I belong to several internet groups and forums that deal with Scouting topics. Once in a while I someone posts something that is a true gem. Recently, CrewMomma posted a article on the Scouter.com forums that I thought was awesome, and I want to share it with you:
A different way to view the BSA…
We still deliver the character traits found in the Scout Oath and Law. With those values in mind, today we are very much a part of workforce development! Employers tell me that they always need kids with a good education. But, what they would really like is people who come to work on time, don’t lie, and don’t steal from the company and who will give a full day’s work for a full day’s pay. Those are character issues, not educational issues.
People are seldom fired over reading, writing, and arithmetic… educational issues. People get fired over character issues… trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent. Your education is what gets you the interview. Your education is what is required to get the job you want. However, it is your character by which you keep that job.
Let’s get personal… Families don’t break up over educational issues. Relationships break up over character issues… trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind,… etc.
So… is character important? Tell me how football, baseball, and soccer will help a person keep his job. Tell me how sports reinforce traits that contribute to a successful marriage, business, or employment relationship. Scouting reinforces traits that are fundamental to being a successful parent, employee, employer, citizen, or partner in any relationship.
by John Thurston, retired Scout Executive from Corpus Christi, Texas
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Well that’s true, but an athletic scholarship gave me my college education. I’m not destitute poor to get a full ride from the BSA.
Athletics teach young men and women to overcome adversity, cooperate, set goals, gather around a similar goal, network with alumni, and it shows dedication. Sports teach people to handle adversity with surly teammates not unlike a job. Scouting can be an individual pursuit if one wants it to be.
I find it rather irritating how much scouts complain about athletics. One can dissent, but ignoring merits of another is downright disrespectful.
What would most kids rather be? An eagle scout on page 3 for a day, or be on the front page 3-4 times a year in a newspaper? Would he rather be on a football team and date another athlete as a result, or be a boy scout, relatively unknown, plagued with 1980s stereotypes and a scandal that people have not forgotten?
Are they really angry that these sports are “stealing” kids away from being scouts, or is there a fundamental belief that scouting just isn’t that appealing to youth anymore? Do the boy scouts really want those kids? Really? And shouldn’t this be a call to rally the troops and redefine the BSA into 2008?
That’s a blog post. Telling the same story of us vs. them for years isn’t all that interesting.