How Adding Girls Will Work

[Eagle94-A1]

There are troops out there allowing girls to tagalong. Ms. Ireland is the most widely known. There have been others in the past.

[HelpfulTracks]

posted to wrong thread

Edited January 15, 2018 by HelpfulTracks

[HelpfulTracks]

1 hour ago, Eagle94-A1 said:

 

Well enough folks ignored BSA policy about girls that they are now being accepted into the movement. Ms. Ireland is just the most well know at the moment. What else would be new?

 

23 minutes ago, Eagle94-A1 said:

There are troops out there allowing girls to tagalong. Ms. Ireland is the most widely known. There have been others in the past.

No doubt there have been and still are. I am disagreeing with you that the driving force behind the policy change is units ignoring BSA policy. As I said, I have heard the drum beat for policy change for several years from unit leaders that did follow BSA policy. They have made long and consistent arguments and won converts, like myself, over to their way of thinking. Had those people simply gone about breaking the rules to force a change and would almost certainly still be on the side that wished to keep girls out.

[Frostbyte]

Like many things, there will be rough edges at first on the implementation of this. But, I am super happy to see this direction. The rollout of this may not be optimal, with committing to the idea and then scrambling to make it work. But the fact that we are not debating whether it will happen, but "how" to make it happen is a positive thing IMHO. Look, much of the rest of the scouting world has figured out how to make it work. I believe we here in the US will be able to do that as well. 

To Helpful's point, if you have enough girls interested in starting a unit, you should be able to get the corresponding leaders. I do think the silliness of having to have two separate troops will dissipate pretty quickly though, as it is not efficient in time, money, and other resources. 

[Stosh]

We had a tag-a-long last summer at summer camp.  The boys unanimously agreed that if it happened again, they would go home on Monday.  I couldn't make it to summer camp, but heard nothing else but the problems she caused in the troop.  The boys did not have a good experience from what they relayed to me.  I don't see this as a good sign for my troop.

[TAHAWK]

1 hour ago, Frostbyte said:

Like many things, there will be rough edges at first on the implementation of this. But, I am super happy to see this direction. The rollout of this may not be optimal, with committing to the idea and then scrambling to make it work. But the fact that we are not debating whether it will happen, but "how" to make it happen is a positive thing IMHO. Look, much of the rest of the scouting world has figured out how to make it work. I believe we here in the US will be able to do that as well. 

To Helpful's point, if you have enough girls interested in starting a unit, you should be able to get the corresponding leaders. I do think the silliness of having to have two separate troops will dissipate pretty quickly though, as it is not efficient in time, money, and other resources. 

In the rest of the World, Scouting is run by volunteers (very few employees).

We have plenty of boys who ant to start a unit and are unable to get the corresponding leaders, male or female.

I have little confidence in the ability of the employees at National to do it well.  Hard to find Stirling performers.  Just a few, bless them.

[HelpfulTracks]

9 hours ago, Frostbyte said:

To Helpful's point, if you have enough girls interested in starting a unit, you should be able to get the corresponding leaders. I do think the silliness of having to have two separate troops will dissipate pretty quickly though, as it is not efficient in time, money, and other resources. 

I sincerely hope not. I have watched both genders (particularly boys) change how they act around each other. I have even seen differences when adult females are on campouts.

I firmly believe that giving both genders space from each other is the best way for them to grow and learn.

As my son astutely points out, virtually every other activity they have is coed. Other than sports, Scouts is the one place it is just the guys. He has no problem interacting with the girls, he does so with Crew and multiple other organizations. He also says it is nice to have the option to do something organized that is just with the guys. He points out that very few of his Scout friends are in sports, so for them Scouting is the last place where they can hang with the guys.

I hope units do not decide to deprive the boys and girls that opportunity because it is more convenient for the adults.

[ItsBrian]

I guess it depends on the troop / area.

Our CO had a GS Troop that turned into a venturing (they all start college next year), and currently now only a BS troop. 

But, we were always family. We didn’t change the way we acted, we bonded perfectly. Might I mention, the venturing crew was only 6-8 girls. We have shared a campsite with them at West Point many times, and side-by-side cabins on other trips. We had a fantastic time and are upset they are going off to college.

But, that might just be one of the few troops relationships with a venturing crew.

I never met any of those girls beside 1 that I knew for over 10 years.

[ItsBrian]

20 minutes ago, HelpfulTracks said:

I hope units do not decide to deprive the boys and girls that opportunity because it is more convenient for the adults.

They might have no choice. If there is already a BS troop with 8 scouts lets say, and 3 leaders. What if no other volunteers actually volunteer? There is no choice for the girls then. They will either not be able to form a troop, or they can just make one on paper and be with the BS troop.

[RememberSchiff]

Seeing some local news coverage today of the first day Jan 15 of the Early Adopter program .

[HelpfulTracks]

1 hour ago, ItsBrian said:

They might have no choice. If there is already a BS troop with 8 scouts lets say, and 3 leaders. What if no other volunteers actually volunteer? There is no choice for the girls then. They will either not be able to form a troop, or they can just make one on paper and be with the BS troop.

They absolutely have a choice.

If you do not have the requisite number of girls or leaders, you do not start a unit. That is true for both boys and girls, and a crew.

If people are telling you they do not have a choice it because they do not understand or they are making excuses.

[an_old_DC]

@HelpfulTracks you are spot on. 

[Eagle94-A1]

1 hour ago, HelpfulTracks said:

They absolutely have a choice.

If you do not have the requisite number of girls or leaders, you do not start a unit. That is true for both boys and girls, and a crew.

If people are telling you they do not have a choice it because they do not understand or they are making excuses.

While I agree with you 100%, I'm playing playing Devil's Advocate.

 

1) Units have been doing it unofficially for years, and finally BSA agrees to it, why should my daughter suffer because we can't get enough new volunteers/girls/ whatever the reason is?

 

2) The CSE stated in their 20 questions video that "as long as they work out of their own book, it'll be OK." So if Coed dens, as long as they work out of their own book is OK, why not on the troop level?

 

3) The CO has no problem with coed, why should the BSA, espeically after the CSE's comments?