SCOUTING AMERICA:--A REORGANIZATION OF BSA

[SM in NJ]

Greetings all,

I've been following these boards for a couple of weeks now and felt I needed to respond to Pappy on his re-orgainzation proposal. While I understand where you are coming from in your interest to broaden the "client base" for BSA, I have to disagree with your route. Taking out the moral/values componants and making uniforms optional would dilute the Boy Scouts into nothing more than a glorified CampFire Boys/Girls organization.

 

As the Scoutmaster of a Troop that has been around since 1911 and has over 130 Eagles in our "nest", I can assure you that the thing that sets the Boy Scouts apart from other outdoor organizations IS the value componant. If, as a parent (and former Scout myself), I was interested in my son only learning "scoutcraft" and "scoutskills" then an organization like CampFire would have been just fine. That's not what I felt I wanted for my son. Now I know you're going to say that by leaving it up to the CO, I could simply find a unit that offers a "traditional" form. While that is true, quite frankly, however, I'm not interested in associating with, nor having my son associate with, an organization that would/could have for example a satanic scouting unit. I can assure you, that is not what Baden-Powell had in mind.

 

Yes, BSA needs to find a way to bring in more members, but selling out our heritage isn't the way to do it. We need to make sure that all of our adult leaders are properly trained and encouraged to offer a fresh and exciting program to their boys.

 

Thats my opinion

SMNJ

[packsaddle]

SMNJ, welcome to the forums!