Boy Scouts of America

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The Ideal Scout, statue in Philadelphia ( Pennsylvania )

The Boy Scouts of America ( BSA ) are the largest US youth association. The scout organization is a member of the World Organization of the Scout Movement and is aimed primarily at boys and girls between the ages of 7 and 21.

history

The Boy Scouts of America were founded on February 8, 1910 by the entrepreneur and philanthropist William D. Boyce, together with other business people and people interested in youth work. Boyce had previously met the Boy Scout movement on a trip to London . A founding legend, the exact content of which can no longer be verified, reports of an unknown boy scout who led Boyce through the London fog and refused any reward. Impressed by this commitment, Boyce found out about the scout movement and met Robert Baden-Powell , the founder of the scout movement. Commercial interests may also play a role, however, as Boyce's companies included several newspaper publishers and Boyce's Scout magazines were the most successful and widely circulated youth magazines in Great Britain at the time.

Boyce was able to win additional supporters for the US scout movement, some of whom had already initiated their own youth organizations, and whose organizations are now merging with the BSA. Among them were Ernest Thompson Seton with the Woodcraft or the Woodcraft Indians or Daniel Carter Beard with the Sons of Daniel Boone . Nevertheless, various other scout organizations emerged in the USA, but either later merged with the BSA or disappeared into insignificance. This was mainly due to the very early ties to the state. When it was founded in 1910, US President William Howard Taft was offered the honorary chairmanship, a tradition that continues to this day.

Almost as important for the anchoring of the BSA in American society was the appointment of Norman Rockwell in 1913 as an illustrator for the membership magazine, who shaped the image of the Boy Scouts for a long time.

The BSA conducted its first national camp in Washington, DC in 1937 with 27,000 participants. 1938 donated Waite Phillips the BSA a large area at Cimarron ( New Mexico ) in the Rocky Mountains , where the Philmont Scout Ranch was established, the main camp area and training center of the dressing.

In 1967, the BSA hosted the 12th World Scout Jamboree , held in Idaho .

In 2000 the total number of all registered members ever reached 100 million.

In 2013 the Boy Scouts of America also allowed openly gay scouts, followed in 2015 by openly gay group leaders. In 2017 girls were finally admitted.

After the organization came under severe financial pressure from legal disputes, chairman Jim Turley announced in February 2020 that they had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy . The aim is to ensure that all victims of abuse are equally supported and compensated.

organization

BSA Regions

In administrative terms , the BSA are mainly divided into 304 local councils (which are grouped into areas and regions ), which are subdivided into districts . The BSA also has two oversea councils , namely the Transatlantic Council (Europe) and the Far East Council (Asia), as well as the Direct Service . The management of councils and districts is carried out by the so-called "Key 3", consisting of an (often remunerated) executive as well as a president / chairman and commissioner.

In 2004 the BSA had 2.95 million members who were led and supported by 1.15 million adults. Of the 122,500 local groups, about 400 are outside of the United States, mostly at major military locations or schools abroad.

All local groups are set up by a chartered organization, which usually provides the rooms and financial resources. The sponsors include primarily religious communities, youth associations and schools; However, numerous companies (including American Express , Nike and UPS ) and trade union associations such as the American Federation of Labor are also approved by the BSA . The main supporting organization is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . As a rule, the providers have no influence on the content of the work; but this does not apply to religious education.

The members of the BSA are divided into different age groups, whose local groups are largely independent:

Age range Age Group name Genders annotation
Cub scouts 7-10 years pack only boys
Boy scouts 11-18 years Troop only boys
Varsity scouts 14-18 years team only boys
Venturers 13-21 years crew Boys and girls
Sea scouts 13-21 years Ship Boys and girls
Learning for Life 5-18 years Boys and girls school offer

There are numerous other gradations within the age groups, which can usually be achieved by acquiring badges of achievement and proficiency. The most important and highest level within the Boy Scouts is that of the Eagle Scout ; Reaching this level can also bring professional benefits. The Eagle Scouts are united in the National Eagle Scout Association .

