A Whimper

Remember in Revenge of the Sith, there was a line about democracy dying to thunderous applause? I wish. 

Scouting is dying in my stake with a whimper. No final push. No big send off. None of that. This is not common knowledge yet, but the word will soon go out from the Stake Young Men's Presidency that if you have boys who don't want to do scouting, you don't need to. Instead you can do skill development, like camping or cooking, but don't call it scouts. Or you can just do fun stuff. Whatever it takes to keep the young men coming to church stuff. Scout type activities will not be held on our normal mutual night. If something we plan accidentally meets some requirements of scouting that is fine, but don't advertise it. 

I get it. Keeping them involved and coming is more important. But how is it that scouts isn't considered fun? Shooting, camping, campfires, Archery, hiking, swimming, knots, knives, axes, none of that is considered fun by our youth. What do they think is fun? Video Games and basketball. That is it. That is the sum total of what they want to do. They aren't even focused on cars and girls, I can understand that. 

So, those boys that need merit badges will have to find a way to get them done outside of scouts. Campouts? Maybe we will have to piggyback on other troops, because the rest of our boys won't want to do that. 

They will be sending out a second email asking whether anyone wants any help meeting rank advancement requirements. But since hardly anyone responded last time, it probably won't get much response this time. 

Maybe there will be some interest in cobbling together a stake troop that will have activities on the occasional Saturday or Thursday night. I'd love to be part of it. But I can't. I have Community troop Tuesdays, ward youth night Wednesday, District or Council scouting activities on Thursdays, and I will not drag my son to yet another lame scout-ish activity. He barely has time to do homework as it is. 

Have you ever had a moment where a switch was flipped in your head ant it was over, flat out done, fell out of love with a former passion? For me that was on a phone call about an our ago. 

-Caligratis

Final Countdown

With the Final Countdown happening, I'm seeing two extremes. 

Some people are panicked, and others have checked out. 

The panicked seem to want to cram it all in and make up for lost time. I say better late than never. I am all for pushing the boys down the path. BUT, and its a big but, we run the risk of pencil whipping or getting boys signed off who didn't really do the work. It is tempting. But it contributes to the overall weakness of the LDS program. We are notorious for having weak eagles. In fact, I've heard a derogatory term "Seagull" Scouts (Seagle Scouts?) to refer to LDS eagles. I have a scout who just turned 18, but he definitely meets that description. As much as we want to push, I hope we do things correctly and not just to get the boys advanced. 

Another discussion are the folks who have the best intention, but have become rules police. I have no problem with following the rules, but if you are going to be a self-appointed cop, make sure you know what you are talking about. Remember the green book is gone, we aren't using it anymore and we aren't held to its rules. 

On the other side are those who have checked out. If you are in that position and have no desire to do scouting anymore, please get out. Ask to be released. The boys deserve more from you. If you are willing, but unable to fulfill your calling, please ask to be released. The boys deserve a full program. 

The church's statement is diplomatic: (https://www.lds.org/bc/content/shared/english/young-men/Principles-and-Guidelines-for-Boy-Scout-and-Cub-Scout-Units-eng.pdf?lang=eng&cid=email-MC_SG19_061218_button) 

I'm not. To quote what ever genius first said it, "Lead, Follow, or get out of the way." These boys deserve the best program we can deliver. Anything less is theft. 

-Caligratis

Guest Post: Where does the LDS Scouting program go from here?

My last guest post was doomy and gloomy, but since a Scout is cheerful, this one is more upbeat. Everyone in LDS scouting that I have had a chance to talk to believes it is just a matter of time until the church formerly separates from scouts. Here are some crazy ideas about what could happen:

1.     Done. Bye. It’s over. The church walks away completely.

a.      They cut all ties and walk away (I don’t see that happening)

b.     They do an alimony payment for a time similar to what they did for the 14+ scouts in 2017, and give the families who want to continue, a number of months to explore and find other troops. Maybe they fund dues for the first year.

