto 10 1/2

The first few Girls are now Scout age, and weve just had the first ever girl in the Scout troop taking part in activities etc.

its now 2009, ( almost 2010) nearly three years since UK Scouting went compulsory co-ed at all levels, some groups also have more girls than boys, some groups have about the normal amount ( if you can call it that) so why has it taken us three years ( or more) ?

First of all were not activly recruiting any one specific gender, why should we discriminate in order to tick a box on some form so it looks good in the figures? in my opinion theres no such thing as positive discrimination, its all discrimination no matter what.

Secondly numbers, those who regularly come to the SCout troop meetings and by Scout troop i mean those attending the weekly Scout meetings at our local Scout HQ ( which is also shared with the local Girl Guides )

In 2007 we had about 12 Scouts, which isnt that many, now we have ( just ) over 30, and a regular weekly attendance usualy between 26 and 32, why should we recruit just girls? its already awkward enough trying to cope with the increased numbers, why make it harder?

 

In the past few years I have also been involved in some co-ed Scouting events at all age ranges, camps, competitions and other such Scout stuff, and even a couple of camps where we have had to have mixed sex sleeping arangements ie Girls and Boys in the same tent, more on that later ( by the way it worked well and there were no problems\ issues)

 

[HiLo]

Thanks for the update Pint. Good to hear it's working.

 

I'm excited to have a young girl Cub with us now whose mum was one of the first Australian girl Cubs, in the same Cub Pack! Mum is a very active and helpful supporter who I hope to get back into uniform herself within 18 months. Wish me luck.