Context: I was a Boy Scout for a number of years, making Eagle in 2020 right as COVID was really kicking off.
It was right afterwards, however, that the CSA scandal started popping up everywhere (which thankfully I was never exposed to or involved in during my time), and lately it seems like the organization & movement as a whole has fallen by the sociocultural wayside.
I would say that my time as a Scout did me objective good; I learned a decent amount about first-aid & survival-craft, participated in a number of volunteer & civic projects, and it generally made me a more well-rounded person. However, there’s no denying the impact that something “bigger than the Catholic Church scandal”, as I’ve heard it described, has on an institution such as this.
I’d like to get the community’s opinion, however; were any of you Scouts? How was your experience? What is your opinion of the institution today?
My son has been in Cub Scouts for a few years and I help lead the pack. It’s been good for him and his friends, but fuck nationals. If our local pack agreed with the national organization’s right-wing politics and religious mandate I wouldn’t feel comfortable with it. But we make it pretty clear to the parents that we just ignore the rules that we think are not in line with our values.
I don’t love being part of an org with values that contradict ours, but If we abandon every problematic organization it will be very hard to find things to be a part of. And we can discuss with the kids the things that we don’t agree with, and also work from within the organization to improve it. If nationals ever came down on us we would probably just join one of the other scouting organizations that doesn’t hold right-wing views. And if the rest of the pack leader is caved to nationals I would pull my son out of the program.
Cub Scouts has a reasonably good education program for keeping kids safe from abuse, and it’s a requirement each year for parents to discuss these things with their kids. So most of the conversations I’ve had with my son about abuse has been because the Cub Scouts require it. In that sense, I feel like it has prepared him somewhat to get himself out of a bad situation if he ever find himself in one.
We’ll see if he wants to continue at the troop level. I will support him if he wants to, and the conversations we’ve had due to Cub Scouts make it less likely that anything abusive will happen while he’s camping with them.
I’m have three kids in scouting and I’m an ASM myself. I find it’s very dependant on the troop. I didn’t have a very good experience as a kid with mine, so I didn’t think I’d bring my kids into it. But when they were interested, we found a troop that turned out to be everything mine wasn’t as a kid. We accepted girls before it was officially allowed, and we’ve built a very strong, open and positive community. Enough that when they asked me to become an ASM, I happily accepted since my opinion of scouts had completely turned around.
There are still some pockets of the old guard that don’t like the direction of scouting these days. But with a good troop, it can be an amazing experience. My kids have grown and learned so much from their involvement. Me too.
Life scout here. Wouldn’t trade it for the world. It was a huge positive force on my childhood and created lifelong friendships.
When i was a kid, i was so enthused by the idea of scouting. When i finally joined up i realized quick it was all a front to recruit kids to the church and I got out of there as fast as I could. I have hated the scouts ever since
I hadn’t even considered that angle when I was looking for a cub scout troop for my son a few years ago. I was fortunate enough to be a part of BSA when my dad was stationed in Germany so we were essentially sponsored by the base and there was no connection to a church organization. In the US I am finding that all troops are associated with churches and since I (as an atheist) am raising my son to be a free-thinker I figured there would be friction at some point since we don’t go to church. I was honestly less concerned about gropey scout-masters since I intended to be with him on each trip and am handy with a hatchet.
IMO and in hindsight, there is also a level of over-the-top christo-patriotism that I basically overlooked when I was younger that makes me want to cringe now as an adult. These factors have been enough for me to take a more informal route to teach him outdoorsman-ship via campouts at state parks since I can’t find any secular scouting options in my area. Its a shame since I did have some great experiences in scouting but I can’t give him anything like the opportunities I had as a military brat in Europe.
Military recruitment program.
Yes, I was a scout when I was a kid and consider it a valuable experience.
Yes, I also encouraged my kids to sign up and I believe they had good/valuable experience as well. Some of that overlapped the scandal, but as an actively involved parent , I didn’t really see where things could go wrong.
One of the differences (maybe this is specific to our pack/troop) was no burgers and dogs allowed on campouts because they’re too easy: you’re not learning anything. They were really good about different experiences and learning
To the contrary, the response to the scandal was really frustrating. Scouting was pretty strict that there must always be a second adult involved in any activity. I get the reason, but for example, I couldn’t supervise cooking on the grill in public in the middle of camp in front of dozens of witnesses, unless there was a second adult?