2.     A slow phase out. Maybe scouts for deacons goes away in      2019, and Cubs in 2020.

3.     Things stay as they are as of right now. Possible, but unlikely.

4.     What if something crazy happens?

That is what I’d like to explore. I had a crazy idea of combining the stake into one troop. If only two or three scouts are excited about scouts per ward, and if each stake has seven to 10 wards this would be a troop of 20-30 boys who actually care. This would allow the stake to call a Scoutmaster and multiple Assistants. It would allow our Eleven Year Olds to be a larger and let’s face it more fun program.

A variation of that is to combine troops within a building. On average we have two or three wards in each building. We often combine with the other ward anyway. This would reduce the number of leaders and classrooms needed. The church seems to be reluctant to lose any unit numbers and the concept of the quorum being the troop would have to be thrown out.

Another variation of this is to separate scouts from the young men’s program. Have scouts be on a different night. Have the ward act like almost every other chartering organization that provides space and support. This would allow those that want to do scouts to step up and not wait to be called. LDS troops would be more aligned with every other troop in the country. The Church could still decide not to have female participation. This would also however cause scouts to become just as expensive for those who participate as it is in the rest of the country. One of the things that was helpful was that there was little cost to LDS families. This of course is a double-edged sword and a cruel kindness. The church would probably not be as prominent on the National Board as in the past.

Of course, this is all wild speculation (and probably a little pointless) but it is the kind of stuff that occupies my brain when driving or trying to fall asleep. This exercise however brings me a bit of optimism because I think scouting is worthwhile. I think LDS scouting needs a shot in the arm. As much as I’m trying in my troop, I can affect only a dozen or so boys. A national approach to avoid throwing the baby out with the bathwater would still allow for boys to feel encouraged to participate. This would have the benefit of avoiding the mental conflict for those families that really don’t support Scouting. Maybe we can turn things around and make a program that our leaders will want to support. Rather than banging our heads against a wall, perhaps it will become attractive to boys.

Ask me about my thoughts on girls in Boy Scouts sometime.

Tell me how wrong I am. Tell me if you agree. Either way I welcome your thoughts.

Cali-Gratis

Post Script: The high rate of turnover is a real issue in the church troops. I have a friend who was called as a Webelos Leader and his bishop told him that it would be for at least five years. That kind of blew my mind. I had the chance to meet Charles Dahlquist a couple of years ago, and he said scout callings should be considered tenure callings.  Only he called it "ten-year." In non-scout troops, a ten year scoutmaster is nowhere near unique. This might help bring stability and that really shouldn't be underestimated when implementing a complex program.  

FISHGUTTS: Stake Scouting is what should happen with volunteers and zero callings. I say Stake because that will give you the best possibilities for patrols. Make patrols out of boys who go to the same building and cross-pollinate them with boys that are not in their ward but in their building. My ONLY concern about this is that is if you allow the Stake Young Men's Presidency to "preside" over this you will fail. This program MUST report straight to the Stake President and Bishops as a whole. If you allow the SYMP to run this who are not Scouters you end up with the same problem as before. A crap program that will soon die. They would have zero idea what to do with it. 

Guest Post: The Church Should Leave Scouting

Fishgutts invited me to write a guest column. I had to think on it for a while. Firstly, because I don’t have a cool nickname, secondly because I’m not sure I want my rants to be identifiable. Scouting in most areas are very small groups and we can easily identify who is whom. LDS Scouters probably even more so. To combat this, I will be changing some of the identifiable facts. The stories will be true, the names will be changed to protect…well…no one is innocent. Names won’t be used. How’s that? Everyone on board? OK.

I feel like a hypocrite. A few years back when the BSA allowed gay leaders, I wrote an impassioned letter to The First Presidency. I wish I could find it. In it I pleaded with them to keep scouting as part of the church. I had heard for years of members not wanting to participate and wanting the church to leave. They had to have been wrong and must not have understood the program. At the time I was an outsider looking in. I was in scouts as a youth but hadn’t participated at all in the intervening years. Since then, I have been in cub scouts, I volunteered to help the troop by being on the committee and handle advancement, both my wife and I involved ourselves in the district and council and I am now in troop leadership.

