The Boy Scouts have been around for 108 years, but new changes announced mean their flagship program for 11-17 year olds will no longer carry “Boy”.
AP:
Chief Scout Executive Mike Surbaugh said many possibilities were considered during lengthy and “incredibly fun” deliberations before the new name was chosen.
“We wanted to land on something that evokes the past but also conveys the inclusive nature of the program going forward,” he said. “We’re trying to find the right way to say we’re here for both young men and young women.”
The parent organization will remain the Boy Scouts of America, and the Cub Scouts — its program for 7- to 10-year-olds — will keep its title, as well. But the Boy Scouts — the program for 11- to 17-year-olds — will now be Scouts BSA.
The organization has already started admitting girls into the Cub Scouts, and Scouts BSA begins accepting girls next year.
Surbaugh predicted that both boys and girls in Scouts BSA would refer to themselves simply as scouts, rather than adding “boy” or “girl” as a modifier.
The program for the older boys and girls will largely be divided along gender-lines, with single-sex units pursuing the same types of activities, earning the same array of merit badges and potentially having the same pathway to the coveted Eagle Scout award.
Surbaugh said that having separate units for boys and girls should alleviate concerns that girls joining the BSA for the first time might be at a disadvantage in seeking leadership opportunities.
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.”
The Girl Scouts at not amused:
The name change comes amid strained relations between the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts of America.
Girl Scout leaders said they were blindsided by the move, and they are gearing up an aggressive campaign to recruit and retain girls as members.Among the initiatives is creation of numerous new badges that girls can earn, focusing on outdoor activities and on science, engineering, technology and math. The organization is expanding corporate partnerships in both those areas, and developing a Girl Scout Network Page on LinkedIn to support career advancement for former Girl Scouts.
“Girl Scouts is the premier leadership development organization for girls,” said Sylvia Acevedo, the Girl Scouts’ CEO. “We are, and will remain, the first choice for girls and parents who want to provide their girls opportunities to build new skills … and grow into happy, successful, civically engaged adults.”
No doubt social media will take up the “Culture War” angle on this, but the real driver behind all this change might be much more simple:
Money.
The Girl Scouts and the BSA are among several major youth organizations in the U.S. experiencing sharp drops in membership in recent years. Reasons include competition from sports leagues, a perception by some families that they are old-fashioned and busy family schedules.
The Boy Scouts say current youth participation is about 2.3 million, down from 2.6 million in 2013 and more than 4 million in peak years of the past. The Girl Scouts say they have about 1.76 million girls and more than 780,000 adult members, down from just over 2 million youth members and about 800,000 adult members in 2014.
The overall impact of the BSA’s policy change on Girl Scouts membership won’t be known any time soon. But one regional leader, Fiona Cummings of Girl Scouts of Northern Illinois, believes the BSA’s decision to admit girls is among the factors that have shrunk her council’s youth membership by more than 500 girls so far this year. She said relations with the Boy Scouts in her region used to be collaborative and now are “very chilly.”
“How do you manage these strategic tensions?” she asked. “We both need to increase our membership numbers.”
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This move makes a lot of sense, though I will admit to a slight pang of nostalgia at the change. Overall, I am still thrilled with the decision and wish my girls had the opportunity when they were of Scouting age.Report
I was not a boy scout. My daughter did do girl scouts and if you catch those leaders in an honest moment they can foresee that with the exception of holdouts scouting in 15-20 years or sooner will probably be one large national organization. Boy Scouts is larger, more infrastructure, so their fear is this will essentially be a takeover by attrition. I cant really bring my self to be upset, many will drive the culture war aspect but that’s silly, this is mostly a business decision our of necessity not some great social messaging. I’m all for all kids scouting for the benefits of it.Report
Now if only the BSA would adopt the GS annual fund raising strategy. As a former Scout, I want to support the BSA (especially since they decided that being a club for the religious right to beat the left with was not a smart decision), but I’m not a huge fan of popcorn.
But those effing cookies the GS sell…Report
My troop sold pumpkins door to door around Halloween one year. It actually went really well. You can imagine though what it was like carrying a dozen of them on your back at the age of 13. *whew*Report
My nephew’s troop sells Blue & Gold sausage, bacon and chicken strips….mmm bacon..Report
JEALOUS!
and hungry…Report
Potential good change: Cookies.
Potential bad change: All cookie sales all the time with no other activities.
As an Eagle Scout, I’m sort of glad our fund raising activities were generally lame enough to avoid the temptation of becoming an organization that just constantly fund raises for fund raising’s sake.Report
I’ve got a suggestion for a simple change that would allow for a potential doubling of the size of the Girl Scouts…Report
Halve the price of the cookies?Report
I see what you did there.
