We have met the "Council" and they is us!

[scoutldr]

At a recent District committee meeting, we were reminded that when we complain about "Council", we are talking about ourselves. WE are the Council..an organization of Scouts, Scouters, Professionals, and even LFL "participants" within a defined geographic area. If Council is the problem, we are part of it. If there is to be a solution, we all need to be a part of that, too. What I see as problems are:

 

1. Autocratic Scout Executives who hand-pick their Executive Board and neutralize those who disagree with him or don't jump to his whims.

 

2. Weak Executive Boards who are there for the fancy title to add to their resume of community "service" and defer to the wishes of the SE because he is the "expert".

 

3. COs and CORs who are unaware of or refuse to exercise their responsibilities at the Unit, District and Council levels (balance of power...see #1).

 

4. Unit Volunteers who see the professional and District staff as "meddling in MY unit" and "creating BS rules to make life harder".

 

5. National groups who hold the BSA hostage to further their own religious or political agendas to the exclusion of others.

 

6. Parents who think that Scouting is "someone else's job", but are adamant that their son has a "right" to a good Scouting program.

 

As I list these, there is plenty of responsibility to go around. As Eamonn said, the framework is there for a successful program, but only if all the pieces are there and everyone does their part. If one piece is missing, another will grow to fill the void, resulting in an unbalanced, poorly running, inefficient organization.

 

(This message has been edited by scoutldr)

[SeattlePioneer]

Good recitation of problems, Scoutldr. I guess it's a good thing that Scouting only expects us to do our best, rather than holding us responsible for doing the right thing all the time.

 

 

 

Seattle Pioneer

Who fails often enough at doing things as well as he might like