OFFICIAL NEWS RELEASE: Girls as Youth Members, All Programs

[Tampa Turtle]

The BSA twitter feed seemed to be running pretty negative but hard to know what folks really think. It seems people with cubs are ok with it, families already in scouting with daughters are happy. An awful lot of Eagle scouts and eagle scout parents seem pretty upset...just not what they signed up for. Unfortunately that is the group that a lot of local leaders, FOS, and future scout parents come from. I suspect that. in the best of membership turn-around, there will be short term drop off before any larger influx from Cubbing come in.

[numbersnerd]

 I suspect that. in the best of membership turn-around, there will be short term drop off before any larger influx from Cubbing come in.

 

I get where you're coming from, but it has to be said...

 

Because that's how it turned out with past membership revisions?    

[Scoutmaster Teddy]

Any direction, requirement, method announced today, i.e., no coed troop, is likely to be washed away by the time it happens.

 

Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.

 

Scoutmaster Teddy

[jwest09]

I do not thinking you are being respectful to those who have put a lot of time into the program and do not agree with the change. LatinScout seems like he was a heavily involved scouter at the local level.

 

How would you characterize my position as disrespectful?  I'm sure Latin Scout and lots of folks don't agree with the change, but have contributed heavily to the program in the past.  And most continue to do so.  Heck, about half of my Scouting friends and peers could be described this way.  Its certainly not a lack of respect for contribution to the program.

 

I am taking issue with the argument that "the program is dead!"  The glib "Ha!" and dismissal of those of us who commit to continue to deliver the highest quality program we can.  I find that attitude to be a self-fulfilling prophesy.  If you've already written off the program as a failure, then, by your own definition, none of us can ever make it successful.  I don't agree, I think that's wrong.  And I don't know what response you'd want from me, other than a commitment to continue to deliver the Scouting program to the best of my ability.

 

Is that not respectful?

[njeagle92]

I'm an Eagle scout and Scoutmaster.  I would welcome girls to my troop tomorrow.  Why?  Because they want to be active.  They choose to conduct themselves according to the scout Oath and Law.  

 

Two deep leadership?  Yes, that will most certainly be an issue, but I already have active moms on my Troop Committee.  I just don't see how an all girls' unit makes it off the launch pad without significant support of the local BSA troop.  Let's do this right the first time.  Let's figure out how to integrate and not segregate.

 

This weekend my troop will camp and tour West Point, USMA.  My boys will see a unity among cadets male and female, and a mutual respect regardless of gender.

 

Why can't BSA offer the same?

[Gwaihir]

I'm an Eagle scout and Scoutmaster.  I would welcome girls to my troop tomorrow.  Why?  Because they want to be active.  They choose to conduct themselves according to the scout Oath and Law.  

 

Two deep leadership?  Yes, that will most certainly be an issue, but I already have active moms on my Troop Committee.  I just don't see how an all girls' unit makes it off the launch pad without significant support of the local BSA troop.  Let's do this right the first time.  Let's figure out how to integrate and not segregate.

 

This weekend my troop will camp and tour West Point, USMA.  My boys will see a unity among cadets male and female, and a mutual respect regardless of gender.

 

Why can't BSA offer the same?

 

If you can't see the difference between a fully developed emotional mind of an adult US Army Cadet, and the still in progress developing minds and bodies of boys and girls... I don't know what to tell you. 

[David CO]

Yes, Boy Scouting is dead.

 

I'm not saying that the business of BSA will go under. I'm sure that BSA will continue to operate in some shape, manner, or form. But the Boy Scouts as I knew it is dead.

 

I went through the same heartbreak a few years back with the YMCA when it stopped being Young, Men, or Christian. 

 

This announcement has hit me hard. I feel like a real chump for having ever supported them.

Edited October 11, 2017 by David CO

[jwest09]

If you can't see the difference between a fully developed emotional mind of an adult US Army Cadet, and the still in progress developing minds and bodies of boys and girls... I don't know what to tell you. 

 

My high school debate coach would call this a straw man argument.

[John-in-KC]

Friendly reminder:

 

Scouters are

Friendly

Courteous

Kind.

[Back Pack]

Two deep leadership?  Yes, that will most certainly be an issue, but I already have active moms on my Troop Committee.  I just don't see how an all girls' unit makes it off the launch pad without significant support of the local BSA troop.  Let's do this right the first time.  Let's figure out how to integrate and not segregate.

 

Not sure you can just get any mom to fill the two deep role. In my Venture Crew you need a trained female leader complete with Venturing YPT and leader training. Many troops won’t have such moms.

[ParkMan]

I think it's an exciting day.  Like it or not, this is a historic moment in the program.  We all have a front seat role for this.

[David CO]

I think it's an exciting day.  Like it or not, this is a historic moment in the program.  We all have a front seat role for this.

 

Yes, it's like having a deck seat on the Titanic.

[Gwaihir]

My high school debate coach would call this a straw man argument.

 

Your high school debate coach would be wrong.  The straw man argument was using the Army Cadets as a defense in the first place. 

[RememberSchiff]

Okay debate points made.

 

Where is the transition plan and its goals or will National pay an outside consultant firm to produce one in the next 3 months (God help us)?

[jwest09]

Okay debate points made.

 

Where is the transition plan and its goals or will National pay an outside consultant firm to produce one in the next 3 months (God help us)?

 

You know, you're shutting down a conversation among Scouters with differing views, and replacing it with a question which no one here has the answer to.

 

Is there something wrong with exploring why military academies (historically male-only institutions that have fairly recently gone co-ed) do or do not offer pertinent insight as to how the BSA may approach the same kind of problem?