Context: I was a Boy Scout for a number of years, making Eagle in 2020 right as COVID was really kicking off.
It was right afterwards, however, that the CSA scandal started popping up everywhere (which thankfully I was never exposed to or involved in during my time), and lately it seems like the organization & movement as a whole has fallen by the sociocultural wayside.
I would say that my time as a Scout did me objective good; I learned a decent amount about first-aid & survival-craft, participated in a number of volunteer & civic projects, and it generally made me a more well-rounded person. However, there’s no denying the impact that something “bigger than the Catholic Church scandal”, as I’ve heard it described, has on an institution such as this.
I’d like to get the community’s opinion, however; were any of you Scouts? How was your experience? What is your opinion of the institution today?
Rife with sexual violence. I was sexually assaulted by another kid who probably was replicating what happened to him because we were both too young for sex (we were like 9-10). I don’t really blame him, it was a very strange experience. There are too many Mormons that create a terrible religious cult culture. There was a surprising amount of Zionist propaganda that I encountered as well. You are required to be religious and I knew people that were kicked for not being religious. They allegedly don’t care what religion you are, but you have to be something because it “creates discipline” or some nonsense.
I loved all the camping and stuff though before the SA happened. I think it’s incredibly important to know about your local environmental history, identify flora and fauna, and the scouts hoard that information. Not a big fan of the corporate paperwork aspects which are just grooming you to be a worker drone. Nor did I like the pro military propaganda and the grooming you to join ROTC -> military later. I was very close to making an early eagle but was just demoralized by it all at the end and quit.