Now that I take a good look back, my first real dose of politics came during my scout years. Cub scouts was not too bad but boy scouts... geezus, what a fuster cluck power trip some parents/ leaders put on, all for the benefit of their kids. The same group of parents controlled and micromanaged church events and school sports... and convinced me not to be a joiner of any organized activities.
The kids didn't ruin the experience, the overbearing adults did.
BSA is Anti-Semite??? WOW that is completely ignorant.
Here is a chart of the religious emblems available (COMPLETELY voluntarily) through the Scouts:
There are nearly 100 of them, including Jewish, Hindu, Islamic, and Zoroastrian.
Every den and troop is sponsored by someone, and many are churches, so influence at the local level can certainly vary. But the Anti-Semite charges are completely false.
I was a Cub Scout dropout. So was my oldest son. My 2 younger ones are well on their way to becoming Eagle Scouts.
Eagle Scout is a rank which people carry their whole life. It is unique in that it is recognized by leaders in business as an achievement worth consideration. I know business owners who will give extra attention to any resume of an Eagle Scout.
The reason is that it includes a rather difficult public service project. Achieving Eagle indicates that a participant is capable of leading a reasonably large community service project to fruition, as well as completing a course of efforts that takes many years to accomplish.
Just a thought...
fasted58 wrote: Now that I take a good look back, my first real dose of politics came during my scout years. Cub scouts was not too bad but boy scouts... geezus, what a fuster cluck power trip some parents/ leaders put on, all for the benefit of their kids. The same group of parents controlled and micromanaged church events and school sports... and convinced me not to be a joiner of any organized activities. The kids didn't ruin the experience, the overbearing adults did.
thats a big problem with many troops. the adults that miss the point that in boy scouts, the point is to let the older scouts lead and run the show, and the adults supervise and assist where needed. it helps when there isnt favoritism or shiny happy people.
It can really skew things sometimes, making things super easy on some scouts and very difficult for others when it comes time to review for rank or approval of service projects and such. Especially if you butt heads with a certain leader at some point. Happened to one of my brothers. Got a problem with how things are run in your troop? Step up and be a leader, or find a different troop. My 'rents became involved with my brothers troop because there were 1 or 2 other adults that were a problem and making things really hard on my youngest brother.
I said before he was almost at eagle.....but he was off to college this fall. To be honest I am not sure he is going to be able to get it by the time he turns 18. I know he was close but there were certain things like the politics of the adult leaders in his troop that really soured his experience in scouts.
Interesting thread as I have a son on the way.
I did the YMCA Indian Princess program with my daughter, and we both loved it. She made some excellent friends, and so did I. The camping was much less structured, so the group of dads you had influenced the experience a lot. We had a great group and always enjoyed getting together. Here in Western PA, we had some great places to go for camps and outings, so that may affect it as well. We continue camping and getting together even after we outgrew the program.
What you put in is what you get out I suppose, but there are other options out there besides the BSA.
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