What are the Girl Scout Ranks equal to those in Boy Scouts

[NJCubScouter]

I think most people would consider Eagle and the GS Gold Award are "corresponding" awards (I am intentionally not saying "equal" or "equivalent" though you will see the latter term on some sites on the Internet). This is based on factors that include the following:

Each is the "highest" youth award in its program;

Each requires a considerable effort;

Each has a "leadership" requirement;

Each requires a service project.

 

There may be other similarities. There are also differences that have been pointed out here, the most significant one (at least for purposes of the original post) being that a youth earning one award will not necessarily have learned all the same skills as a youth earning the other. The programs are different, which I personally think is a good thing for the high-school-age girls because it gives them a choice between the GS program, the Venturing program or both.

[NJCubScouter]

Since I can't edit my posts, let me say, please ignore the last sentence of my last post. It may tend to confuse the issue of one award vs. the other (though standing by itself, I think it is true.)

[sctmom]

Girl Scout "ranks" are not like Cub Scout ranks. Cub Scouts still earn their rank each year. Girl Scouts are called Daisy, Brownie, Junior, Cadette, and Senior. It is not a rank but a level. Like Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts are two levels of the same program.

 

[ASM7]

I just had a Girl Scout leader ask if our scouts could help teach knots at a camporee they are having. I thought it was a great idea and would give my boys another chance at teaching. This is not the first interaction between the groups. Our troop has a dining-in around Christmas where the boys learn etiquette and the girls help serve the meal. Both groups seem to enjoy this. It's only fair that we return the favor.

On the point of girl scout ranks and their equality to BSA ranks. The girls don't have ranks but progress along at age levels. The difference in Gold Award and Eagle is the Gold Award can be earned by a girl in the 12th grade without any prior scouting experience. The Eagle can only be earned if the previous ranks have been earned. This includes all the service, leadership tenure, and requirements for Tenderfoot, Second Class, First Class, Star, Life, and Eagle. Hope this helps

[Senior_Patrol_Leader_T15]

So then basically a Girl Scout can join and be a Senior Girl Scout and earn the Gold Award, highest award in Girl Scouting....

 

Then I think really isn't fair....but I have no purpose in persuasion

 

Ok so every bare with me.....

 

 

 

Daisey=nothing

Brownie=Cub Scout(maybe Tiger-Bear)

 

Junior=Cub Scouts-Boy Scout(Webelos-Boy Scout)

 

Cadette=Boy Sout

 

Senior- Boy Scout-Venturing

 

Now this is just around what age each level it is compared to Boy Scout

 

Thanks

[sctmom]

Yes, that is the right age comparison. And that's about all you can compare.

 

I'm not sure what you think is "not fair". Perhaps that is a discussion for a different thread. If you are refering to earning the Gold vs. earning Eagle, I think you are misunderstanding a few things. The Gold award is very hard to achieve and requires a set number of hours and many other achievements (like boys earn merit badges). The difference is you can't have a 13 year old Girl Scout with her Gold. Just not allowed. That age earns her Silver (still a major project).

 

You must remember Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts have different Goals --- because boys and girls have different needs.

 

[ScoutNut]

Actually you could recruit from the Cadette level also for your Crew. Cadettes can be as old as 14 years or in 9th grade. Many girls stay a Cadette in 9th grade so that they can finish up their Silver Award (2nd highest award, also very difficult with many pre-reqs, much service, much leadership, and a 30 hour project).

 

Please don't judge the Girl Scout program based on your knowledge of the Boy Scout program only. They are 2 entirely different programs. And I would caution you against sharing your comparisions with your prospective GS recruits. You might get more than you bargained for, but not the recruits!

[OutdoorThinker]

Senior_Patrol_Leader_T15:

 

I dont understand why you find it unfair for a girl to be in Venturing Crew and continue the work on her Gold Award, when a boy can be in a Venturing Crew and continue to work on his Eagle.

 

I also wouldnt recommend only recruiting Gold Award recipiants, because most girls dont recieve their Gold unti their senior year in high school.

 

Everything else looks good with the age comparision, but your best bet to learn more about the Girl Scouts is to ask questions of the girls in your crew rather than assume stuff, because that could get you in some big trouble.

 

 

 

[OldGreyEagle]

I dont know what the rush is to figure how much the girls know beforehand. Have meetings, discuss your plans and see where every one is with skills. I know more thana few Eagle Scouts who are a little shaky with compass, and are all thumbs on back packing stoves though cooking on fires they are fine. All the Ranger electives have a teaching component, look upon bringing all crew memebes up to speed as part of the process of comming together. Males and Females.

[NeilLup]

Every time that I read the last line of Sctmom's post, I want to comment. I just can't hold off any longer.

 

I'm not sure that today's boys and girls have needs that are that different.

 

It is clear that BSA and GSUSA have different agendas. I believe that the adult leaders of BSA and GSUSA have different needs. And I believe that the national, council and unit leaders of BSA and GSUSA perceive that boys and girls have different needs.

[sctmom]

There are still lots of girls in the United States that are told they can't have traditional male jobs. Studies have been done that show girls are still steered away from math and science in high school. Society teaches boys to be the leaders and girls to be the followers. Yes, there are some areas where this is not true. But you might be surprised (as I have been) at how many people still live in the 1940's mindset when it comes to education of females.

