Boy Scouts...

[Sharon]

(02-01-2013 02:18 PM)elfdream Wrote:  There are scholarships available for Eagle Scouts but like everyone else they need the grades to go with it.

And by the way those same scholarships are available to girls who earn the Silver Venturing Award.

many available to Girl Scouts who earn the Gold Award as well.

[Sharon]

(02-01-2013 02:06 PM)myotch Wrote:  Meh. I gave my kid a choice. He wasn't applying himself in Boy Scouts like he did in Cub Scouts, and I didn't want him to go into the military until after college, if he so chooses. And with the number of advanced courses he was taking in middle school, to make him go to Scouts seemed like it would be him doing it because I wanted him to.

So, he had the choice, and he chose to cease scouting. Now, his public reasoning might have been seeing how those who wore their uniforms to school were treated - and that would be a terrible basis on which to quit, because the benefits of scouting should weight more than middle-school social stigma. But his work load was increasing, and we still wanted him to have some kind of enjoyable life. We saw other families with already tight schedules cramming scouting into it - some of the kids were absolutely miserable. The parents? Well, interested parents will always do what's best for their kids.

So, when college applications came around, my son was sweating that he didn't have enough extra-curriculars and volunteering that the better schools wanted - something the scouts offer in spades. Turns out, not the case - he was accepted at every college he applied to. And his scouting peers? Three Eagles. Two don't even have the grades to go to a school they could legacy into (their mom works for the university in question), and will probably go to something local. Another is in a weird family situation with a divorce and a remarried mom and a new half-sibling, and dad has never been all quite right upstairs, and he's looking to go to work instead of college. Others quit scouting for sports, and will fare as well or better because of it.

Don't get me wrong, I love scouting. It was good to us and for us as a family. But it's not the end-all-beat-all of a kid's positive youthful experience. If we had another kid, we'd have no problem signing him up for scouts the first day of first grade. Unless he had a wicked curve ball for a 7 year old.

My son's been in the Troop for 2 years, and has kind of been drifting along as Second Class since summer camp. I mentioned that there are merit badges he won't be eligible to take unless he's 1st class, and lo a fire was lit. He doesn't care about advancing nearly as much as he cares about camping with his friends. He's got some more adventurous plans for this year's summer camp, like water skiing. Last summer he took the Small Boat Sailing merit badge. These aren't opportunities he'd have had without Scouting.

but yeah, it's not for everyone, and there's no harm in that.