Guest Column: Girls in Boy Scouts

Today's guest column is by invitation.  Ed Fenstermacher, an MIT classmate of mine who has several guest columns to his credit here the past few years, has been a very active leader in scouting activities.  Accordingly, when the news broke of the Boy Scouts' decision to introduce programs for girls, I asked Ed, as an expert in Scouting, to comment.
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As a long-time adult leader in the Boy Scouts of America, I was surprised by the news that we would admit girls to the Cub Scouting program in 2018, and older girls to BSA “with a path to Eagle Scout” by 2019.  Unlike every media outlet I have heard from, and certainly unlike GSUSA, for me it was a pleasant surprise.  Let me explain why.

Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts are both quality youth programs.  They both have an active outdoor program that promotes camping.  They both promote good moral values, many of which you do not get from, for instance, sports programs.  But Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts are structured differently, and have different emphases.  My wife has been active as a Girl Scout leader for even longer than I’ve been a Boy Scout leader, and we contribute to both organizations financially.
 

Boy Scouts has the Cub Scout program for elementary school youth, and the Boy Scout program for middle and high school youth.  In addition, the Boy Scouts has the Exploring program, the Venturing program, and the Sea Scouts program.  All of those programs are open to youth from age 14 up, and all already admit girls.  If memory serves, Exploring was admitting girls when I joined in 1965.  This is nothing new.  Girls have been members of BSA for decades. 
 

Usually, when a boy joins a troop, he will be in the same troop as long as he stays in Boy Scouts, will learn from the older boys as well as adults, and grow to be a leader himself.  A boy progresses from Scout to Tenderfoot, Second Class, First Class, Star, Life and Eagle, each building on the one before.  You cannot earn Eagle Scout without earning all the lower ranks.  Also, starting with Star, each rank requires several months of service in one of a list of leadership positions, all of which require planning and working with other scouts, usually younger scouts for whom they are expected to direct, teach, and set an example for.  In an ideal troop, most of the leading is done by boys, not adults.  Each rank promotion requires a Board of Review, where three to six adults sit with the Scout and review his progress.
 

Girl Scouts is organized more along grade-level lines, starting with Daisies (K-1), and moving to Brownies (2-3), Juniors (4-5), Cadettes (6-8), Seniors (9-10), and Ambassadors (11-12).  The programs at each level are distinct; certain awards may be earned only at certain levels.  The highest award, the Gold Award, is earned only by Seniors and Ambassadors, and they are not required to have earned the Silver Award as a Cadette.  Most leadership in Girl Scouts is from the adults, although leadership is required for Silver Award and Gold Award projects.
 

Both the Gold Award and Eagle Scout Rank require a project, but again the requirements are different.  They are both difficult and time-consuming.  Some projects would meet the requirements of either program, but many that would meet the Gold Award requirements would not meet Eagle Scout requirements, and vice-versa.  The Gold Award Project has defined service hour requirements, the Eagle Service Leadership Project does not, but it does require supervision of other persons.  There are other differences in emphasis on the projects.
 

The Eagle Scout Rank has other requirements as well.  In addition to the skills learned for the lower ranks, it requires earning 21 merit badges, 10 required of all Eagle Scouts, and three with a short list of options (e.g., swimming or hiking or cycling).  Merit badges required for Eagle include First Aid, Personal Fitness, Personal Management, Camping, and four involving Citizenship.  Many of the required badges require a significant level of effort.
 

There are many girls who are well served by the Girl Scouts, and for whom that program meets all of their needs.  There are others who may be better off, and get more out of, a program structured like Boy Scouts.  Only the girls and their families can make the decision as to which is best for a given girl, but I think that, in a country of 325 million individuals, we should be free to choose the best program for each child.
 

Let me dispel a couple misconceptions before I close.  It was already announced that for Cub Scouts, each den will be all boys or all girls, and the Cub Scout Packs will be able to choose to be all boys, all girls, or have dens (the smaller groups) of each.  While the announcement did not include details for the program for older girls, it can be expected to follow the same pattern.  I expect there will always be all-boy units, but there may also be mixed and all girl units.  There are already Explorer Posts and Venture Crews that are all female.  In one notable case, the same group of girls was registered both as an Explorer Post and a Girl Scout troop so they could maximize the number of events they could participate in.  For several years, in the winter camping Klondike Derby in our District, that Post won the best unit competition.
 

Also, as a result of the abuse incidents which occurred in the past, BSA has implemented a very strong Youth Protection programs, in which every adult who works with a youth must be trained every two years, and adhere to.  I can say for certain that, however things are implemented, boys and girls will not be sharing tents, etc.  That is a non-starter for all concerned, no matter what you have heard through the media.
 

On a survey I filled out last year about my thoughts as a Boy Scout Leader, I was asked about what I would change.  I thought about the fact that there was no aspect of learning and living by the Scout Oath and Law, no camping skill, no first aid skill, nor merit badge knowledge, that would not be just as valuable in the life of a girl as in the life of a boy, and I wrote, “We should admit girls, and allow them to earn Eagle.”  I believed it then, and still do.
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Ed Fenstermacher has been an adult leader in BSA for over a quarter of a century, serving as a Den Leader, Cubmaster, Scoutmaster, Unit Commissioner, Merit Badge Counselor, and currently as a District Eagle Advisor.  He is the father of a daughter who earned the Girl Scout Gold Award, and two sons who are Eagle Scouts.  A dozen scouts have earned Eagle on his watch as Scoutmaster, and Ed has worked with nearly 200 Boy Scouts who either have earned Eagle, or are well on their way.  He is looking forward to having the opportunity to work with some of the first girls who will earn the Eagle Scout rank.

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Copyright 2017 by Robert Sutton
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