Motivation and character count
On unruly boys, the inculcation of worthy virtues, and why it's good for everyone when girls have a path to becoming Eagle Scouts
The institution formerly known as the Boy Scouts of America opened up to welcoming girls as full, regular members in 2019. Girls had long had access to a fraction of the Scouting experience via the Explorer program, but progression through the ranks was an option foreclosed.
■ This has been corrected, and now a pathway to the Eagle Scout Award -- the highest award in Scouting and the best-recognized in all of youth leadership development -- is wide-open for girls who have the initiative, character, and persistence to go after it. This change makes Scouting America (the organization’s present name) more useful to the country.
■ There is not one single aspect of the Scout Oath or point in the Scout Law that depends upon gender. It’s just as important for girls to be trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent as it is for boys. Practicing these virtues is good for boys and girls alike, and society is better off if we promote them in 100% of our people, rather than telling 50% they may not apply.
■ The same changes that have made Scouting safe for girls have also made it safer for boys. And it’s important to note how Scouting works, for those of middle school and high school age: The programs are run by and for the Scouts themselves. Adults are there to provide safe supervision and consultation, but the entire point is that Scouting is a matter of youth development -- the movement is trying to produce self-starters, leaders, and problem-solvers who don’t wait for someone else to do things for them.
■ There are some who think the contemporary format of Scouting is unfavorable to boys. People with these impressions are, mainly, imposing a wildly erroneous model that doesn’t fit the program -- and never has.
■ Scouting isn’t a warehouse for unruly boys. It’s a character-development and skill-development program for youth -- adolescents who are on the verge of becoming adults. It is a good thing made better through reforms like those of the present day.
■ There’s likely nothing more urgently needed in America today than motivated leaders with good character. Likewise, there is little better we can do for adolescents than give them worthwhile goals and constructive paths to a skilled, confident adulthood. Boys and girls can follow those paths alike.
