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?

  • Tehhund@lemmy.worldEnglish
    10·
    10 hours ago

    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.