A Brief History of the Boy Scouts of America

A Brief History of the Boy Scouts of America 1910 to Today (continued)

Looking in the Crystal Ball

General Changes

Transition. Some Scouters today worry about possible negative impacts that recent changes by BSA may have on American Scouting. But most of today's Scouters didn't live through the disastrous 1972-78 "Improved Scouting Program", when BSA lost one-third of its membership in just five years, largely due to incredibly stupid changes the national office made to the Boy Scout program. Recent declines in membership are mild by comparison. But we might also bear in mind that although nearly 50 years have passed since the 1972 changes were reversed (in 1975-78), BSA membership is still nowhere near the level it was in 1972. Today, we live in a society that is itself in transition in many ways, and where competition for spare time activities has increased significantly. As a result, BSA has sought out new ways to reach more youth, created several non-traditional programs, and is having a tough time dealing with social issues (that our society is also having a tough time handling).

Conservation. From 1910 until 1972, Scouting's outdoor program officially used a traditional "Daniel Boone" approach, with strong emphasis on heavy-impact pioneering and camping skills. With shrinking wild areas and increasingly heavy use of what wilderness is left, all organizations that promote the outdoors have had to change their approach, though BSA was decidedly slow in doing so. Starting in 1972, Scouting began a major transition toward a new (low-impact) outdoor ethic, culminating with the issue of the 10th Edition of the Boy Scout Handbook in 1990. As a result, modern Scouts use the outdoors very differently than Scouts did during Scouting's first 62+ years. Today, most Scout meals are cooked over camping stoves instead of wood fires, tents have floors and mosquito netting (and are never "ditched"), packs (with frames) are lighter and much more comfortable. And the latest handbooks teach "Leave No Trace" camping techniques.

The "Three G's". For decades, many in Scouting have worried about the "three G's" (Gays, Girls, & God, to put them in alphabetical order). BSA has struggled (and is struggling) with these issues, as is our society. After taking a very public stand against allowing gays in Scouting, national BSA reversed their position and allowed gay youth members starting in 2013, and gay adults starting in 2015. BSA's public opposition to gay membership caused signification unhappiness with the organization, resulting in loss of donations & members. Now BSA's reversal has also caused unhappiness and loss of members. Perhaps as society changes, this will become less of an issue. [Both BSA and the Girl Scouts of the USA are open to gay and trans-gender members.] There is similar turmoil about allowing girls and women in Scouting, and many females have fought (and sued) to join the BSA or to earn the Eagle Scout award. Now there is both rejoicing and unhappiness that BSA has opened all its programs to girls. [Note that female youth members have been allowed in Exploring/Venturing & Sea Scouts since 1971, and adult women have been allowed to hold any position in any Scouting program since 1988.] Although the BSA and the Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) have never been very cooperative, as a result of the BSA's late-2017 announcement that all BSA programs would soon be open to girls, GSUSA has become a hostile competitor to the BSA. The final "G" is God, which many worry will be the next big issue. The Girl Scouts of the USA have for many years taken a more relaxed position on belief in God, while the BSA still takes a traditional position. The liberal position of the Girl Scouts has led to creation of several competing 'Scout' organizations for girls with more conservative/'Christian' values. Scouts Canada, and many other international Scouting programs, also have taken a more liberal position, as reflected in revised or optional wording to their Scout Promises.

LDS Scouting. Although many churches endorse the Scouting program, only the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS/Mormon church) actually adopted Scouting as its official church youth program for its boys (in 1913). As a result, LDS youth eventually represented over 20% of Scouting membership, which permitted the LDS church to have significant influence over national BSA policies and programming for a long time. But the church ended its sponsorship of high-school and college-aged Scouting programs (Varsity/Venturer/Sea Scout) at the end of 2017, and ended its sponsorship of all Scouting program at the end of 2019, in favor of developing a church-specific youth program. This has resulted in a substantial reduction in BSA membership, especially in areas with large Mormon populations.

Measuring Success. From 1910 until 1972, the BSA measured much of its success by its ever-increasing membership statistics. Although the massive losses of the 1970s are behind us, Scouting membership is currently at the same level as the mid 1950s, nowhere near its 1972 maximum level. For the next 20 years or more, the Scout-age population is expected to remain fairly stable, and there will be increasing competition for kids' time. This adds up to a long period of stable (limited growth) membership levels. Adjusting to limited growth has been extremely difficult for the BSA, which is psychologically as well as structurally designed to equate success with growth. The minimal growth in traditional BSA programs has caused the national office to make changes to the traditional programs more often, and to add more non-traditional programs in an attempt to increase membership in areas not reached by traditional programs. We have already seen more program changes, more new programs, and shorter development periods since about 1985 than in all of Scouting's first 75 years. The desire for more members may also have been one of the incentives for opening Cub Scouts and Scouts to girls.

Minorities. Scouting has always effectively reached the white middle class, but it has never been as successful with those outside the middle class or with non-whites. From its earliest days, the BSA has made many different efforts to expand its outreach, and it is likely to increase these efforts for the foreseeable future. In particular, look for a number of new, non-traditional programs designed to increase membership among minorities, especially among the rapidly expanding hispanic population.