From what I understand, the Girl Scouts are indoctrinated with the 10 Crack Commandments with special emphasis on Number 4.Report
We’re witnessing the death of yet another “separate but equal” thing… and if memory serves, the BS have far more outdoors type camps and such so it’s gain for girls all the way around.
Next step is to see if the Girl Scouts allow boys.Report
As a former Scoutmaster, I am ambivalent.
Part of me wants to welcome this as another step in inclusion, but in my experience, learning to encounter persons of the other sex requires first a grasp of our own identity.
I can see the advantages to single sex groups, where we give young people a place free of sexual dynamic to mature.The advantage to being in single sex environments, especially for young people entering puberty, is that it is easier to find your own identity, free of the need to display gender roles which don’t always fit.
And I’m not sure why the Girl Scouts are unable to offer a similar program as the Boy Scouts does.Report
The article suggests that the troops are NOT co-ed. You have male and female troops. The councils are co-ed.Report
@chip-daniels
I agree which is why I am very thankful I went to an all-male high school. There was still posturing but it was overall much easier.Report
The Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts seem like one of those organizations that made sense in the past but are really archaic in the present age. Like the Masons or the Odd Fellows but for children. Many parents really don’t seem to think that wilderness education is important for their children, it doesn’t really help you get into a selective college. Liberal learning parents might see the Boys Scouts as to tied up with what they see as bad values like imperialism and a form of masculinity they don’t see as a good thing. The Girl Scouts managed to build a more liberal and progressive reputation but still come across as irrelevant in the modern world to many people.Report
@leeesq
“The Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts seem like one of those organizations that made sense in the past but are really archaic in the present age.”
From my perspectivr, the mission is still important. Every generation loses their connection to the natural world a little more. The Boy Scouts are what made me an outdoorsman. Even if kids don’t embrace the outdoors like I did, they can still develop a healthy appreciation. They also taught me a ton of self-reliance. All the other stuff like good turns daily, basic civics, emphasizing loyalty, first aid, etc…why wouldn’t we want this to stay important?Report
Agreed, despite the whole LGBT/religious right idiocy (which anyone who was in scouts 20-30 years ago will tell you, came out of right field), the skills & values scouting teaches are good & useful.Report
It is also important to remember that just because parents (or anyone) don’t value something doesn’t mean it is archaic.
In fact, there are many new organizations popping up aimed at helping kids connect with nature and you’re finding these mostly in liberal areas. Their focus is different than the Scouts but the idea of wilderness education is far from dead.
Look at programs like Tinkergarten or the “Forest Kindergarten” at the Jersey City Scandinavian School.
These aren’t necessarily taking the world by storm but are clearly responding to a desire for such programs.
I’m not sure if I’ll enroll my boys in the Scouts due to some misgivings about the political and religious aspects. But, it also seems like that may be changing. Regardless, I’d pursue opportunities for them to develop values and skills related to leadership, community, service, etc. on top of some of the practical skills and appreciation for a world beyond that which I might naturally expose them to.Report
I would disagree with those parents’ focus on getting into a selective college as a goal that should override all others. I see a lot of value in wilderness education, although I had very, very little of it myself.
I say that as someone who has a strong personal ambivalence about Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts (the organizations, not the members and not even necessarily the parents).Report
My experience was that while wilderness education was a lot of what we did, it was not really the point of what we did. The point was to get kids doing things that required them to learn, plan, work in groups, and generally be responsible for their own success.
We’d go camping once a month and each patrol was responsible for its own logistics–food, supplies, etc. There was planning to do before you left and tasks to perform at certain times while you were there. If you didn’t do those things or plan properly, you were typically unhappy and uncomfortable. The adults would have to backstop you and if something went fairly wrong, there was a postmortem discussion.
The process was one of starting as a fairly young kid who didn’t know how to take care of himself and was too shy to talk to people and growing into a young adult who knew how to cook, budget, handle minor emergencies, and step up to lead others who didn’t have those skills yet. The wilderness part of it was a gimmick to make those other things happen. It could have been centered around any number of other activities. All that matters is teamwork, accountability, and a steadily increasing set of responsibilities as the kids grow.Report
Thanks for clarifying. I honestly don’t know much about scouts aside from a year (maybe 2?) spent in cub scouts.Report
As the father of a life member Girl Scout, I would mourn the passing of that organization. It may have its faults, but it’s done a world of good for girls the world over for generations.Report