Last month the National Board of the Boy Scouts of America
voted unanimously to open their Cub Scout and Boy Scout programs to girls,
beginning in 2018 and 2019 respectively.
Predictably, the predictable media immediately jumped on the
story, predictably reporting that major changes had come to the BSA, that
the long-time Scouting movement as we know it was gone, and that the non-profit
organization had made the move in desperation for money. Anyone could have
predicted that response.
Additionally, naysayers gleefully declared that Scouting was
finally dead, the century-old organization now altered beyond repair, and that
this faithful entity of America had at last met its demise.
As a 30-year Scouting member myself, and after 20 years of
being married to a professional Scout executive, I feel that I must speak out
and clarify what these changes mean and why I still think Scouting is relevant and needed.
If one looks past the predictable media and the ever-present
critics of good, the changes made by the National Board actually deserve a levelheaded
review.