Scouting in the Future

OK, I just can't keep up with predicting changes. They're happening too quickly. So I'll just lay out a few quick predictions and/or suggestions (most of my past predictions have come to pass much sooner than I thought they would).

Cub Scouts—I'd like to see younger Cub Scouts get to camp more, and have their advancement focus more on outdoors and adventure than on arts & crafts (this has already happened to a certain extent). I think Lion Cubs will in just a few years become fully integrated into the pack, and they'll get to wear the full Cub Scout uniform.
Webelos—I still wonder if it doesn't make sense to separate Webelos from the Cub Scout pack, and make them a separate (or semi-separate) program lasting two years (or even three years). Then make Webelos a much more outdoors and adventure oriented program. We'll see.
Scouts—No big changes (that's a risky prediction). We'll see what happens after a few years of having separate boy-only troops and girl-only troops. I'm guessing that most 'linked' troops (boy/girl troops sharing the same chartered organization, the same troop number, and the same troop committee) will end up functioning more like a single coed troop. My prediction: Troops will become truly coed in five or ten years, at least on an optional basis.
Venturing & Sea Scouts—These programs (and their predecessor programs) have always had difficulty reaching high school and college aged youth. But the disastrously plummeting membership over the last few years (a loss of 60% of their members, from 219 453 at the end of 2012 to 87 827 at the end of 2017) is concerning. I won't even try to make a prediction here. At long last, female Venturers & Sea Scouts can now earn the Eagle Scout award just like male youth (since February 2019). I would like to see Venturing drop its little-known and little-used advancement program (that ends with the Summit Award that most Americans have never heard of), and create a true Venturing path to the Eagle award. Eagle is, after all, BSA's highest recognition, and has high recognition and prestige throughout American society.
Will BSA and GSUSA ever merge?—Short answer: NO. BSA has been willing for many years, but the smaller Girl Scouts of the USA organization and its professional staff know which organization's traditions and program would dominate any combined national organization, and whose professional staff would suffer the most reductions. In 2017, GSUSA even sued over BSA's use of the term 'Scout' to apply to girls (as is the case with the 90+% of international Scouting prgrams that are coed), even though GSUSA founder Juliette Gordon Low abandoned the original term for the girls' program ('Guide') in 1913 and appropriated the term 'Scout' from the Boy Scouts in order to increase her recruiting.

A Final Word

Watching Scouting (and American society) change since I first joined has been interesting, and sometimes unsettling. But as it has for over 110 years, Scouting today provides a strong moral and ethical foundation that helps young people become good citizens and leaders of tomorrow. I believe strongly that Scouting will continue to provide that same foundation well into the future.

For more information about the history of the BSA, these books were all used in preparing this brief history. Many of these are still in print. Listed within categories by date of publication:

Books about US Scouting

Murray, The History of the Boy Scouts of America (1937)
Oursler, The Boy Scout Story (1955) [history of BSA]
Bezucha, The Golden Anniversary Book of Scouting (1959) [history of BSA]
Hillcourt, Norman Rockwell's World of Scouting (1977) [Rockwell painted BSA Scouts throughout his life.]
Peterson, The Boy Scouts An American Adventure (1984) [history of BSA]
National Cub Scout Committee, History of Cub Scouting (1987) [history of BSA's Cub Scout program]
BSA, A History of Wood Badge in the United States (1988)
Davis, A History of the Order of the Arrow (1990) [BSA's national honor society]
National Cub Scout Committee, Cub Scouting: The First 75 Years of Doing Our Best (2005) [history of BSA's Cub Scout program]
Wills, Boy Scouts of America: A Centennial History (2009)

Scott & Murphy, The Scouting Party, Pioneering and Preservation, Progressivism and Preparedness in the Making of the Boy Scouts of America (2010)—If you have any curiosity about the details of the BSA's early years, the involvement of the YMCA, and especially the fascinating story of the roles and conflicts of the three key founders of the BSA (Beard, Seton, & West), read this book!

Books about World Scouting

Nagy, 250 Million Scouts (1985) [history of world Scouting, written by the then Chief Executive of the World Organization of the Scout Movement]
World Scout Bureau, Scouting 'Round the World (1990 edition) [information about every national Scout organization in the World Organization of the Scout Movement at that time]
The Scout Association, An Official History of Scouting (2006) [Note that "The Scout Association" is the name of the UK's national Scout organization. This book includes information about Scouting around the world since 1908, but focuses mostly on the history of Scouting in the UK.]

Biographies about Key Individuals

Hillcourt, Baden-Powell: The Two Lives of a Hero (1964)
Anderson, The Chief: Ernest Thompson Seton and the Changing West (1986) [Seton was the first Chief Scout of the BSA.]
Jeal, Baden-Powell (1989)
Petterchak, Lone Scout: W.D. Boyce and American Boy Scouting (2003) [Boyce was the founder of the BSA.]
Rowan, To Do My Best: James E. West and the History of the Boy Scouts of America (2005) [West was the BSA's first Chief Scout Executive.]