@sylvan8798. Then how does he explain the success of the international jamboree this summer? International scouting is mixed genders etc and all inclusive. Americans were only like 20 %, (guessing here but was told something like this ), of the whole event.
It seems in the United States we are behind what the world is doing and have been extremely successful in. This is what I was saying about rebranding it. Maybe it needs to be just Scouting.https://wsj2019.us/
Scouting in many other countries is coed, as is Navigators USA (the left leaning alternative scouting type organization), but not Trail Life USA (the right leaning alternative scouting type organization).
âThe Eagle Scout award is important to our military, too. It has a point value that is counted toward the Whole Candidate Score used by the service academies to determine appointments as the academies believe that the level of work, dedication, and leadership inherent in the achievement aligns well with what they look for in future officers.â
Hopefully there are plenty of other single things with absolutely equal weight and importance to the service academies that an atheist can participate in or this would be a very troubling thing.
Like most colleges, the service academies engage in holistic admissions, so many factors can be given such weight. Not really understanding the animosity towards scouting-does it extend to Young Life, or Jack and Jill of America, or the dozens of other youth clubs your husband could not join?
In theory, BSA and Girl Scouts could merge to be more like Navigators or some international organizations. Itâs unclear how many members in either organization would welcome a merger.
@ChoatieMom seemed to imply that Eagle Scout holds a special place above almost any other kind of activity in the â holistic â mix. But maybe I misread it and was asking if it was the case because if so that would be troubling.
Girl Scouts have said there is no interest in merging.
At daughterâs school, there is a $2500 extra merit award for Eagle scouts/GS Gold award. There are certainly other activities that are considered in admissions, but Eagle/Gold gets you the money.
Long article in our local news today. The state and local scouts are their own separate entity and are not affected by this BSA bankruptcy filing at all.
I was a Scout leader for many years (girl and boy). I attended every event and encouraged parents to attend any that they wanted even though one of my coleaders occasionally objected. I joined to spend time with my kids and I wanted other parents to have the same opportunity even if they didnât have time to be a leader.
My coleaders and I also kept our eyes on every kid because that was our responsibility as leaders. Many parents had other kids at home. Some had no money for babysitters so they couldnât stay. Others were single parents who worked long hours or 2nd jobs. Some families just trusted us to take care of their children because that was our job. Iâm guessing Scouting wasnât one of the activities you âshepherdedâ your kids through because judging other families the way that you do violates several points of the Scouting promises.
Having the time and money to be able to attend every single event with every one of your kids is a privilege not available to many families. It would be kinder to enjoy that privilege without being so judgmental of other families.
^^Agree wholeheartedly with @austinmshauri . I too was a Girl Scout leader for 12 years. Most years, I had very little parental involvement in my troop. On the other hand, I attended every GS troop meeting, camping trip, excursion, field trip, cookie booth, hike, service project, and training classâŠand I loathed those training classes.
At first, I did kind of resent those parents who didnât participate, but I soon realized that I was the lucky one - the one who did have the time for all those activities and who did have the time to be the leader. It was a joy to work with those girls and it was a privilege to watch them mature into young women. Itâs funny, I became the leader so I could spend more time with my D, but I really treasured the time I spent with ALL of my girls.
Most of âmyâ parents were single working moms working long hours. Again, I was just lucky that my career was so flexible, time-wise. So much of life is luck and attitude.
The RAND Corporation did a study on service academy admissions several years ago to identify whether the application scores that USMA uses as admission criteria could predict success both in the USMA and as an officer. From the 50-page paper produced, here is the list of points awarded per EC category at the time:
^Thatâs interesting. As an aside, are they basically looking to fill the USMA with Student Council presidents?
I still have decidedly mixed feelings about my Scouting experience as a mostly closeted gay kid. I learned a lot from Scouts and made some great friends, though. Itâs been sad seeing the slow decline in membership (~25% decline since I was in high school).
All of the service academies are looking to fill their seats with those who show strong leadership potential. Each of those ECs is assigned a point value based on how USMA associates it with demonstrated leadership and governance.