Do you like the Boy Scouts of America?

[ThomasJefferson]

BSA has changed policies, programs, uniforms, handbooks, requirements, badges, and many other things over the last 102 years. My question is simple: Do you approve or disapprove of BSA? My goal is to attempt an approval rating here on scouter.com of BSA.

 

BSA is defined as the national corporation known as Boy Scouts of America which currently has a monopoly on use of the term Boy Scouts in the United States.

[Basementdweller]

And your point is....

[st0ut717]

I voted for I love the BSA. if i didnt think it was a good program would I allow my child to participate? he has found a niche where he is succeeding and want to apply himself. Now if i could only get him to study math as much as his first class requirements.

[Khaliela]

Do I like national? NO

Do I like my council? Nope

Do I like my Unit? Yep.

 

You can run a good program for the boys; you can make it better by ignoring council and striving to achieve what Baden Powell had intended.

[st0ut717]

the question is who voted hate ?

[eaglewolfdad]

the question is who voted hate ?

Best answered by the creator of the poll. I find it interesting that he starts off with the hate line.

I'm with BD on this, not worth my time to select an option

[BadenP]

How could anyone hate the Boy Scout programs??? You can be upset with all the political BS you have to put up with from National and Council so you give those two as little attention/participation as possible. But the youth programs themselves are second to none. This poll is poorly conceived and irrelevant. Run a fun and challenging program for your youth and ignore what National does. You design the quality, content, and challenges of your units program with over 100 years of past experiences and activities to support you. Think outside the box for a change, build it and they will come. Our crew is over 80 youth and 25 adult leaders and still growing.

[packsaddle]

Why are you guys responding to this? Ignore it. Let it whimper into oblivion.

[qwazse]

I think most of us write here because we do like the BSA -- even if some of us had to deal with a dose of rejection. Some ways National has helped me: Jamborees - 'nuff said. Seabase - I wouldn't have a crew without it. Venturing - made scouting work for my entire family. Advancement - put my council in line when it questioning crew positions of responsibility for Eagle. So, I may be a bit of a scofflaw, but not hardly an anarchist.

[acco40]

I could create a poll that asks "Do you like ice cream?" and then in the fine print define ice cream as as frozen water topped with cool whip - and I'd still bet I'd get a ton more "likes" than "hates." Folks are going to define what the BSA represents themselves and for a poll that resides in this forum where the vast majority are BSA members, well the poll outcome should be obvious.

[NJCubScouter]

My vote is against polls like this.

 

I didn't vote.

 

But it does raise a point, when we talk about "the BSA" like this, I have to ask, "which one?" Several years ago I read an article that made the point that there are really two BSA's. There are the units, where Scouting actually gets done, and there is the actual corporation BSA, which can be as much of a hindrance as a help, and gets involved with issues it shouldn't get involved in. Or to put it another way, I make the distinction between Scouting as a whole, which I think is great, and the people who are, currently, temporarily, in charge of making decisions at the National level, many of which, in my opinion, are not so great.

[DeanRx]

I'd echo a lot of what others have stated... If I'd have to vote, it would be "I like BSA". Do I love national? Nope, but without them there is no program to carry out at the unit level. I think they could do a MUCH better job at marketing and do even get me started on both my personal beliefs with regards to membership policy and more so the PR nightmare Irving has created for the brand. However, even this seems to be moving in a more inclusive, it at least DADT direction.

 

Do I like my council / district? Depends. Council can be a pain in the butt to deal with. They are second only to the US Army at fouling up paperwork / record keeping. They do run a decent (although many would argue underfunded) council-wide camp with many ammenities to include some very good ranges. The district? eh? The last district camporee was an organizational debacle that included tapping non-MBC registered SMs and ASMs to teach some of the classes because district failed to line up instructors (or the lined up instructors flaked on the camporee staff and failed to show). Never got a straight answer to that question, so I'm betting they never had instructors lined up in the 1st place. Other than that - we see the DE about once a year when he comes around to beg for his salary (FOS presentation). Thankfully, the rest of the time we are left alone to run our unit as the boys see fit.

