No special post — I’ll be commenting all year — but today is the official anniversary date for the founding of the Boy Scouts of America.
100 million boys later, we can tell for certain it’s a good idea.
Boy Scouts paddling canoes on the Blackwater River, Virginia - Wikipedia image
This entry was posted on Monday, February 8th, 2010 at 8:30 am and is filed under Boy Scouts of America, Citizenship, History. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
(The Life of Reason, vol. 1: Reason in Common Sense)
Ed Darrell on Texas's Colorado River
Come on in, the water's fine. Come often: Cleanliness is next to godliness.
Or, until that account is unsuspended by the forces supporting Donald Trump:
Follow @FillmoreWhite, the account of the Millard Fillmore White House Library
Retired teacher of law, economics, history, AP government, psychology and science. Former speechwriter, press guy and legislative aide in U.S. Senate. Former Department of Education. Former airline real estate, telecom towers, Big 6 (that old!) consultant. Lab and field research in air pollution control. My blog, Millard Fillmore's Bathtub, is a continuing experiment to test how to use blogs to improve and speed up learning processes for students, perhaps by making some of the courses actually interesting. It is a blog for teachers, to see if we can use blogs. It is for people interested in social studies and social studies education, to see if we can learn to get it right. It's a blog for science fans, to promote good science and good science policy. It's a blog for people interested in good government and how to achieve it. BS in Mass Communication, University of Utah Graduate study in Rhetoric and Speech Communication, University of Arizona JD from the National Law Center, George Washington University
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub
As a pragmatic matter it would be untoward, if not a violation of law, for a Scouting organization to ask about the sexual orientation of a boy signing up.
In other words, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”?
Okay, but it’s a little trickier to hide in the closet as an atheist Boy Scout since you’re required to make frequent and public pledges to “God.” Unless you lie, that is.
Even my husband – an atheist and the most moral person I know, by the way – would be considered morally “unfit” to serve as a leader.
So, no, Scouting is not a great opportunity for almost every kid. In fact, even non-excluded youth are witnessing (and maybe participating in) in discriminatory practices that demonize and shun others.
LikeLike
Cool entry I just Love it, Keep posting more like this!
LikeLike
Actually, it’s gay leaders who are proscribed, not gay Scouts. As a pragmatic matter it would be untoward, if not a violation of law, for a Scouting organization to ask about the sexual orientation of a boy signing up.
Since sex is forbidden on Scout trips (even between wife and husband), this is rarely an issue.
Several European nations actively recruit gay leaders. With the powerful system Scouting has to prevent molestation, and since most molestation comes from otherwise heterosexuals, I can foresee a day when Scouting will again come around to requirements for leaders that won’t exclude some of the founders of Scouting, and Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Buchanan and Lincoln.
My advice to kids is to join Scouting. It should be a great opportunity for almost every kid. Girl Scouts work at least as well for girls. Alas, they don’t have a program that accepts boys at any level (Boy Scouts’ Venturing program can be co-ed).
LikeLike
Unless the boy is gay. Then forget about it.
LikeLike