Countless Rio Grande Valley community leaders developed many of their leadership skills through Scouting. The national organization is fighting to overcome scandal and bankruptcy, but we hope its current reorganization plan is successful and the Boy Scouts of America can continue to give young people valuable training toward becoming confident, capable and community-oriented adults.
A bankruptcy court last week approved a $2.46 billion reorganization plan for the Irving, Texas-based Scouts. Most of the money will be used to settle lawsuits from more than 80,000 people who alleged Scout leaders and volunteers had abused them.
Those lawsuits and declining membership have contributed to Scouting’s financial problems, and its future obviously will be determined by whether it can with back public trust as well as changing family preferences.
The number of people alleging abuse is large, and any single case is criminal and tragic, although the plaintiffs represent a fraction of the 2 million or more active scouts on the group’s rolls at any time. BSA is one of 172 national organizations with 54 million Scouts worldwide.
Despite the allegations, millions of Scouts have learned various skills that have served them throughout their adult lives. In addition to the traditional camping and knot tying, merit badge programs now teach a wide range of skills including communications, computers and music.
Scouting began in 1910 in England, where Lt. Gen. Robert Baden-Powell saw a need to prepare young boys to create and serve in citizen militias if necessary. Original Scout guidebooks were old military training guides.
The organization quickly grew from a survival-training group to one dedicated to public service — the vision of young Scouts helping little old ladies cross the street became virtually universal.
That is the group’s primary focus today. While camping, survival training and first aid remain a big part of Scouting, community involvement and building strong leadership skills are a priority. In fact, many neighborhood community improvements are likely to be to be the result of an Eagle Scout project.
BSA has long been working to address the allegations of abuse. Scout leaders in Texas now are expected to provide the results of Department of Public Safety background checks and pass an online certification course regarding appropriate and inappropriate behavior between adults and children. Scouts, leaders and volunteers avoid situations in which a scout is alone with an adult.
Even with these and other precautions, it’s impossible to know with full certainty that all people who offer their services to Scouting are beyond reproach — especially since most are parents of Scouts themselves. However, the organization deserves credit for taking the steps it has, and has earned our confidence that it will adopt any improvements that might be made to those safeguards in the future.
Despite past abuse and current problems, Scouting has been beneficial to most people who have been involved with the organization. We trust that its benefits will be available to young residents of the Valley and nationwide for the foreseeable future.
