why is scouting shrinking? visit www.savescouting.org

[OldGreyEagle]

hey there, I always wear my "Vote for Pedro" T-Shirt and tell kids I am in training to be a cage fighter...

[ScoutNut]

Brian, I am curious about your Wood Badge experience.

 

You state that while you seem to dislike anything & everything about Wood Badge, & are basically being forced to attend by your CO, you are still working on your ticket(s). May I ask why? You do know that it is not necessary, don't you? You can complete your Wood Badge training without doing ticket items. You simply will not earn your beads. With your distain for for Wood Badge history & traditions, I can't see how receiving beads that were originally taken from an African Chief sometime in the early 1900's would have any meaning for either you or the boys you serve.

 

I am also confused by your Ticket item. While it is admireable that you want to "promote growth in scouting via a webpage" with comments & contact info on it, I do not see how this ticket item is SMART in any way.

 

BTW - Being forced to sing a song, "squirrel" or anything else, in order to retrieve an item, is considered hazing by many folks. You might consider working on that in your Troop as part of a diversity ticket item.

 

 

[evmori]

Excellent, Barry!

 

My take on why Scouting numbers are declining is more focused on the parents than the kids. I think parents feel they need to get their sons in something that will "get them through" life as easy as possible. Sports seems to be the end all. Every boy is another MJ or Roberto or Marino.

 

I also think kids are way over scheduled. It is almost to the point of 10 year olds needing day-timers and that's sad. Kids don't know how to play anymore unless it's organized for them or it's electronic.

 

The Scouting program could probably use a little updating but the core is still excellent & shouldn't be tampered with. Boys aren't joining Scouts because the uniform looks "dorky". That's just an excuse, not a reason.

 

Ed Mori

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[SemperParatus]

"At Rex Kwan Do, we use the buddy system. No more flying solo. You need somebody watching your back at all times. Second off, you're gonna learn to discipline your image. You think I got where I am today because I dressed like Peter Pan over here?" ~ Rex

 

Rex really knew scouting and what cool was and wasn't too

 

[Chippewa29]

Very good thread. Some excellent points being made. I do have a couple of comments I would like to add.

 

First, Eagledad hit it right on the head when he said that by the end of five years, boys were tired of Cub Scouts, especially if the emphasis is still on arts and crafts and museum trips (as my Cub experience was). There were no Tiger Cubs when I was that age. I actually didn't join the Cub Scouts until I was almost nine years old. I had good den leaders and we had fun doing what I would call "litle kid stuff". My favorite memory as a Cub was going hiking in the woods near where I lived with my den. I thought that was the coolest thing. If my Webelos experience had been the same as my Cub experience, I probably wouldn't have gone onto Boy Scouts. However, my Webelos leader was an Eagle that basically ran our den as pre-Boy Scouts. We went hiking and spent a lot of meetings outside. He taught how to build fires and tie knots and lots of other outdoor skills. The only crafts we did that year was the pinewood derby. I was so pumped up to cross over, I crossed in about two weeks before I turned 11 (even though the rest of my den would cross over in May, as was standard at the time). I've worn the tan and olive drab proudly for the past 23 years now. The impression I've gotten from a lot of parents whose kids drop either right before or right after the crossover is that they feel their son has already "been there, done that" with Scouting. They don't understand that the Boy Scouting program has the same aims, but different methods.

 

Another thing that I can say is one reason kids pick sports over Scouts is because of the level of committment they take. If you have two things you enjoy, but one is 3-4 days a week and the other is one day a week, which are you going to choose? Leaving the activity that is 3-4 days each week would leave a pretty big whole in their lives. Besides, they are bonding with those people 6-8 hours a week versus 1 1/2-2 hours a week at Scouts. Yes, Scouts do a lot of bonding on campouts, but when these kids go to the all day or all weekend sports tournaments, they do a lot of bonding there as well.

 

One of the guys I was in Scouts with early on was a fast riser like me. He was Life at 13 and on his way to Eagle. One day, just as we started 8th grade, he came to a troop meeting and told the SM he was quitting. When asked why, he said that Scouts took up enough time so that it was a burden, but not enough time to really make it a commitment. It took me years to understand what he meant by that.

[gwd-scouter]

Interesting point, Chippewa - "When asked why, he said that Scouts took up enough time so that it was a burden, but not enough time to really make it a commitment." That's a new perspective I had not thought about.

 

I have noticed that the troops in our area with an active program - going somewhere AT LEAST once a month and interesting activities during weekly meetings - those are the troops that are doing well with recruitment and retention.

[emb021]

"I have noticed that the troops in our area with an active program - going somewhere AT LEAST once a month and interesting activities during weekly meetings - those are the troops that are doing well with recruitment and retention. "

 

That, to me, the basics for all troops. weekly meetings and one camping trip a month, plus atleast a week at summer camp. When my troop was in trouble with numbers, etc, we STILL made sure we camped once a month & did summer camp. When we couldn't camp due to mosquito issues (banned in our state a few times), we STILL did something that month as a day trip.

 

When I hear of troops that aren't doing at least that, there is a problem troop.

 

 

[BrentAllen]

Interesting points, Barry.

Our Pack is just about the opposite of what you mentioned. We have only a handful of women as either Den or Assistant Den Leaders. This is not intentional, and I'm not sure how or why we have ended up this way. The only downside I see to the women Den Leaders is some just don't go camping. When the DL doesn't attend, many boys in the Den won't attend, either. Other than that, they are great DL's.

