What a shame that the American progressives/lefties have rendered the Scouts as meaningless in our nation today. Most people I know think it’s an archaic, bygone thing. Too bad. We need institutions like this.
>>What a shame that the American progressives/lefties have rendered the Scouts as meaningless in our nation today.
The troops that serve a “Eagle Factories” have done more to damage scouting than the liberals. The ones that boast “we’ll make your son an Eagle in x years” have lost the point of the whole thing. The author of this article understands when he says that a boy can advance in rank and responsibility or just be a part of the team. Either way, the boy is learning to be man, especially the part about how you have to work for what you want and be content with what you’ve earned.
I couldn’t disagree with you more. I live in a heavily immigrant community. Roughly 80% of my neighbors are either Indian or Asian. These are people who haven’t grown up with Scouts as an institution. Yet we have a large number of scouts in our area. I’m the scout master for one such unit. We have every major world religion represented in the troop. All of these boys are learning leadership, responsibility, and citizenship. Their parents agree that these are things worth learning.
So scouting is considered relevant in my neighborhood!
They haven’t rendered them meaningless, but it isn’t for lack of trying on their part...
Oh, no, my friend. They may have tried, but they have failed. We are still turning out our country's future in the BSA!
You need new friends. We don't have any kids ourselves, but there are Boy Scout troops at both the parishes we attend. They show up in their uniforms and usher every so often.