Rethinking Ages in Scouting

[Stosh]

New scout patrols are adult-led? Why?

 

If the Webelos program was set up to do a bit of Cubbing, but heavier emphasis on T2FC, then the boys when they start the Boy Scout level are ready to begin taking on real leadership. NSP's should be run by the boys themselves. Why postpone leadership development by having adults interfere? To a certain extent the Webelos boys along with T2FC should have active denners guided by a DC to begin the early stages of leadership. By the time they reach Boy Scouts they should have their T2FC done and are now looking forward to putting it fully into practice, especially Webelos denners. The DC becomes TG and the transition is smooth, easy and without adults to interfere.

 

Stosh

[JMHawkins]

Wednesday night seems to be the traditional night for the wheels to come off at Summer Camp. Maybe giving the 10-11 year olds a three night resident camp might help. Save the week-long deal for the 12+ crowd.

 

When Scouting started, 12 was the minimum age, right?

[Eagle707]

If my fellow college students are any indication, there would be healthy demand for a "Network" section for 18-25. There are a lot of people (especially female) who would have loved to be Scouts and are appalled to find out they could have done Venturing (it's the one I bring up since it fits the demographic best). I know a lot of people would be interested in starting in an "adult only" Scout program.

 

Speaking of female members...

I once asked my (former) Scoutmaster (who, I might point out, fulfilled B-P's vision of a Scoutmaster to the letter) if he had been a Scout? His answer was a riddle: "What's the difference between a drinker and an alcoholic? An alcoholic belongs to a group."

 

He had never been a Scout because his family couldn't afford to pay for the dues and equipment but they bought him a Scout book and he went through the requirements as a boy.

 

When I look at how well it worked for him, I can see the possibility of a "book club" (like Beavah described) succeeding pretty well. Also, if anyone does start such a group (Varsity was an "unofficial" program once too):

1) Tell us about it!

 

2) You might want to check this company out:

http://www.idealemblem.com/program.html

I liked what I saw and might get a few segments for the College Scouter club at my university. Just a thought.

 

PS: Booksellers are way ahead of us with the "book club" idea. I heard from a friend about "The Daring Book For Girls" as an option for girls in Scouting families. I looked it up and it covers a lot of the same stuff a First Class Scout would know... and it comes with six patch designs (one for each focus area).

[qwazse]

I had a conversation yesterday morning with a young lady who wanted to join a crew. Her sister was in our crew! She was at the table as well, and I gave her the cold stare! Of course the challenge remains the time constraints put on our culture. For example this young lady just passed up the opportunity to go hunting with her dad because she went shopping at 5 AM with her sister and my daughter. These girls could have been shopping as a crew activity. Or hunting after having trained as part of the crew program. But neither activity is something that one automatically thinks "Hey, why don't I get my crew in on this?"

 

Point is you can rethink ages 'till your blue in the face. Rethinking culture is the bigger challenge.

 

E707 - When I was in college, I got "back into" camping, etc ... through my college fellowship. The ministry made an effort to provide an outdoor program at an age appropriate level. As with most Christian ministries, that fellowship had it's own network. Scouting would have to offer something above and beyond what is already out there.