Girls still want to be girl scouts

[ItsBrian]

3 hours ago, RememberSchiff said:

@ItsBrian ,  I have never heard of the BSA interfering with member involvement in any other youth organization. I have known scouts who were also members in 4-H, YMCA youth groups,  rifle teams, school outing clubs, Hugh O'Brian, Civil Air Patrol, ...

Anyone have any evidence to the contrary?

 

Sorry all, I didn’t mean that they were trying to interfere or “steal members” more like trying to gain money.

Apologies to those that voted down.

Mind doesn’t think late at night and early in the morning.

[ItsBrian]

1 hour ago, EmberMike said:

I don't think "A Scout is Loyal" was ever meant to mean that someone had to be exclusively loyal to only one scouting organization. I know there are kids who are BSA members and also BPSA-US members.

What I would find shocking is that after so many years of not having an exclusive membership policy, that the BSA added one on to the books just for Girl Scouts. 

That what I sort of meant as well, how the BSA expects members to be loyal. 

Again, apologies. 

[Tampa Turtle]

4 hours ago, Eagle1993 said:

I’m not sure I understand why the BSA would want this.  To me, many girls may want to do both. How does maintaining their GSUSA membership harm BSA?   The girls joining our Pack would drop GSUSA membership if they had to choose, but I would never ask that of them.  

I know some girls both in Sea Scouts/Venturing and Girl Scouts.

[Tampa Turtle]

The mostly likely event is that GSUSA and BSA membership will, for many reasons discussed over the years ad naseum, continue a slow decline...it is just now that it will blamed on the BS4G initiative by BSA National critics and GSUSA supporters--it may not even matter if it is true of not. 

[cocomax]

15 minutes ago, CalicoPenn said:

Like the BSA, the Girl Scouts are also struggling with declining membership, and has been pretty much at the same time as the BSA.  Between 2015 and 2017, they lost approximately 800,000 youth members.  In the BSA, the current youth membership is approximately 2.3 million, down from 2.6 million in 2013 which means the BSA lost approximately 300,000 members since 0213.  The membership numbers don't seem to back up the idea that the Girl Scouts are doing better than the Boy Scouts. 

I love the Girl Scout program as in the activities that they offer the girls, I love the current Boy Scout program as well. 

But even with a great programs the Girl Scouts and the Boy Scouts both are declining.

I do not think the program is at fault.

I think kids have changed, the focus of a kids life is now a display screen, the scouting program is of no interest to most kids. They would rather just say home with there computer / phone screens. 

The world changes.

The few kids that do join scouting are very special kids  and should be valued for being different.

I see scouts using computers and phone screens more as important tools and not mindless passive entertainment like most kids.

The army is having a very hard time finding recruits that can get through boot camp,  the young men with bodies by XBox are just not cutting it.  

The BSA needs to make plans to continue to function as a much smaller organization. 

[NJCubScouter]

21 minutes ago, cocomax said:

I love the Girl Scout program as in the activities that they offer the girls, I love the current Boy Scout program as well. 

But even with a great programs the Girl Scouts and the Boy Scouts both are declining.

I do not think the program is at fault.

I think kids have changed, the focus of a kids life is now a display screen, the scouting program is of no interest to most kids. They would rather just say home with there computer / phone screens. 

The world changes.

The few kids that do join scouting are very special kids  and should be valued for being different.

I see scouts using computers and phone screens more as important tools and not mindless passive entertainment like most kids.

The army is having a very hard time finding recruits that can get through boot camp,  the young men with bodies by XBox are just not cutting it.  

The BSA needs to make plans to continue to function as a much smaller organization. 

I'm not convinced that the electronic devices are that much to blame.  Somehow it seems that between looking at their screens and playing video games, youth (in general) are involved in more activities than ever.  Sports and athletics (both school and rec/AAU/etc. leagues, and both boys and girls) are bigger than ever.  A very large number of kids are involved in robotics and not just in the technical areas but also in marketing, administration, etc.  The other night at a school board meeting I heard that the local high school's speech and debate team has more than 150 members.  Back in my days on the debating team, a school of similar size would probably have at most, about 25-30 kids involved.  Marching band and other performing groups attract more students than ever.  And on and on.  And I think it is THAT - the availability and popularity of other activities for youth - that is one of the main culprits in the decline in interest in Scouting.

[Pselb]

I have children (2 daughters and 1 son) enrolled in the two programs.  I don't hear any Yeas or Nays about what's going on with the programs from any of them.  As long as they keep asking to go, the Mrs. and I support their interests.  The subject of these programs do not come up in family conversation unless something special is going on that we as parents need to know about.   We as parents are not and have no interest in either programs.  The interests we all share as a family are not related to either scout programs.  As I have already mentioned, as long as the kids keep asking to  go, the Mrs. and I support their interests.

