Girl Scout groups have a lot of autonomy to decide what they want to do, and GS stresses more being self-led by the girls themselves from a younger age. But, from the parents who show up or volunteer, Cub Scouts tends to have more fathers and Girl Scouts more mothers. And when it comes to camping or outdoors stuff, the mothers are a bit less adventurous than the fathers. Even so, an adventurous volunteer running Girl Scouts has latitude to go more hardcore if that's what they want. Besides, an adventurous tomboy type that wants to get to do what the Boy Scouts do still has to find a handful of like-minded girls to form a Den. If they all want to shoot bows and **** in the woods, why not do that as a Girl Scout?
My wife used to work for BSA. Believe me, this news is terrible for GSA. Also, the single gender den thing is a little deceptive. Yes there will be separate dens but there's nothing preventing a pack from convening the boy and girl dens for meetings at the same time. If you want co-ed cub scouts, its really not difficult to do and it will happen. I can tell you that all of this has been discussed for years. Also, you have to recognize how radically different the content is. BSA councils own thousands of campsites across the US. GSA simply can't create the content and experience when it comes to outdoor activities. Recruiting in GSA has been falling off like a cliff and this will only speed it up. GSA was built in another era where female programming really consisted of a very limited set of activities. The actual content is wildly out of date in relation to what families are asking for. Most importantly, families like the idea of organizations that are inclusive of the family as a whole. I guarantee that BSA will poach entire units from GSA when they get older. There are already GSA units that convert to BSA Venturing units when the girls hit high school. You'll just start seeing more of that at younger levels. My hope is that both organizations just form a common venture and partner. GSA's hand has been forced by this and while the initial reaction has been negative, I know for a fact that when adding girls to scouts was proposed last year in BSA, that one of the options was forming a partnership with GSA and ultimately merging. Whether GSA considers that is a separate question but I think it has to happen.
I just don't understand the move. Why even bother calling it Boy Scouts? There is already venture scouts which is coed, and that system works perfectly fine. Why mess with it...
Because venturing isn't the same as Boy Scouts (or Cub Scouts). Venturing only starts at high school and has offerings built around the venturing leaders choices for what to focus on. It's not a structured program like Boy Scouts. And no it isn't perfectly fine. Boy Scout enrollment is falling, period. And there is more emphasis than ever on co-ed programs because families want offerings that all of their kids can attend. It is stupid to keep it split. If girls want to take part in scouting curriculum, then have at it. My wife's council dropped the "boy" in boy scouts years ago and all of their marketing just says "scouts." This has been in the works for a while now and its long overdue. They've focus group tested and polled this over and over. Families want options that will support all of their kids and are more likely to forgo gender specific programs. Also, cub scouts won't technically be co-ed. They'll just allow for dens for girls. In theory a pack can run meetings with dens of bother genders together but you can also find a pack that keeps them apart. That's really up to you.
Unsure but It is just a feeling Then again . . .I don't think this will off set their diminishing membership so maybe in a few years they will give up the ghost Rocket River
Someone says EAGLE SCOUT is a major accomplishment and useful for college apps etc The Girl Scout equivalent is not as well respected Rocket River
So far, more than 3,000 girls have joined roughly 170 Cub Scout packs participating in the first phase of the new policy, and the pace will intensify this summer under a nationwide multimedia recruitment campaign titled "Scout Me In." http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-boy-scouts-20180502-story.html
So there's no more "Boy Scouts:" but there are still "Girl Scouts". Well that's sexist. They need to combine both organizations into one large "Scouts" organization. It's only fair, after all.
I agree with this. Especially because on the fundraiser side of things, the boy scouts get the short end of the stick. Selling popcorn or coupon books. Things do need to be equal after all. (I just want more access to cookies)
This is basically a money thing, the Mormons have pulled their boys from scouting (for a variety of reasons), the estimates range from 200,000 scouts to over 400,000 scouts have left BSA. Without their involvement, BSA could be at real risk of going out of business. So a move that in effect poaches girls from the girl scouts. http://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=2778130&itype=CMSID If Mormons leave Scouting, BSA will feel it — in its wallet LDS Church spokesman Eric Hawkins confirmed Tuesday that the 15 million-member Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is "considering creating its own international program for boys, separate from the Boy Scouts of America." That could have dire financial consequences for BSA. The LDS Church is far and away the nation's largest Scouting sponsor, serving 437,160 boys in 37,933 troops. In 2013, more than a third (37 percent) of troops were LDS sponsored, accounting for 18 percent of the BSA's 2.4 million total membership (Mormon troops, while more numerous, tend to be smaller in size). An LDS Church withdrawal also could ruin the three Scout councils in Utah, which say between 96 percent and 99 percent of their members are in Mormon units. These three Utah councils issued a joint statement Tuesday, saying, "We will not speculate on the outcome of the church's decision." It added, "Regardless of the outcome, we want to be part of the solution for LDS youth and all youth in the community. We will move forward in full support of the church's decisions and efforts while continuing our work." The LDS Church explained some reasons why it is considering leaving in a news release Monday. As a "global organization with members in 170 countries, the church has long been evaluating the limitations that fully one-half of its youth face where Scouting is not available," the release said. "Those worldwide needs combined with this vote by the BSA National Executive Board will be carefully reviewed by the leaders of the church in the weeks ahead." more at the link
That sounds so awesome. Exciting times for young girls that don't have any other option but Girl scouts.
It really is an exciting time. My wife used to work for BSA and on recruitment days at schools, she'd tell me the saddest stories of little girls turning in application forms and being told that they couldn't join while their brother(s) did. BSA programming is not the same as GSA and the tired argument that girls can just join girl scouts really needs to end. I'm glad BSA finally caught up with the times. The BSA council that my wife worked at never enforced the ban on gay scoutmasters or scouts and there were units that unofficially had girls but its good that all of this is finally out in the open and official. BSA has been ready for this to happen for years. The whole discussion on adding girls to BSA has been going on for years. It was only a matter of time. And the LDS has made its opinion known during that span. There's no question that the councils in Utah, Arizona, Nevada and Idaho will suffer because of declining LDS enrollment. For now, LDS still has its kids going to Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, the only stopped supporting Venturing. I think their position is rather laughable. Venturing was always co-ed and the LDS had no issue sending Mormon children there but apparently now they're up in arms about co-ed programming.