LETTER TO THE EDITOR: The only change in Scouting is its name

Dear Editor,

Much has been made recently about the Boy Scouts of America changing its name to Scouting America in 2025. First, let’s get the names correct. Boy Scouts of America is the current name of the overall organization (changing to Scouting America in 2025). Within the Boy Scouts of America, there are Cub Scouts (ages 5-10), Scouts BSA or just Scouting (ages 11-17) and Venturing, Sea Scouts and Exploring (ages through 20).

People who are shocked, horrified and/or astounded that the Boy Scouts of America would now admit young ladies are misinformed. There have been young ladies in Exploring since the late 1960s, including in south Georgia. After more than 50 years, we have a fairly good idea how to handle the hormone issues.

Cub Scouts has been de facto co-ed for as long as I can remember as it is family-based. Some councils even let the young ladies unofficially earn and wear badges.

The issue has been that a young lady could not be a member of Scouts BSA or Scouting, and thus could not earn the rank of Eagle Scout. This changed on Feb. 1, 2019. The addition of young ladies to the Scouting program has been successful beyond expectations. Troops are still limited to either boys or girls, but otherwise there is no difference. The path to Eagle (requirements) is the same.

The addition of young ladies has elevated the standards of the program and not lowered them. At the first two South Georgia Council Camporees after the addition of troops for young ladies, the female troops won every event, including first aid, tower building, canoeing, archery, axe throwing, camp fire cooking, river rapid escape, obstacle course, water rescue, rope bridge building, and survival training. The girl troops placed first, second and third overall. The boy troops had to raise their standards to compete, which they did by the third year.

All Boy Scouts of America programs, whether Cub Scouting, Scouting, or Venturing, Sea Scouts or Exploring, are organizations of people who believe in God (capital “G”). See Section 1 of Article IX. Policies and Definitions — Boy Scouts of America Charter and Bylaws. We are independent of any single faith or religion, while still holding to a strong spirituality and a belief in a higher power. There are Scouts from every religion, including Jewish Scouts, Catholic Scouts, Protestant Scouts and Muslim Scouts. The commonality is that a Scout must believe in a supreme being.

The mission of all of the Scouting programs is to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law. In preparing your child for life, all Scouting programs provide a great opportunity to meet youths of other religions.

Your child will be safe in all Scouting programs. You have undoubtedly heard about the unfortunate and rare times when Scouts were mistreated by adults. Almost all of these events took place before 1981 when The Boy Scouts of America instituted the “two-deep leadership rule.” Since this rule went into place, no adult may be alone with a Scout for any reason. Examples are Scoutmaster Conferences are held out of hearing but within sight of other adults, and all emails and letters to Scouts must be CC’ed to another adult. All professional and volunteer Scouts are now required to take an extensive training course before they are accepted. This course is updated, and the training must be renewed every two years for everyone.

In addition to the wonderful experiences your child will have in Scouting, being an Eagle Scout still commands respect. The rank of Eagle Scout is one of two accomplishments that a young person can complete that every adult immediately recognizes and values. The other is a black belt in one of the martial arts.

The rank of Eagle Scout is highly regarded by college entrance committees. There will almost certainly be an Eagle Scout or the parent of an Eagle Scout on every hiring committee that a youth will encounter. All branches of the military value Eagle Scouts, and if an Eagle Scout desires to pursue a career in the military, they will begin at a higher rank.

Lastly, and in my opinion most telling, being an Eagle Scout is the only thing from the Scout’s youth that is likely to be in his or her obituary.

South Georgia Council serves thousands of girls and boys at all levels of Scouting in 28 counties in south Georgia. For more information on Scouting in south Georgia go to https://www.sgcbsa.org/.

J. Michael Greene

Americus