BSA, RIP

We must depend upon the Boy Scout Movement to produce the MEN of the future.

– Daniel Carter Beard

It’s never easy to lose something close to our hearts. It’s especially hard when the loss was preventable and the result of pure malevolence.
The Boy Scouts of America is dead. The cowed leadership of an organization founded by greater men has rebranded itself as Scouts BSA, a name that reeks of focus-grouping and social fashion. They dropped “Boys” because the group is now co-ed.
The spirit of Lord Baden-Powell, founder of Scouting in Britain, and Daniel Carter Beard, founder of the Sons of Daniel Boone, which later merged with the Boy Scouts in America, has been trashed by the radical feminist movement corroding its way through society. Feminists aren’t finished, but the organization long dedicated to helping boys become good men is. Whatever Scouts BSA does, it cannot live up to the high calling of its founders.
I’ve written about my involvement with Boy Scouts as an adult volunteer, my high regard for the organization’s purpose, and the quality of Troop leaders with whom I served. These accomplished men dedicated much time and effort to provide boys with adventure and character-building opportunities they would not otherwise have, in an all-male setting that was ideal for the purpose.
A few of our Troop’s boys lacked male role-models outside of Scouting, though as a group we beat the national averages. In America’s homes, a quarter of children live in female-headed households. Nearly four-in-ten do not live with their biological fathers. In school, three-quarters of teachers are women. At the places where kids spend most of their waking hours, many boys never receive the constructive and undivided attention from the types of men they should aspire to become. Boy Scouts filled a crucial gap.
Feminists attack beneficial all-male institutions (and even the idea of maleness – see the October 2016 Cover”girl,” James Charles), even as more boys are growing into troubled men. Compared to girls, boys perform poorly in school. More girls than boys go to college and complete advanced degrees. Young men are more likely to be victims of homicide and drug overdose. They have higher rates of suicide and incarceration. It should surprise no one that growing up without positive male role-models in female-dominated homes and schools has negative consequences for boys.
In a 2014 article, Atlantic Monthly quoted a teacher positing that “[G]irls work best when sitting in a circle facing each other and find it more comfortable to learn in a group setting. Instead, boys often excel in a traditional class structure with desks lined in rows, which could support their more competitive energies and attention getting behaviors.”
The article noted that in school, girls “are more apt to plan ahead, set academic goals, and put effort into achieving those goals. They also are more likely than boys to feel intrinsically satisfied with the whole enterprise of organizing their work, and more invested in impressing themselves and their teachers with their efforts.” By statistics and observation, boys and girls do better in different settings and respond to authority differently.
Our classrooms are aligned more to the needs of girls than boys. And “boys being boys” isn’t tolerated. In Maryland, a judge upheld the suspension of an elementary school boy who chewed a Pop Tart into the shape of a gun and “disrupted” his class. In North Carolina, a middle school student was suspended for doodling a sword-wielding Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. Our feminized school system is alienating boys at alarming rates, and when many of these boys go home, there’s no one there with a shared perspective and experience.
What’s wrong with having an organization dedicated to boys’ unique needs and learning styles? What’s wrong with helping to fill the blank spaces that exist in too many boys’ lives? There are plenty of co-ed activity-focused organizations – including Venturing and Sea Scout programs operated by the former Boy Scouts of America. Girls still have Girl Scouts, which will probably remain dedicated to girls only. Why destroy the all-male focus of Boy Scouts?
Scouts BSA gave many reasons for the change, but none focused on meeting the unique needs of boys. The simple fact is that modern feminism is a powerful force that has infiltrated all parts of society. It won’t tolerate the literal or figurative “old boys network” in any manifestation, and it has no sense of humor or humility. It also won’t engage in the hard work of building up its own organizations; it’s easier and more emotionally-rewarding for them to destroy the creations of others.
The war on boys continues. Boy Scouts of America is simply the latest casualty. But it won’t be the last.