Context: I was a Boy Scout for a number of years, making Eagle in 2020 right as COVID was really kicking off.
It was right afterwards, however, that the CSA scandal started popping up everywhere (which thankfully I was never exposed to or involved in during my time), and lately it seems like the organization & movement as a whole has fallen by the sociocultural wayside.
I would say that my time as a Scout did me objective good; I learned a decent amount about first-aid & survival-craft, participated in a number of volunteer & civic projects, and it generally made me a more well-rounded person. However, there’s no denying the impact that something “bigger than the Catholic Church scandal”, as I’ve heard it described, has on an institution such as this.
I’d like to get the community’s opinion, however; were any of you Scouts? How was your experience? What is your opinion of the institution today?
Scouting experience really depends a lot on the local troop (and council to some extent)
I had reservations about BSA (now just SA I guess :), but my son decided to join some years back, and I supported him, even eventually becoming an assistant scoutmaster in his troop.
I would say the program has a lot of great aspects, and I have seen first hand many kids really benefit from it, helping them overcome various challenges and grow into better and more independent people, including my son who also benefited from it greatly.
I do disagree with some of the policies, especially at the national level - I am an atheist, and the insistence on essentially not allowing atheists to participate openly is regrettable. I am glad they decided to allow girls and gay kids participate however.
Our troop was the first one in my area to allow girls to join. At the time we joined, the troop had a great group of kids (boys and girls) and parents which had the right attitude, and were generally looking for the right things from the program, focusing on what I think are the important aspects (for example religion played almost no role in our troop) and everything worked really well. I have definitely encountered other troops that I am pretty sure my son nor I would be able to stay with more than a day however. Also as kids age out, and new kids and parents join, the vibe of a troop can shift as well, so it’s a bit of a crapshoot. My son aged out, and I have transitioned out, but the last year in the troop things weren’t as good as when we first joined.
The scandals of the past are obviously terrible. However, other than having to do all the extra training and strict emphasis on rules designed to prevent such stuff from happening again in the future, I haven’t really seen any of that type of stuff during my time with the scouts - no creeps, and all parents and volunteers I interacted with were generally quite on board with following the rules and working together to keep the environment safe. But I suppose as with everything, a lot depends on your area and specific troop.