As part of my calling, I’ve done a lot of reading. I learned about the derogatory term Seagull Scouts. I have heard the change in council and district people’s voices when I explained that I am in an LDS troop. I didn’t know or understand what a bad reputation the church has in scouts. We have low participation in council and district activities. We don’t respond to calls or emails from these volunteers. Our leaders are poorly trained and our scouts don’t seem to measure up. We seem to do a lot of pencil whipping of the requirements. Nationally the majority of injuries are with LDS scout troops.

How sad. Our leaders in Salt Lake spend tons of money on scouts. Apostles, Young Men and Primary presidencies and other General Authorities go to national meetings and trainings and build facilities and have ribbon cuttings while wearing uniforms. I can’t even get my stake young men’s presidency or bishopric to show up for a committee meeting. Why is there such a disconnect?

I think the lack of skin in the game is part of it. I have heard that if things are given for free you don’t appreciate it. That is proving true in my experience. But the parents and the boys are only reflections of the program they see. The true problem lies with our local leaders. My ward troop had five Scoutmasters in four years and I lost track of how many Assistant Scoutmasters. Some were due to people moving but much was due to the fact that after they were called they never showed up again. Did they understand the calling? Where they told it was more than one hour a week? Scouting is not a prep-for-an-hour-and-teach-out-of-the-manual calling. There is a lot to it. The scoutmaster is also in the Young Men’s Presidency and is a Quorum Advisor. When I was a youth, that was three separate callings. Before my wife and I started attending Roundtable, they hadn’t seen an LDS troop representative in years. One other Cub Scout Committee Chair comes from one of the other wards in the district, but no one else. My Stake leaders have never been to the LDS/BSA Relationships Committee meetings. Our Council has a Religious Relationships Committee. I showed up one day, but no LDS troop or pack leaders who were ever invited have.

In my ward, the scouting program takes a back seat to every other activity that pops up. Oh, you had that on the calendar for four months? Sorry, we want the boys to come to this other thing. Campout? No, the stake just set that day for the first basketball game.

When the counselor extended the callings to be in scouts, I had a multi-hour discussion about what the bishopric wanted and expected. My wife was there. We asked tons of questions. We told them what I would do, and how I would do it. We asked them if they were sure that is what they wanted. Yes, it was. But every step of the way I am undermined and most recently was told that we have a budget of $0 and that we should reduce scouts to once a month to focus on Duty to God. Well, I work on Duty to God each week in my quorum meeting. It is working. For the first time in nearly a decade, a Deacon has earned the Duty to God Award. But, boys advancing is not as important as basketball on Wednesday nights.

We in the church don’t seem to care. But you know what? The BSA is the only third party the church has ever used to handle the activities of one of the auxiliaries. Think about that. Up until this past year the church has used the BSA as the activity wing for young men for over 100 years.

I work with a non-LDS Troop too. They have problems, but the boys have fun. The boys and leaders want to be there. They do service projects and the boys attend. They have uniforms and bring their handbooks. They have the contacts and resources to do cool stuff.

The previous Scoutmaster was not terribly effective. I always thought his tales of woe were exaggerated. It reminded me of Mormon Bids Farewell to a Once Great Nation, by Arnold Friberg. I have since apologized to him.

Over the past three and a half years I have seen how wrong I was. I no longer want the church in Scouts. I believe the time is short anyway and was accelerated with Pres. Monson’s passing. This brings me no joy, but I truly believe that scouting in general and LDS scouts who will choose to continue with outside troops will benefit. I will do my best to keep magnifying my calling. I will organize district events and will go to the district commissioner and committee meetings. I will be taking a week off work to go to summer camp. I will go back to the University of Scouting, and I will take the Wood Badge course and do everything I can to provide the best, most fun program possible for my little ward troop. I just wonder how futile it is.

Signed - Cali-Gratis

Post Script: I have never quite been able to pinpoint what "magnify your calling" means. But this comes close:   "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds"

That and D&C 58:26 ... for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant...

I don't want step by step instructions, I just don't want my leaders to get in the way of my carrying out the assignment they gave me. If they run interference, I can't do my job.