 

Do I like my unit? Heck I LOVE my unit. I also LOVE the program, I think there is great value in what scouting tries to achieve. Their teaching methods are solid and can be used throughout life. The EDGE method is good for teachers, business, military, etc... its a tested and proven learning tool. The program and EDGE / etc... all come from national, so they can't be all bad - hence the "like" vote. The unit is where scouting happens and really is the only thing that matters. The program is developed / revised via national, but honestly - they could cease to exist and outside of new publications, national high adventures bases, and corporate umbrella which to sit - it wouldn't really have much impact on what we do at the local / unit level. The program has been honed over 100 years now. It can stand on its own. Other than minor cosmetic changes and policy changes made by the opinion papers of the lawyers for BSA national, there really is no need to change the program.

 

I have a BSA handbook of my father's circa 1955. I have mine for the mid-80's. My son has the new BSA handbook. Aside from some updated photos, some minor stuff about the internet, and small changes because of legal concerns, the requirements for each rank are virtually the same as they were 50 years ago (and I'm willing to be pretty close to those 100 years ago). BSA is not national, its the local program. Most everyone on this forum LOVES their local program.

[gsdad]

I have a slight disdain for "professional" Scouters, and Council lackies.

 

[Eagledad]

I'm a little embarrassed to admit I'm entertianed by the hand wringing in this thread. In all my 30 or more years of scouting, the only memories that turn my stomach come from some of the post in this forum. Sadly this seems to be a place where malcontents come to feel good about themselves.

[DWise1]

I'd echo a lot of what others have stated... If I'd have to vote, it would be "I like BSA". Do I love national? Nope, but without them there is no program to carry out at the unit level. I think they could do a MUCH better job at marketing and do even get me started on both my personal beliefs with regards to membership policy and more so the PR nightmare Irving has created for the brand. However, even this seems to be moving in a more inclusive, it at least DADT direction.

 

Do I like my council / district? Depends. Council can be a pain in the butt to deal with. They are second only to the US Army at fouling up paperwork / record keeping. They do run a decent (although many would argue underfunded) council-wide camp with many ammenities to include some very good ranges. The district? eh? The last district camporee was an organizational debacle that included tapping non-MBC registered SMs and ASMs to teach some of the classes because district failed to line up instructors (or the lined up instructors flaked on the camporee staff and failed to show). Never got a straight answer to that question, so I'm betting they never had instructors lined up in the 1st place. Other than that - we see the DE about once a year when he comes around to beg for his salary (FOS presentation). Thankfully, the rest of the time we are left alone to run our unit as the boys see fit.

 

Do I like my unit? Heck I LOVE my unit. I also LOVE the program, I think there is great value in what scouting tries to achieve. Their teaching methods are solid and can be used throughout life. The EDGE method is good for teachers, business, military, etc... its a tested and proven learning tool. The program and EDGE / etc... all come from national, so they can't be all bad - hence the "like" vote. The unit is where scouting happens and really is the only thing that matters. The program is developed / revised via national, but honestly - they could cease to exist and outside of new publications, national high adventures bases, and corporate umbrella which to sit - it wouldn't really have much impact on what we do at the local / unit level. The program has been honed over 100 years now. It can stand on its own. Other than minor cosmetic changes and policy changes made by the opinion papers of the lawyers for BSA national, there really is no need to change the program.

 

I have a BSA handbook of my father's circa 1955. I have mine for the mid-80's. My son has the new BSA handbook. Aside from some updated photos, some minor stuff about the internet, and small changes because of legal concerns, the requirements for each rank are virtually the same as they were 50 years ago (and I'm willing to be pretty close to those 100 years ago). BSA is not national, its the local program. Most everyone on this forum LOVES their local program.

When I was active in the 1990's, the Scout Shop was selling a reprint of the first Handbook. See if you can't pick up a copy (maybe the Scout Shop could order it for you) and see for yourself what it said about a century ago.