The girl scouts are modernizing to "become more relevant" should the BSA take some notes here?

[brianbuf]

(This message has been edited by a staff member.)

[sst3rd]

No.

[Eagledad]

>>BTW: I believe the Tiger Cubs went to the blue uniform in 2001. As I understand it, Tiger Cubs were something of an experiment at the time and treated as somewhat apart from the pack. Once accepted, they were fully integrated into the pack.

[ScoutNut]

In 2001 Tigers lost their Tiger Promise & gained their Tiger rank award. In August of 2004 Tigers went to the blue Cub Scout uniform & and pocket totem. In June of 2006, earning the Bobcat rank was moved to before the Tiger rank & the Tigers lost their Tiger Motto.

 

The changes were made to fully integrate Tigers into the Cub Scout program.

[nldscout]

Sure wish I knew what Brian was saying before it got whacked

[epalmer84]

Thanks for keeping me straight ScoutNut.

 

Ed

[brianbuf]

Eagle dad you wrote "The Girls Scouts have been changing their program for over 25 years trying to stop the bleeding. Values are one of those things that took a hit"

 

Yet their website and news story says this is the first change for them in 30 years! How do you figure?

[Jeffrey H]

"The Girl Scouts recently discovered that it needs to be more relevant to today's girls. But true to the scout promise ("help people at all times"), the nearly century-old group is adjusting to the new times."

It seems to me that the GSUSA has alwaystried to be "relevant". This is not news.

The GSUSA is not popular in our community due to their increasingly liberal policies. The GSUSA appears to me to be a confused organization that is not clear on what they stand for. Because of this, Im not interested in my young daughter joiningthe organization. Being relevant sounds great, but it is not always the best direction.

[ScoutNut]

"Yet their website and news story says this is the first change for them in 30 years! How do you figure?"

 

Because you did not read the news article OR the Web site well enough.

 

The complete quote from the article is :

 

"Girl Scouts of the USA is undertaking its first overhaul in more than 30 years - and certainly its most wide-ranging."

 

It does NOT say "change" - it says "overhaul". BIG, BIG difference! GSUSA, like BSA, makes changes to its literature & program every few years.

 

BTW, from the same article, on the point of dropping membership :

 

"America's largest girls' club has maintained its membership well enough, and reaches more than 10 percent of girls ages 5 to 17."

 

Also, BTW, whenever GSUSA mentions the words "study" or "survey", its membership tends to get heart palpations & knotted stomachs, waiting for the next proverbial boot to drop. GSUSA does not have a very good track record with their much vaunted "studies & surveys"!

[MarkS]

The annual reports published on the BSA web site show that Cub Scout membership has declined from 2.1M in 1997 to 1.7M in 2005 while Boy Scout memberhip has declined from 1M in 1997 to 943k in 2005.

 

It seems to me that the whole premise of this thread is that the BSA doesn't understand why it is experiencing a decline in memberhip or is doing anything about it. The first issue has not been established but in 2006, the BSA launched the first year of a new National Strategic Plan, titled "2010: When Tradition Meets Tomorrow."

 

This plan is supposed to support an organizational vision to "prepare every youth in America to become responsible, participating citizens and leaders who are guided by the Scout Oath and Law." To recruit quality leadership, adequately fund programs, invite youth from all backgrounds to join, and offer a fun and exciting program, and to help ordinary young people become extraordinary adults.

 

It seems to me that the BSA has been working on a plan for the future. Can anyone substantiate the claim that the BSA doesn't understand why membership is declining?

[brianbuf]

MarkS-

Where have you been all this time? We needed you on these forums informing us of this 2010 study!

Instead of arguing about if the numbers are dropping, and if any change needs to happen, and essentially a few folks who are in scouting for themselves wanting to keep things the way they personally like things, you come up with the one answer I have been searching for.

 

The BSA is getting it! If you are correct, they are looking at the reasons for decline, and making a plan to bring scouting to more kids. If that is correct, then I will go to bed tonight a very happy scouter. I am not claiming I had anything to do with it, or they will implement my concrete plans, I am just saying YAHOO! someone is seeing what I am seeing!

 

If a corporation had losses like the BSA is having, the top brass would get warned by the board one year, and if the losses continued, they would be replaced with new staff. If they could not turn things around, a massive outside consulting firm might be brought into turn things around.

 

Yet many folks on these boards just put their head in the sand and say we need better trained leaders or to work the program and don't see the numbers drop, drop, drop.

 

If your claim is right, I think the future of scouting is brighter than ever. Who knows what they will come up with... but I am sure they will develope something that will reach more boys.

 

I am going to clock out of this thread. Thanks Marks for the info. And to all a good night!

[Eagledad]

>>It seems to me that the whole premise of this thread is that the BSA doesn't understand why it is experiencing a decline in memberhip or is doing anything about it.

[ScoutNut]

Research - Not a brand new novel idea. BSA has been doing research on various aspects of Scouting since it's inception over 90 years ago. Some of their recent results they post on their National Web site. Some of their ongoing surveys, like changes to the BS Handbook, are on there also.

 

National Strategic Plan - Also not something new. As someone said, corporations plan for the future. BSA is a corporation and it has ALWAYS planned for the future. Some of the recent National Strategic Plans have been - 1998-2002 Scouting into the Next Millennium, 2002-2005 On My Honor, Timeless Values. The new one is 2006-2010 When Tradition Meets Tomorrow.

