One Oath - One Law

The Boy Scouts of America have come to the conclusion that what we need to improve the overall Scouting Program is to have each and every Scout, from Tiger Cubs all the Way up through the older Scout Programs such as Venturing and Sea Scouts, learn and recite the same Scout Oath and Law.  This has gone through the National Panels and the people in Irving Texas have waved their hands over it and said ... "it is good."

So, how soon does this take affect?  According to the resolution I found at "Bryan on Scouting" Blog, the changes will take effect for Venturing on January 1, 2014, and the changes to the Cub Scout and Boy Scout programs will take place in May of 2015.  Now, if you're one of those people who believe that the world is going to end with the end of the Mayan Calendar, this will have no effect on you.  However, the rest of us need to start planning the transition now.

So, here is what I've decided to do.

Effective Immediately, all Venturing Scouts under Crew 2675, of which I am Advisor, will no longer memorize and recite the Ventuiring Oath and Code.  They will be required to learn the Boy Scout Oath and Law.  Any place that it requires the Venturing Oath and Law for advancements, it will be replaced by the Boy Scout Oath and Law.  No longer will Venturing Scouts use the full hand salute and sign, but instead will use the Boy Scout salute and sign.

Luckily for me, the Crew's membership is relatively young to Scouting.  They haven't been taught the Venturing Oath and Code.  But with the Crew spending a lot of time around the Boy Scout Troop, and with the Boys all being dualed from a Troop, it would just serve the Crew better to teach the ladies the Boy Scout Oath and Law.

But is this a fix for the problems in Scouting today?  Not really.  It may give some the warm and fuzzy feeling of one law, one organization, but the problem lies in the fact that too many men serving as Scout Leaders are not yet ready to give up their male only ideologies of Scouting in the United States.  Too many Scout leaders are clearly concerned about a program such as Venturing which focuses on activities and not program, thus making it a major threat in their eyes of stealing away their older Boys.

And will this eventually leada to the admission of Girls into the regular Boy Scout program?  Not if the girls that I know have anything to say about it.  They love the program the way it is.