New Things...

[WAKWIB]

Spinning this from another thread.

Regarding the "new BSA," I am very happy to report that in my Council many of the volunteer folks that are driving the program into the future have 30-50 years of Scouting experience.

We intentionally mentor and listen to our future leaders who are currently in the 18-30 year-old age demographic.  This is mostly done through cultivating relationships with dozens of people who serve on our summer camp staffs for 6 or so years.

Our goal is to infuse the New Things with as much of the old traditions and practices as possible.  In short, old guys and gals are embracing the changes and are doing our best to influence the outcomes.

Will everything be perfect and meet everyone's expectations?  Obvious answer is NO!   

But, we are trying.....what say you?

[vol_scouter]

My experience on the council and national levels is that committees are composed of volunteers who have many years of experience. These volunteers are passionate about Scouting and usually examine issues from many viewpoints. Often, at the national level, there are many considerations that affect committee decisions that are outside the particular committee's area responsibility. My experience is that decisions are made carefully with much input and examination. As Wakwib noted, the decisions will never satisfy everyone. Also, the decision that you think that you would make is likely to be different from what you would make if you had all of the information that the national committee had.

Vol_scouter

[Jackdaws]

In my experience with "seasoned" Scouters, they refuse to acknowledge that we live in a different age and its harder to get some of these kids to engage.   We live an a vastly different world than 100 years ago when scouting began.  I have been a scouter for about 5 years so I am somewhat new to the game.   I do think the Boy Scout program as its made is still something that youth need to have available to them and they will learn life long lessons that could/should serve them well one day.    But kids now days are not interested in outdoor stuff.  Its sad.   I will admit my 12 year old son doesn't know how to ride a bike.  Its due to a combo of factors, not living near any other kids his age, lack of interest from him and road conditions.  Mainly lack of interest on his part due to not living near other kids.  We recently got a bike and have plans of him learning to ride as some troop activities and merit badges can be done thru biking.    

I have grown tired of going to district committee meetings and roundtables as its an old guard vs. new guard battle each month.  Lots of "used to be" or "used to could".   When I was District Training chair I got so many complaints about YPT not being offered in person anymore and that it had to be done online when they rolled out the new YPT.   I finally had to tell them its "2018 and there are computers almost everywhere.   If you need a ride to the library to do it there, please let me know."    I didn't have as much gray hair before that.  

Now there are some older scouters who are embracing way youth are these day and rolling with it.   That's great and what we should all do.   In my Woodbadge course one of the main lessons for one segment was "Change happens!".

 

 

[WAKWIB]

9 hours ago, Jackdaws said:

In my experience with "seasoned" Scouters, they refuse to acknowledge that we live in a different age and its harder to get some of these kids to engage.   We live an a vastly different world than 100 years ago when scouting began.  I have been a scouter for about 5 years so I am somewhat new to the game.   I do think the Boy Scout program as its made is still something that youth need to have available to them and they will learn life long lessons that could/should serve them well one day.    But kids now days are not interested in outdoor stuff.  Its sad.   I will admit my 12 year old son doesn't know how to ride a bike.  Its due to a combo of factors, not living near any other kids his age, lack of interest from him and road conditions.  Mainly lack of interest on his part due to not living near other kids.  We recently got a bike and have plans of him learning to ride as some troop activities and merit badges can be done thru biking.    

I have grown tired of going to district committee meetings and roundtables as its an old guard vs. new guard battle each month.  Lots of "used to be" or "used to could".   When I was District Training chair I got so many complaints about YPT not being offered in person anymore and that it had to be done online when they rolled out the new YPT.   I finally had to tell them its "2018 and there are computers almost everywhere.   If you need a ride to the library to do it there, please let me know."    I didn't have as much gray hair before that.  

Now there are some older scouters who are embracing way youth are these day and rolling with it.   That's great and what we should all do.   In my Woodbadge course one of the main lessons for one segment was "Change happens!".

 

 

The thing that drives me and my peers (old codgers by most standards), is the desire to deliver the best program possible.  All of us have had to take a leap-of-faith in the face of the recent changes.  In our council, the girls who participated in our summer camp program loved it to the max, and we changed absolutely nothing about it.  We were quite surprised and it has motivated us to drive forward because we know the interest and participation from young ladies in our community is only going to increase.

 

[Treflienne]

On 9/4/2019 at 2:35 AM, WAKWIB said:

In our council, the girls who participated in our summer camp program loved it to the max, and we changed absolutely nothing about it.  We were quite surprised

Our girls troop went to summer camp, and absolutely loved it, and it did not surprise me one bit.   Remember, BSA scouts, especially the girls, are self-selecting.

On 9/3/2019 at 4:38 PM, Jackdaws said:

But kids now days are not interested in outdoor stuff. 

Some are, some aren't.  BSA is a good organization for the kids that are.   Some kids may find a better fit in a different youth-serving organization.