 

Uniform - ScoutStuff has had surveys on it's site for years about uniform changes you would like to see. Many of the changes to the current uniform have been as a result of feedback from Scouts & Scouters on these surveys. Some of those changes have been additional pockets added to the pants & shorts in 1999 & the new Switchbacks added this past summer. I think it is extremely unrealistic to expect there to EVER be a uniform, for ANY organization, that our youth would WANT (much less ASK) to wear to school. Heck, they don't want to even wear their school uniforms to school!

 

Dropping Memberships - BSA National is doing what it can from it's end. It is providing an up to date program that will fulfill BSA's Mission & Vision, and constantly working to improve that program.

 

However, a program, even one with snazzy icons, uniforms & activities, is ONLY as good as the volunteers who deliver that program. Kids (& families) will NOT register for a program based simply on snazzy icons, cool uniforms (an oxymoron if ever there was one!) & rock music. And, if by chance, they do register for those reasons, they will NOT STAY.

 

While BSA National is doing it's thing to improve & update it's programs (which we can have little impact on), we should be concentrating on what we CAN have an impact on. Increasing the memberships in our OWN UNITS.

 

Going around to every Web site & forum possible, blaming National, & everyone else who does not agree, for falling numbers, is NOT going to change ANYTHING. The ONLY thing that will work is if WE, ALL OF US involved as volunteers in the BSA, do our utmost to deliver the BEST POSSIBLE program to the youth WE serve. That IS, after all, why we are here doing this. If WE make sure that the youth we serve are excited by the program WE deliver, and if WE increase OUR unit memberships by even as little as ONE member each year, THAT will work.

 

So, from 2004 to 2005 the BSA Pack that I serve had a membership INCREASE of 16%. From 2005 to 2006 we had a membership INCREASE of 28%.

 

What about YOUR units? Increase, decrease, or static?

 

Brian, what about YOUR unit(s)? You have mentioned in passing a BS Troop & a Venturing Crew. Have you tried out any of your ideas on them? How well have they worked? Especially with the Venturing Crew, which is the most modern program BSA has, with none of your uniform issues. How have the membership numbers in YOUR units faired?

[OldGreyEagle]

I am going to be on both sides of the fence, so if my post sounds like I am, you are correct. First, The last year National numbers increased was 1998. There has been a decline each year since then. My source is the BSA Annual report found on the BSA website. Search for 2005 Annual Report, then 2004, etc. I know, I did it. So, nationally the numbers are going down. The next part is what can be done about it. And that, fellow scouters is mighty obvious, at least it should be. Offer a great program. I will repeat that, Offer a great program. I have done this before, so forgive me if I repeat myself. Lets say the BSA gets a huge gift from a departed Scouter. Many millions of dollars that are earmarked specifically for advertising the BSA. We get Steven Spielberg to do a series of commercials. We get Lindsay Lohan to do spots on Venturing, Daniel Radcliffe talks about the magic of scouting, we get John Williams to score the spots with a melody that becomes number one on all charts. We get more kids fairly foaming and frothing at the mouth for scouting than ever before. And when these kids, wanting to run rivers wild, wanting to hike, camp, rapel and commune with nature hit the units, what then? Can your unit say it fulfills the promise of being a Boy Lead troop that does exciting activities? Is your Cub Pack the kind Dakota Fanning would dress up like a boy to join? Look at the various situation we hear about here on the forum and on other forums. Scouts serving six months in a POR, signed off by scoutmaster for Scouting Spirit only to have the BOR turn them down. Life scouts denied an Eagle BOR because the District Advancement Chair doesnt think the boy did enough. You guys know what I am talking about. When you think about it, as much as I would love to see a wholesale national media campaign about Scouting, I dont think the units could handle the influx of membership and then, dealing with the aftermath of disillusioned members.

 

The answer, as has been mentioned many times before is a great program. There are countless stories told on these forum about people doing it right and growing their unit. That is how a national numbers decline will be reversed, one member, one unit, one individual at a time. I can't help you guys any more than you can help me but if we all help our fellow scouters provide a quality program, we just might have something.

[BadenP]

"If we each help our fellow scouter deliver a quality program then we might just have something."

 

In theory this might be true OGE but in a practical reality it will never happen for a variety of reasons. First, the quality of training going on in many districts and councils is substandard to say the least,even when trying to follow a sylabus some trainers just can't deliver. Second, no mandatory training, most units failing are due to untrained or minimally trained adults who just do not understand how to deliver the program. Third, a lack of commitment on the part of the adult and some youth leaders. Many look at this as a one year position until they can pawn it off on someone else because they are "too busy" to do the job right. Fourth, the programs in many units just plain suck so the kids get bored and leave in droves. In otherwords there is a complete lack of accountability on the part of the unit leaders, the CO,the district leaders, the councils, and National, and without requiring a certain standard of quality at every level the problem just continues to fester and grow.

 

These IMHO are the reasons scouting is losing ground rapidly and until National mandates some minimal mandatory training requirements, and removes those leaders who do not live up to the job the numbers will continue to drop no matter what crazy new program the BSA comes up with.(This message has been edited by BadenP)