 

[NeilLup]

I completely agree with you, Sctmom. That's why I have a problem with stating that the BSA and GSUSA programs are designed to meet the respective needs of boys and girls.

 

The GSUSA program has been described to me by most of the women I know who are familiar with it (including my wife and daughter) as "knitting doilies" and doing girly-girl type stuff while the BSA program is independence, leadership, camping, high adventure, etc. (Again, these words come from my wife and daughter) A relative of mine has just failed to complete her Gold Award because of the project. She was essentially required to do a project involving sewing and making clothing for people in eastern Europe. She received no help but plenty of criticism from her local GSUSA council. This young woman has just started her freshman year at MIT and is planning to major in Chemical Engineering while doing crew, so she is no wimp.

 

I guess I am a bit confused by the conclusion of your post. If you are stating that young women are not taken as seriously and still need help to be taken seriously and as equals? I agree. That's why I have a problem with the stating that the "girly-girl" program of GSUSA meets the unique needs of girls. If you are stating that the program should be challenging and demanding but separate so that the girls don't feel societal pressure relative to boys, then I am comfortable with that although I don't necessarily agree with completely separate organizations. It was for similar reasons that our daughter went to an all girls middle and high school. But that relates to organizational structure, not to program.

 

And not that there's anything wrong with "girly-girl" if that's what the particular young woman desires. But I would suggest that it should not be the only or even necessarily the preferred alternative.

 

Young women today have, in my opinion, a much tougher time charting their live's course than do young men. (Mommy track vs career track) They have many more options many of which are limiting in terms of other options and alternatives. I have heard of some young women's dilemma described as "paralysis by options." But the GSUSA program, as it has been described to me, does not aid the young women in coping with all these choices. Rather, it tracks the young women into the option patterns deemed suitable by the leaders of GSUSA (not that BSA is at all innocent of this type of tracking.)

 

I understand that the GSUSA program can be challenging and demanding if the leaders so structure it. But that seems to be the exception based on what I have heard and the training and senior leadership of GSUSA seems to teach away from this. In contrast, the training and senior leadership of BSA seems to teach toward youth leadership, independence, camping, adventure, etc.

 

Please don't shoot the messenger if you disagree with me. I understand that my comments are anecdotal but reasonably wide-spread anecdotal. So single instance anecdotal information to the contrary will, I fear, not help me to view GSUSA in a different light.

[Campaholic]

Well, please don't take this as shooting the messanger, because that is not my intention at all. It may be true in your wife and daughters troop that they do tend to do "girly-girl" things. However, each Girl Scout troop is completely different. The troop I was in as a senior was one of the most diverse troops I've seen around. We really did learn to knit...not because we were in to "girly-girl" things, but because we thought it would be neat. How many Boy Scouts do you know who think it's cool to knit a scarf? But we also did more high adventure things, such as weekend camping trips, staying in tents, cooking our own food, canoeing,kayaking,challenge courses, and rock climbing. It all depends on the interest of the girls.

As for one not thinking it is fair for someone to join Girl Scouting when they are senior to earn the Gold Award. I have never heard of this happening. Could they theoretically? Of course. But it seems that is a huge decline in Girl Scouting when they hit Cadette and Senior age level, so for one just to join to get them an award seems silly. There are also a lot of requirements to earning the Gold Award, so it is very hard to earn in such a short amount of time. One of the requirements is the Career Exploration Pin, which I wanted to touch on to rebut the comment on what they are trying to teach about the work place. If anything, I feel that Girl Scouts are pushed to pursue careers other than being in the home, not that I don't think being a stay at home mother (or father, for that matter) isn't a hard job.

[yarrow]

BOTH a boy and a girl can join their respective groups and within about 2+ years earn the highest awards if they are interested and motivated. They both have to crank on it though. Although 16-18 year olds are generally more capable than 10-15 year olds.

 

I have a boy scout (14) and currently Life with all but the project done by 12 1/2. He is maturing and adding leadership and skill experience. He has JUST found a project that has some appeal......we'll see if he pursues it.

 

I have 2 Gold Award Seniors. One completed at 17+ and the other about 15+. Can't even start a Gold until you are in high school. You will NEVER see a 13 year old "paper" Gold Award. It is just Not possible due to the organizational structure.

 

Girls generally do more service and leadership. Boys generally do more skills and camping. But all of this depends on the interest of the individual. Some boys do not camp and only a little camping is required by the camping badge. Some girls camp a lot. My Girl Scout troops camp a lot. I like camping, especially tent camping. My girls are fast at knots, yada.

 

It is disappointing to hear negative generalizations about boy or girl scouting. Scouts are still in the minority as far as activities go for kids. Scouts need to support scouts.

[NJCubScouter]

Thank you Campaholic and yarrow for your posts, I think they are excellent.

 

It would be interesting to see a study of what percentages of participants in the respective programs join at what ages. I suspect that the results would be similar between Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts (at least after accounting for the fact that Daisies are a year younger than Tigers.) I also suspect that the highest percentages join as Tigers or Daisies and that second-highest would be in the year after that. I have read on here about recruiting fourth, fifth and sixth grade boys into Scouting, but I just don't see much of that in my area. Maybe not enough of an effort is made, but there are good reasons why it is difficult to get a boy to join at that age -- sports being foremost. I'd venture a guess that between 70-80 percent of my son's troop were Tigers.