Regardless, what we have is working.

[brianbuf]

Wow, hot topics.

I don't claim to have all the viewpoints or answers.. keep it coming! I am learning along the way. Thanks everyone.

 

Someone said I did not like woodbadge and asked about my tickets. I never said that... we had fun.. but I sure felt it 100 years too old.. I kept saying if scouting was founded today it would be completely different.. my opinion. Why am I doing my tickets? Because I am a finisher. I started the program, and I am ending it. It is SMART... and I filled out the form and got it signed off. By the way, just finished (in less than 4 weeks) all 5 tickets! Yes, I am a finisher. Thats why the website and the posts. But also because I truely want a great program for my kids and grandkids.

 

When kids have to hide their scout membership from their friends, as one poster said half his Eagles admited to doing, we have a problem, houston.

[evmori]

When kids have to hide their scout membership from their friends, as one poster said half his Eagles admited to doing, we have a problem, houston.

 

Why would a Scout have to hide his membership from friends?

 

 

[Eagledad]

>> Other than that, they are great DL's. Regardless, what we have is working.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Scouting Today?

Scouting is all wrong for todays Youth!

The 100 things wrong with Scouting

Get rid of all of those tiresome traditions you bunch of Chipmunks.

 

I am now trying to figure out what things to pitch first. The ship is sinking fast and the passengers and crew must be saved!

 

Scouting is not for everyone. There are many wholesome activities for young people and it is alright if they choose other things over Scouting. If Scouting ended tomorrow, people could still go camping as a way to reminisce about the good old days. Scout camps could close by the dozens and kids could still find values, sunsets and swimming holes. What is Scouting anyway? It is just a bunch of old codgers with round hats and red jackets standing around drinking coffee and telling each when, what, and where it happened.

 

Excuse me! What happened? I think I got stuck in reverse and couldnt pull of the nosedive.

 

Here is my take on what is wrong with Scouting. This is based scientifically on everything that I know.

 

1.

We do not have enough websites that the Scouts have made to show what they have planned and have accomplished over the past year with more of the same but better for the new one.

 

2.

Most adults dont know that keeping your mouth shut is one of the main duties of an adult leader.

 

3.

Does anyone remember all of the fake number scandals, all of those in School Scouting programs (sure that is where real Scouting happens), and the loss of hundreds of traditional sponsors? That should about cover the 10.9% drop but I am surprised that it wasnt more. They are probably faking another number.

 

FB

 

[brianbuf]

wow fuzzy bear, this seemed to have struck a chord.

 

Anyway, keep up the posts... this is interesting.

[FireKat]

Scouting IS hard.

It has been designed to help form the future leaders. Not all can be leaders.

Why do the marines recruit with the phrase looking for the few?

SemperParatus said: I'd rather have a troop of a dozen highly committed scouts that understand and appreciate their dedication to and involvement in a century-old organization that has been at the vanguard of character development and speaks to them personally for a higher calling, then a troop of 100 lukewarm, middle of the road, could care less, speed through the dorkiness, quit as soon as my parents let me, scouts.

That dozen or so are the new leaders.

Not all are cut out for the hard work and independent thinking scouts require. My son tries to get some of his friends involved but after a short time they give up saying it is too much work. These are the kids that cannot do anything without electricity. (ever watched these kids during a blackout with no batteries?)

No, scouting is not a cool thing now but fads change.

Cubs is a thing all kids can do as it is open to parent help, then comes the first taste of real world life in boy scouts with the boy doing things on their own. It seems that one of two things happen to cause the loss of boys; parents are too used to doing it for their son and dont know or dont want to stop so they stop bringing their son to meetings (is it that they are feeling left out?) The other thing is that the boy himself does not want to put forth the effort to earn the ranks. Kids now are too used to having things handed to them.

Lets just keep our standards high even if it means less numbers.

As for new troops, packs, etc failing in our area, a lot seems, IMO, to be due to lack of help by council. Council seems to be more interested in making new, not helping what exist. New troops need lots of help.

Question to brianbuf: I was wondering about your personal feelings on traditions and old stuff. Do you just want to change all or keep some of the things that tie the generations together?

[Fuzzy Bear]

Watching Scouting change over the years has not always been exciting. Scouting has had highs and lows just like any other living entity. People come and go, get mad, agree, disagree, and are complacent. Some want deeper meaning in their lives and some don't want any. Scouting has never been high on the list of activities of Americans. The Hula-hoop probably sold to more people than Scouting. In the U.S. alone there are far more than 200 million and Scouting may reach as high as one percent of the market.

 

In the fifties and sixties, Scouting was the home I loved. All of my friends did other things. Scouting drooped in the 70's and began its' comeback in the 80's. Here it is in the new century and Scouting is still a part of my life. All of the people that I work and fellowship with outside of work are not Scouters. Number wise; to me it is basically the same.

 

I wonder if we should change Scouting to make room for the millions of UnScouted? What would happen if we changed the program so that nobody could recognize it as the BSA? We take away the uniforms and badges, add leather with chains, nose rings and tattoos. We adopt loud Rap music and require boomboxes and green hair. We would also charge around town in our Lowriders. Instead of Troops we would have Gangs with names like the Crips and the Bloods. We would initiate everyone by beating them to a bloody pulp. We could jam in the streets to late at night and party to the dogs come home any night of the week. Instead of district events, we could have big battles with the opposing gangs.

 

Naaa