Public Perception of the BSA

[Stosh]

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[NJCubScouter]

Is that first paragraph a quote from someone? I couldn't even find it at that link. And "Snow Day # 1" seems to be some anonymous person on the Internet, and he isn't really saying anything about the Boy Scouts. As for YOUR comments, exactly what changes are you talking about? Red shoulder loops replaced by green? The EDGE method? Or what?

[Stosh]

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[NJCubScouter]

I'll ask you for a second time, Stosh: What changes are you referring to, that you think have changed public perceptions of the Boy Scouts?

[NJCubScouter]

The next younger generation is maybe questioning it's values' date=' and as we all know the current generation, the generation that it is supposed to be serving, think it's dorky. Probably is one of the contributing factor in it's membership decline.[/quote'] But if that's correct, the membership is declining, at least in part, because the younger generation (or part of it) perceives that Scouting is NOT changing. So, which is it?

[skeptic]

My observations when in public with scouts in uniform is that they are still perceived positively and engender fond memories in many adults, even ones in their 20's and 30's. We do get an occasional negative confrontation, usually related to the PC nonsense. But, the understanding of the program itself is not nearly so clear to many because the media no longer chooses to have much on Scouting unless it is political or negative. At least a couple of times I have had young people mention they had seen an Eagle project in a public place and was impressed; and when we are out helping on Memorial Day and such, people go out of their way to say thank you.

 

Personally, I think the mostly unheard public is a lot more supportive of Scouting and general morally directed groups than many might realize; but they no longer feel comfortable letting it be known because of the very outspoken and often rude opinions that a few have.

[Stosh]

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[NJCubScouter]

Originally I thought this thread was skating near the edge of Issues and Politics territory, but I wanted to take a wait and see attitude. I waited, and I saw skeptic's post, with it's references to a change that some people believe is necessary as "PC nonsense." So here it is now in Issues and Politics for the debating pleasure of all of you. Stosh, I will have to let others try to figure out what point you are trying to make, because I sure can't.

[SeattlePioneer]

These days Scouting is about the diversity that liberals like to talk about but hate if it doesn't agree with their own ideas and values.

[LeCastor]

Seattle, I would argue that Scouting is about, and has always been about, the values of the Scout Oath and Law. Not sure which values you are attributing to liberals here. There are plenty of liberals and conservatives alike who don't adhere to the Oath and Law. We obviously don't know which changes Stosh was referring to in detail, but I think it's safe to say he's referring to the G2SS, the unifrom, the dreaded "gay" question, the decline of the patrol system/method, etc, etc, etc. I agree with Stosh that it's sad ppl don't know that our motto is still "Be Prepared". But I can't say for sure that any of the things I mentioned above would even be known to an outsider. In my opinion, ppl still see Scouts as upstanding young men and women who live by the values of the Scout Oath and Law. I really don't think it's fair to single out the liberals OR the conservatives for changes that have been made since 1910. Let's just concentrate on giving young men and women a positive experience in the outdoors--even if that means bringing STEM out there with us!

[st0ut717]

Peel said lecastor

[packsaddle]

LeCastor, I'm not sure what to think about this fractured thread but it still has a title and I think the topic of that title is a good one. So to all readers I ask, what do you think the public perception is of BSA and why do you think that?

[MattR]

I just did an Eagle SMC and the scout told me a story: He was hiking with his college friends a month ago (yes, he's in college and not yet 18) one of them has anemia and passed out. All the other friends started panicking and the scout said, hold on, let's lay him down, get his feet over his head, treat him for shock, and keep him warm. The other boy woke up about 15 seconds later, sipped water, and did fine. All the other friends asked where the scout had learned these things and he told them. They were amazed. The point being that people that actually know boy scouts tend to have a good perception and people that don't know any have a random perception.

[LeCastor]

Hey, Pack! Yeah, it's hard to see what Stosh said earlier in the thread since he and NJCubScouter kind of went at it.

 

At any rate, here's my opinion of what public perception of the BSA is today:

 

Boy Scouts are "do-gooders" who don't game the system and are there to help when needed. (In the movies, especially Tom Clancy thrillers, the crafty government officials refer to Jack Ryan as a "Boy Scout" because he does the right thing and won't cheat just to get his way.)

 

Also, people tend to appreciate when they hear someone is an Eagle Scout because that means they must have a certain level of knowledge in the areas of outdoorsmanship and first aid.

 

Locally, and I don't mean to knock anyone off their rocker, the BSA is seen as a tad backward in that we still don't allow openly homosexual adults to be volunteers. (Now let's not get in a tizzy here. I said this is a local perception.)

 

Basically, I think we are seen as "dorky" campers who are trustworthy and aren't afraid to help an old lady across the street. (BTW, Stosh initially said that BSA is seen as "dorky", hence the quotation marks.)

[CalicoPenn]

I don't believe there is any one perception of the Boy Scouts - it all depends on who and where you are in your life.

 

When I was a Scout in the 1970's, a lot of kids thought of Scouts as being "Dorky". Talking to my uncle, he said that in the 50's and 60's, a lot of kids thought of Scouts as being "Dorky". Throughout the 80's, 90's, 00's and up to now, there were/are a lot of kids who think of Scouts as being "Dorky". Maybe we should be celebrating that some things haven't changed.

 

During WW2, the Scouts were seen as being an important part of the war effort at home with scrap collection drives, etc. During the Vietnam War, many people perceived of the Boy Scouts as being a quasi-military training ground (which ironically, is one of the reasons Baden-Powell created the Boy Scouts - to start teaching some basic skills needed to succeed in the military). It probably didn;t help that being an Eagle Scout often meant jumping to the head of the promotion line right out of boot camp.

 

In the 50's and 60's, there was a perception that the Boy Scouts was mostly rural or suburban (Follow Me Boys is decidedly small, Kansas-like rural town in flavor).

 

In the 60's and 70's, there was also a huge migration from rural to urban (all those advancements in farm technology led to fewer people needed to operate farms). In my opinion it was the perception that the Scouts were quasi-military and rural-suburban that led to the 1970's revamping of the program to take in more of an urban population.

 

In the 1980's, the perception seemed to be rock-solid middle class white-bread suburbia.

 

Up to this point, the BSA had been witness to a lot of social change but was always on the periphery - in the 1990's, that changed - hello James Dale. The BSA let itself get caught up in a debate it should have ignored and the perception created by the Dale case was that the BSA was a religious organization and mostly aligned with Christianity - except at the local unit level which was trying its best to ignore the controversies. Unfortunately, given every opportunity to go with the flow of the river rather than being one of the rocks in the rapids being pounded by the river of public opinion, it chose the route of the rock. Social norms had changed to the point where same-sex couples raising children was common and it was inevitable that there would be same sex couples wanting their child to be a Cub Scout - refusing to register one of those parents as a leader was sure to open up a big can of worms - and it did - the perception of the BSA became one of an increasingly out-of-touch, discriminatory religious organization being defended by right-wing evangelicals and a religious organization still seen with a lot of suspicion since the killing of Joseph Smith in Illinois with it's own "Catholic Church" problem. The "compromise" solution has made things worse, not better - now, no one is happy.

 

 

I think there will always be people who think the BSA is "dorky". I think there will always be people who think the BSA is a junior military. I think there will always be people who think the BSA is discriminatory and exclusionary. I think there will always be people who think the BSA sells out too quickly to the "politically correct" or to the "religious right" I think there will always be people who think the BSA is changing too fast or not changing fast enough. Given a US population of about 300 million and a BSA membership of adults and youth at about 1.5 million, I suspect the majority of people just don't give any thought to the BSA at all.