I’m a fellow Eagle scout and I have an intrinsic bias toward other scouts that have completed their Eagle. It shows me that they hold values consistent or similar to my own. Namely the scout law and oath. Scouting taught me a deep emotional connection to nature and the way I interact with it. As with any organization, there’s going to be failures and tribulations, but I treat BSA guidelines as I do Catholic morality. It is what I make of it and if I take the core values that are meant to be gleaned from what it’s supposed to teach, then it’s difficult to argue that it’s had a negative impact on me or the people around me.
I would love to see a scouting Renaissance in the next few decades with the inclusion of women and queer members. There’s few other organizations or programs that are as well equipped to teach youth about nature and what it has to offer.
I managed to get my Eagle scout badge right before I aged out so I can appreciate what I think you are saying. As a parent, I initially planned on getting my son into scouting but the mess with BSA was enough to keep us away. That said, I still try to embody many of the values that I learned as a scout like always being prepared and respectful and ethical behavior.
What I think we could use more of is something like the Baden-Power Scouting Association or Navigators USA since they appear to be much more inclusive but I wasn’t able to find a chapter in my area.
I learned a lot in scouts, but I wasn’t comfortable with the nationalism, pseudo military and Christian overtones.
I just went camping instead.
FWIW, I found that scouting mostly stayed out of religion. There are badges for each religion that you’re encouraged to pursue with your parents and religious leaders so I took it as more encouraging you to follow whatever you believe.
Granted they assume you have a religion
If it makes you feel any better, the Evangelicals had their own version (think of like Christian music but for boy scouts) that explicitly intertwined religion and nationalism into it. Was straight up child indoctrination.
I’m not sure why that would make you feel better lol. That said, I wasn’t molested, and I actually did learn quite a bit about survival etc. and a lot it has stuck with me. So it could have been worse.
What I encountered were a lot of boys with absent fathers. But we did help out elderly people with shopping and a holiday kitchen. But the same groups that make free holiday meals support politicians who want to fuck the poor the other 364 days.
I was a kid asking, “but what about all the other meals these people need?”.
I was a Brownie when I was a kid (80s), I thought we were going to go like camping and stuff like the boy scouts, but all we did was needlepoint inside all summer so I never went back.
My parents made me make eagle because “it would help you get jobs when you put it on your resume” but nobody gives a shit so I stopped putting it on there.
I was a scout. All the way from age 6 until around mid highschool, where I really fell off it. I think overall it had a positive impact on my life. I got to learn about nature and bushcraft and first aid and things like that. I think the worst part was that a number of adults really pushed the “military” shit. Like they wanted to larp as drill seargents to a bunch of 12 year olds. Having too much fun was generally looked down upon. As if we were camping with our friends for some other reason. When I heard the scouts were going co-ed, I thought that would be a push in the right direction. When I was going, most of the leaders were very old. Pretty much all white men. Many were great, but the entire place could use some diversity of thought.
It’s an essential part of any battle. You need to get an idea of enemy numbers and movements before you formulate a strategy.
Not just battle it’s also essential for just general safe travel in null- or lowsec space.
How else would you know which talent to hire
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I volunteer with them here in the UK after being a youth member most of the way through. I know our respective organisations differ in some ways and I don’t know a great deal about USA Scouts.
I think we do legitimately help young people gain life skills and care for others. If I had kids, they’d be on the waiting list well in advance of joining age.
I’m proud that we’re an LGBT+ and neurodivergence inclusive space, by national policy as well as practical local example in many places. I have seen variations between groups though and I don’t think we get enough training on that. I would also say we’re pretty bad at race and class inclusion.
The biggest downside I feel is organisationally. We suffer from all the usual issues of a big organisation including internal politicking, shitty managers, disconnect between different teams, and putting the organisation’s interests above its professed values.
I’m a former scout and current adult leader in BSA. It isn’t for everyone, but for the kids who click with the program I have seen it be a very positive activity in their lives. Individual experiences can vary greatly depending on the immediate peer group and the environment set by the adult leaders.
I am very glad that BSA has opened up to girls and LGBTQ+ members, and watered down the religious aspects. The organization is late to change but moving in the right direction. I also appreciate the current focus on youth safety and abuse prevention, though like the Catholic church it’s unfortunately too little too late for a whole lot of past victims.
it seems like the organization & movement as a whole has fallen by the sociocultural wayside.
Scouting in the US has been in decline since the 1970s. It didn’t help that they kept trying to cling to tradition and conservative values as the world evolved around them. The BSA particularly looked like assholes in Boy Scouts of America v. Dale in 2000. Then the BSA’s sex abuse cases started blowing up around 2015-ish. Then the LDS church closed all their scouting units in 2019, cutting the remaining BSA membership in half. It’s been a rough couple of decades.