[EmberMike]

23 minutes ago, NJCubScouter said:

I'm not convinced that the electronic devices are that much to blame.  Somehow it seems that between looking at their screens and playing video games, youth (in general) are involved in more activities than ever.  Sports and athletics (both school and rec/AAU/etc. leagues, and both boys and girls) are bigger than ever.  A very large number of kids are involved in robotics and not just in the technical areas but also in marketing, administration, etc.  The other night at a school board meeting I heard that the local high school's speech and debate team has more than 150 members.  Back in my days on the debating team, a school of similar size would probably have at most, about 25-30 kids involved.  Marching band and other performing groups attract more students than ever.  And on and on.  And I think it is THAT - the availability and popularity of other activities for youth - that is one of the main culprits in the decline in interest in Scouting.

Is this all still the result of the college application effect? That need to have a laundry list of activities on your resume so you can get in to the school you want? 

And does it even work? I would like to think college admissions officers are skilled enough at their jobs to recognize when a candidate just signed up for any and every activity possible, but wasn't really very accomplished in most of them. 

Personally I think it's more telling if a kid does one or two things and has a resume of accomplishments within those activities. I hope that maybe colleges recognize that. But until there is a movement in this country to actually say that and to shift away from this ridiculous "do as many sports/clubs/activities as you can fit into a calendar and then add a few more" strategy of molding our kids into quality university applicants, this over-booked academic culture isn't going to change either. 

[Chisos]

1 hour ago, NJCubScouter said:

.  And I think it is THAT - the availability and popularity of other activities for youth - that is one of the main culprits in the decline in interest in Scouting.

And, how many activities that used to be seasonal are now year round--with the demand that if you don't participate year round, you won't play/start/etc.

[Tampa Turtle]

27 minutes ago, EmberMike said:

Is this all still the result of the college application effect? That need to have a laundry list of activities on your resume so you can get in to the school you want? 

And does it even work? I would like to think college admissions officers are skilled enough at their jobs to recognize when a candidate just signed up for any and every activity possible, but wasn't really very accomplished in most of them. 

Personally I think it's more telling if a kid does one or two things and has a resume of accomplishments within those activities. I hope that maybe colleges recognize that. But until there is a movement in this country to actually say that and to shift away from this ridiculous "do as many sports/clubs/activities as you can fit into a calendar and then add a few more" strategy of molding our kids into quality university applicants, this over-booked academic culture isn't going to change either. 

I am going through that process now and know a few admissions folks (oh course NONE at a school my kids want to go through). The extra-circulars has become a curve of rapidly diminishing returns-- too many people "gaming the system". One boy of mine got his special attention because he was such a super-deep nerd in his academic area and could converse with his prospective professors and geek out...that has helped him get a second look. His Eagle and post-scout scoutering helped him look a little well rounded (he likes outdoor stuff a lot) but so do a lot of other folks. It was really his passion and what he spent the most of his free time on --an obscure area of academia that will cost me over and over.

We had one scout get into Merchant Marine Academy and while the scouting helped it was the fact he did a couple years working part time at a local marine shop doing welding and basic repairs that lept him over more academically gifted competitors. BUT he did get his 1st taste of welding and automotive doing the Merit Badges.

[NJCubScouter]

1 hour ago, EmberMike said:

Is this all still the result of the college application effect? That need to have a laundry list of activities on your resume so you can get in to the school you want? 

And does it even work? I would like to think college admissions officers are skilled enough at their jobs to recognize when a candidate just signed up for any and every activity possible, but wasn't really very accomplished in most of them. 

Personally I think it's more telling if a kid does one or two things and has a resume of accomplishments within those activities. I hope that maybe colleges recognize that. But until there is a movement in this country to actually say that and to shift away from this ridiculous "do as many sports/clubs/activities as you can fit into a calendar and then add a few more" strategy  of molding our kids into quality university applicants, this over-booked academic culture isn't going to change either. 

I agree with you and, no, I don't think that is a major factor in these activities being so popular.  At least it was my observation, based on the activities that I saw,  that the kids were participating primarily because they genuinely enjoyed those activities.)  There are probably some kids participating in some activities partly due to scholarship opportunities.  I know that FIRST Robotics promotes its programs as (among other things) a way to qualify for scholarships at many schools.  (I heard that speech many, many times while my son was participating.)  But that's different from just checking a "participation box" for an application.  There also are kids participating in certain activities because they want to (or may want to) go into those fields professionally.  The Robotics team had many kids who were either considering or had already decided to go into engineering or computer science.  Many debaters eventually become lawyers (as I did.)  But this too is different from just checking a box.