The Death of the Boy Scouts of America

[January 13, 2025]  One of the most tragic failures of the 20th century is the decline and death of the Boy Scouts of America. Anyone interested can discover a laundry list of reasons for their demise, from their movement away from Christianity to opening up to gays and girls in their organization.  I lay the blame solely with the BSA’s upper leadership.

Driven by a corporate culture of profit over teaching boys how to be a good man and a desire to run BSA as a corporate-like enterprise, they missed the point of boy scouting.  In doing so, senior scout leaders destroyed one of the most valuable and endearing cultural institutions in America. Their leaders failed America’s boys spectacularly and, at the same time, harmed generations of young boys whose future will not be as bright or valuable as it could be.

As a young lad, I spent a year in the BSA. I remember the skills they taught me, and I used those scouting values throughout my 40 years in the U.S. Army. It made the difference. My son was fortunate enough to make Eagle Scout and Order of the Arrow by 1999.  By that time, we could start to see cracks in the organization: profit before all. But at least the organization would fight to keep its Christian values.

After my retirement in 2014, I volunteered in a small but highly energetic Boy Scout Troop. I was happy to see caring, experienced, no-nonsense adult leaders run an exceptional troop again. Most of these boys were from poor rural areas, so money was tight. That was good enough to show them skills at saving money. Progress was slow, but that was acceptable because learning while having fun was our goal.

Yet, on May 27, 2024, the Boy Scouts announced they were changing their names to “Scouting America” to be more inclusive. They had already allowed all-girl troops years before, and several girls earned the scouting’s highest rank, Eagle, in a little over a year. According to scouting standards, this violated their advancement criteria, but no one protested.

Why did the Boy Scouts abandon their old name and stop upholding basic principles of leadership and the fulfillment of Christian values?  Starting in 1920, scouting was created to teach the poorest and most needy boys the virtues of patriotism, honesty, courage, and self-reliance. The founders created an organization for boys craving heroism with a code of chivalry, all wrapped with an allure of the great outdoors.

They were taught that masculinity was self-sacrificing and a noble charge to emulate. The spirit of duty and selflessness was at the core of what it meant to be a Boy Scout. For 115 years, the value of an all-boys organization was self-evident to all mature folks. Social pressure began to mount for the Boy Scouts to become more relevant and inclusive. Basic woodcraft skills were replaced by urban survival skills. Scoutmasters became camp counselors.

By the 1990s, a seismic shift began as the Boy Scouts were seen as too patriotic, too wholesome, and way too masculine. Rights groups attacked them to drop their emphasis on boys to include girls, transgender kids, gays, and atheists. The Boy Scouts now were renouncing their original purpose of developing selfless and self-reliant young men.

Now that all this has taken place, now that masculinity is rejected, are boys better off?  What about girls? How about society in general?  The answer is NO.  It turns out that the role of an organization that teaches Boyd their proper role in society was better for everyone, and erasing it was better for no one.

Note:  I want to thank Virginia House of Delegates Nick Freitas for his insightful discussions on boy scouting.

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Please read my books:

1. “55 Rules for a Good Life,” on Amazon (link here).
2. “Our Longest Year in Iraq,” on Amazon (link here).