Studio 2B charms

[AlphaCentauri]

The Studio 2B charms don't seem very appealing to me. I don't see a lot of girls wearing charm bracelets anymore -- that fad enjoyed a very brief revival. I guess their parents must have embraced it :-)

 

But they look like exactly the sort of thing that would look good on an earring. Are anyone's girls attaching them to wires and wearing them that way?

 

If you're trying to get girls to get recognized for the effort they put forward earning the charm, an earring is a much more visible piece of jewelry, and more likely to provoke questions about, "Where did you get that?" You can buy plain gold or surgical steel wires in craft stores or lapidary shops, and one set could be used to swap off all a girl's charms. (She would have to buy two charms to get a matched set, if anyone wears matched sets in HS anymore, but the cost is still comparable to what they would buy at Claire's anyway.)

[queenj]

That's a good idea. I will ask my daughter if she would do that. BUT, I still think the charms suck.

[Strawberry Switchblade]

Studio2B crashed and burned miserably around here. Most of the girls it was targeting saw it as a mockery of what Scouts is, and went back to earning their badges.

 

To those who did earn a couple charms as a trial run, I'll bring it up to them, because they have no clue what to do with their charms.

[AlphaCentauri]

So who were the girls in these focus groups that went for the Studio 2B concepts in the first place? And did anyone think to run it past the girls who actually stayed in scouts through Cadettes and Seniors instead of only asking the girls who weren't interested before?

 

I think it's lame, and I'm an old fuddy-duddy. I was far more cynical at their age. ("I was so much older then; I'm younger than that now.")

 

If anyone asked me, I'd change all the scout levels to build on the earlier ones -- as it is, when you move to the next level you're a "tenderfoot" again. Why not have badges that allow equivalent badges at a lower level to count for a couple requirements? For instance, if you got the Eco-Explorer Try-it, you would already be part of the way toward Junior Eco-Action badge. If you then got the Junior level Eco-Action, you would have fewer requirements to fulfill for your Eco-Action interest patch. If you want the girls to be goal oriented instead of just showing up and gluing trash together as a craft project, you should respect the fact that they will feel their previous effort no longer counts for anything when they move to the next level and can't display the previous level's badges.

[Strawberry Switchblade]

Forsooth. Finally, someone with sense!

[Wishboat]

Who was in the focus groups? 75% of the girls they surveyed had NEVER been in scouting of the 3000 girls they talk about, only 25% were currently GS. (No focus whatsoever on girls who had dropped out to see why or what might have made them stay in...)

 

You can view a summary of the "New Directions" research they keep quoting online at girlscouts.org, but if you want the entire study, you have to call or email and ask for it they have directions online. My assistant leader is a professional researcher (one of those folks with all the letters after her name), and she says that both their sampling and their methods seem flawed to her.

 

It just goes along with what I've said the whole time they weren't out to alter or improve the current program especially not in any way that those already involved might suggest they were out to attract girls who never wanted to be Girl Scouts in the first place. Despite all their protestations through the years that GS "is not a social club", that's precisely what they've designed and are encouraging. They're going after a younger urban girl and they're really making an effort to attract Latino girls who they say aren't "culturally" inclined or encouraged to participate in a traditional program. (Three out of the 30 focus groups were all-Latino and conducted in Spanish, I believe....I'll have to check.)

 

It's all about money. The only way that any vestige of a more traditional program will remain is if girls and adult members send their views to national. They'll listen to girls more readily than adults (since we're all so old, narrow-minded, incontinent and completely square).

 

Wishboat

 

 

[grafxxdiva]

 

When I read the post from Wishboat I about fell out of my chair. What type of message are you sending about the focus groups and the girls that are giving their opinions? Why would their ethnic background matter?

 

Do you even know the Girl Scout Law?....."make the world a better place, and be a sister to every Girl Scout"

 

It does not say make the world a better palace for all the blue eyed, blonde girls of the USA. Studio 2 B is what the girls want it to be. You dont have to use the S2B books or earn the charms. Let the girls decide on badges or charms. My girls want charms so they are going to do different fund raisers and complete projects that will earn them money for future charms and our winter survival trip. They also started looking thru the badge book for ideas and found that they still have great ideas and can also earn badges along the way. Give them some space and let each girls voice be heard. In the end it is all about the girl.

 

 

[grafxxdiva]

 

When I read the post from Wishboat I about fell out of my chair. What type of message are you sending about the focus groups and the girls that are giving their opinions? Why would their ethnic background matter?

 

Do you even know the Girl Scout Law?....."make the world a better place, and be a sister to every Girl Scout"

 

It does not say make the world a better palace for all the blue eyed, blonde girls of the USA. Studio 2 B is what the girls want it to be. You dont have to use the S2B books or earn the charms. Let the girls decide on badges or charms. My girls want charms so they are going to do different fund raisers and complete projects that will earn them money for future charms and our winter survival trip. They also started looking thru the badge book for ideas and found that they still have great ideas and can also earn badges along the way. Give them some space and let each girls voice be heard. In the end it is all about the girl.

 

 

[AlphaCentauri]

Whoa, can't we all just get along?

 

Maybe it could have been worded differently, but there is a valid point. It is good to reevaluate your program if you find it is systematically deterring a particular ethnic group from joining. But if you find your program would need to radically change to appeal to that group, you'd better find out how that change will go over with your core constituency, and if necessary offer different options. And in addition to the girls, someone should look at the point of view of adult leaders -- if we think it's all B.S. and don't act as troop leaders/moderators, girls don't get to join scouts anyway.

