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?
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?