In addition to this, there are two other important associations that are aimed at members of the BSA. The Order of the Arrow , an official BSA program, is characterized by “ Indian rituals” in the tradition of the Woodcraft Indians and aims to encourage “happy service”; the Alpha Phi Omega student fraternity primarily unites former scouts.

Controversy

There was controversy about the cooperation between the BSA and industrial companies. Among other things, a cooperation between the Los Angeles BSA section and the Motion Picture Association of America , which aimed to train around 52,000 Boy Scouts on copyright issues, was criticized (participating Boy Scouts received a badge based on the copyright symbol upon successful completion of the training course ). Further criticized cooperations of the BSA extend to exclusively licensed trade products such as B. Knives made by Buck Knives . The longstanding association of boy scout meetings with trade fairs, such as the International Sportsmen's Exposition in Phoenix, Arizona, last held in February 2013 , in which up to 20,000 boy scouts took part in a few years , was also criticized .

Parts of the US public have criticized the BSA for denying membership to homosexuals , atheists and agnostics and / or excluding them from leadership positions. The BSA justify this with the goals of the association, which also include religious education and the teaching of values. According to the association, “homosexual leaders are not a positive role model for adolescents”. In the case of Boy Scouts of America v. In 2000, the US Supreme Court upheld Dale's position that the BSA, as an association, was allowed to regulate membership criteria on its own responsibility. Numerous European scout associations have criticized the BSA for this exclusion of groups of people. Attempts to change membership rules against homosexual members failed by 2013; In May 2013, the association decided that in the future homosexual young people become or may be members. The association continues to adhere to the ban on homosexual adults as carers.

In the past there have been multiple reports of abuse of younger Boy Scouts by older ones or leaders. In order to prevent such incidents, the BSA developed a youth protection program that stipulates requirements for both the manager and the storage areas and programs. Boy scouts who became suspicious of violence were excluded from the BSA. In 2012 it became known that around 80% of the abuse cases reported between 1970 and 1991 had not been passed on to the responsible authorities and / or had been covered up. After a wave of abuse lawsuits , Boy Scouts of America filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on February 18, 2020 .

swell

  1. ^ A b c Mike Baker: "Facing a Wave of Sex-Abuse Claims, Boy Scouts of America Files for Bankruptcy," New York Times, February 18, 2020
  2. scouting.org: 2005 in Review ( Memento of February 7, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on June 15, 2006
  3. ^ LA Times, October 21, 2006.
  4. ^ Western Outdoor Times, February 15, 2013
  5. ^ BSA and Homosexuality. BSA-Discrimination.org, accessed January 30, 2008 .
  6. ^ BSA and religious belief. BSA-Discrimination.org, accessed January 30, 2008 .
  7. Morally straight. (No longer available online.) Boy Scouts of America, archived from the original on February 6, 2010 ; Retrieved January 30, 2008 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bsalegal.org
  8. ^ Duty to God. (No longer available online.) Boy Scouts of America, archived from the original on May 9, 2008 ; Retrieved January 30, 2008 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bsalegal.org
  9. Dale v. Boy Scouts of America. (No longer available online.) BSA-Discrimination.org, archived from the original on January 19, 2008 ; Retrieved January 30, 2008 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bsa-discrimination.org
  10. Is there change in the wind? (No longer available online.) Mountainpridemedia.org, archived from the original on October 31, 2007 ; Retrieved January 30, 2008 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.mountainpridemedia.org
  11. spiegel.de: End of discrimination: US scouts allow homosexual members
  12. Article US scouts are said to have covered up abuse at spiegel.de [1]
  13. Scouts file for bankruptcy due to abuse scandal. Spiegel-Online, February 18, 2020, accessed on February 18, 2020 .

Web links

Commons : Boy Scouts of America  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files