Who are the BSA, anyway?

[acco40]

Scouter complaints that I've heard time and time again - I do this for free and yet this guy gets paid and does a poor job at best! His concern is not the unit but "numbers."

 

Professional complaints that I've heard time and time again - Those incompetent Scouters, if they ran the program the way it is laid out, we would have no problem getting boys to sign up! You wouldn't believe the horror stories that come to my office about Scouters.

 

Reality - they are both correct. The professionals and the volunteers have two different tasks. Scouting is a business. If not, we would have gays and atheists!

[Basementdweller]

There are a lot of volunteers who forget about the boys. I know of a number of SM's who run their own program, not BSA's. Misappropriated money, SM/CM/DL laying hands, YP violations and on and on.

 

 

 

 

 

[Eagle92]

Must second ACCO. As a former DE I did have Scouters doing their own thing, and the 30-40 boys I would recruit for that unit would quite by December. And one bad experience gives the whole program a bad name. AND I have seen pros so interested in the numbers that they are willing ot do anything for a quick pickup in numbers to meet goals. They forget that Scouting must have a good program being implemented, with them supporting it, to attract and RETAIN Scouts.

 

Here's my analogy of scouting with apologies to real life players: unit level scouters are the company and field grade officers in the field of WWII who were with the troops. District and council level scouters are the division and corps level staff officers who may or may not be in the field, but are providing direct support. Regional and national level scouters are those officers in the Pentagon, far removed from the action.