Boy Scouts of America files for bankruptcy

Facing hundreds of sex abuse lawsuits.

Sad.

Boy Scouts of America files for bankruptcy amid hundreds of sexual abuse lawsuits - CNN

 

Couldn't happen to a more deserving organization, except the Catholic Church.

 

So the current organization needs torn to ground.

Should something replace it? My daughter is a Girl Scout, and with all its mismanagement at the local level, it’s still a good organization.

Can the local troops press forward? Do localities run something sort of like parks and rec soccer but with teams of scouts?

 

Before the usual suspects weigh in with a woe-is-America-leave-its-national-institutions-alone take, here’s a reminder that Boy Scouts of America made the bed they’re being forced to lie down in.

watchdog: Inside the Boy Scouts' 'Perversion Files' — Los Angeles Times

 

I made it as far as Webelos before quitting. Still remember slaving over that Pinewood Derby car...

 

I had a good experience with Scouting, made friends, did more outdoors stuff than I likely would have - but I'm guessing this bankruptcy is just a legal maneuver like they did with some Catholic dioceses. It doesn't undo the damage done by people within the organization.

 

It is sad. Can we have one thing that doesn't get debased?

I didn't get very far in it, but scouting was one of the things that best blended kids from differing socioeconomic backgrounds, and almost completely erased the lines.

 

The lawsuits I'm sure are a big factor. But so is the declining participation in outdoor recreation across the USA.

A little less than half of the entire population did not participate in outdoor recreation at least once in 2018. Only 13.9 percent of Americans went camping (and that includes backyard camping) at least once.

 

Surprised by those figures. Hiking is a way bigger deal than it was when I was a kid. A nice niche industry also.

 

You would hope there is a way to thread the needle and provide justice for victims without destroying the organization and the good it does. It obviously took way too long to implement them, but once they acted the scouts took effective steps to prevent abuse. Today there are very strict guidelines - a single scout can never be supervised only by a single adult, for example - that, at least in the troop my sons are in, are closely followed. I have never had a moment's doubt about my sons being safe at scout events, and it's been a very good program for them.

 

I credit a lot of my work ethic, project management skills and leadership abilities and sense of adventure to my nine years in Boy Scouts...that said, I hope it's blown up and replaced by a co-ed, civic-minded organization that replaces all the military indoctrination with an emphasis on civic duty and nature conservation.