[Wishboat]

Why would the composition of focus groups matter? Because the information gathered from a relatively small sampling of 3,000 is the basis for a radical change in a program serving nearly 3 million. Because though you say to "let each girl's voice be heard", that's not what National had in mind.

 

My post was intended to show that National had more interest in attracting new girls to Scouting than it had in seeking the opinion of current or former members. While this is a valid aim, such an approach also disenfranchises those young women who have stayed with a program they feel has value and worth. It's an "they're-already-past-the-age-when-retention-is-a-problem-so-what-do-we-care-what-they-think-since they'll-stay-in-no-matter-what" attitude.

 

My mention of National's choice of focus groups served to indicate that they ARE seeking to provide a program designed for girls not attracted to the traditional program. It served as a way to indicate that they ARE seeking to expand into and serve the fastest-growing minority group in this country.

 

I also mentioned this fact as an indicator that National's doing a sampling this way (by allotting 10% of the total number of focus groups conducted) indicated that National cared more about attracting a new demographic group -- however valid a goal that might be -- rather than asking current girl members what they wanted or what they would change about the existing program -- or going back to survey drop-outs (or girls who've switched to other programs, such as Venture Scouts).

 

What I don't agree with is national's assumption that the Hispanic culture doesn't allow/encourage girls to participate in a "traditional" program. I feel that familial encouragement varies from region to region and family to family in the Latino community (just as it does anywhere in any population).

 

Our troop is very ethnically diverse (no blue eyes, no blonde hair but my own) -- and three of the members earned their Silver awards working on different projects with a local Hispanic mission with girls from Mexico, Central America and South America. The girls we worked with were allowed by their families to participate fully in our program -- even to overnight camping.

 

As far as S2B goes -- I don't like the design of the program or the way it was introduced, but if it serves to make leaders listen to what girls want, I hope it makes it. (Though I don't agree with the people who say letting the girls have a voice is a new concept -- it's always been the way a good leader does things.) I hope S2B will evolve into a better program. My girls say it is too self-centered and "young" -- I tell them to keep an open mind and review new offerings as they're introduced.

 

But it is not a well-rounded program now. It would be fine as an adjunct/alternate program, but not as a replacement. And no girl should be forced into participating in a program she did not join in the first place. As new girls join troops that are already doing S2B, that's great -- have fun! But don't force girls who joined Girl Scouts to participate in "GS Lite" if they don't want to.

 

I must say that I resent your implication that my interest in the composition of the focus groups is somehow based in racist thinking. I am sure that I did not intend to make you fall out of your chair with my recounting of facts -- and I am equally sure you intended to imply racism, prejudice and ignorance of the Girl Scout Law on my part. But that's okay -- even sisters insult each other every now and then.

 

(This message has been edited by Wishboat)

[ScoutNut]

"Studio 2 B is what the girls want it to be."

 

Actually Studio 2B is what National and your local council say it is.

 

"You dont have to use the S2B books or earn the charms."

 

True, unless of course you want to earn one of the Silver or Gold level awards. Then you are forced to take charms (unless your council shop is one of the few that still have some of the old leadership and career pins and badges left) and use S2B Focus books.

 

True, the girls can still earn the IP's, which are still embroidered badges, the traditional way. For now. National is in the process of re-doing the IP book. Unless enough GIRLS write and/or e-mail National and tell them they want the IP's updated, but NOT changed, National will change the IP's to match the rest of the S2B, "do only what you want" Focus book style of awards. Unless enough GIRLS write and/or e-mail National and tell them they want the IP's to stay badges, National will change the IP's to S2B style charms.

 

Unless enough GIRLS write and/or e-mail National and tell them they want the CHOICES that they were promised, National will take away the choices and give them only Studio 2B.

 

Even if girls write there is no assurance that National will listen. However it seems, from the backpedaling and minor changes, that they are listening a little. So, in order to have any chance at all of being heard, girls NEED to let National know how they feel.

 

.

 

[AlphaCentauri]

The problem is that the girls targeted by the change are still Juniors. They haven't seen the old or the new materials, and can't really envision what they will want in the program when they are a couple years older anyway. At this age, they want to redo whatever they did before that was fun -- and have to be dragged to new activities because they really are not any good at judging whether they will like an activity until they (are forced to) try it once.

[Strawberry Switchblade]

National is out of it's tree. It makes little sense to ask non-girl scouts about programs IN girl scouts when they are not interested in joining in the first place. Juniors are the group where the actual interest in girl scouting begins. Giving them charms for activities is misleading if you ask me. Once you hit the Cadette and Senior rank, your charms won't amount to much. It's the badges that are going to matter. Not to mention the booklets, charms, and bracelets start to add up financially after a while.

 

~SS

[AlphaCentauri]

And if they are trying to appeal to girls from low income families, why would they do something to astronomically increase the cost of the program?

[grafxxdiva]

I have a dog named Socut. We call him Scout the wonder dog. He looks like Wishbone.........and that got me thinking about Wish Boat.

 

I reacted inappropriately to something I read in her post that I did not agree with. I should have used the 24 hour rule before I replied. I came to the site looking for positive feedback and ideas and was overwhelmed by what I came across. So my apologizes. I will continue to "Google" my way around the Internet to find some positive things about Studio 2B. I unfortunately have not found that here. Good Luck finding silver and gold.