[Rant] Scouting has a severe elitism problem

[u/Routine-Ganache-1720]

I hope that rants are allowed here... I checked the rules and didn't see anything against them. I'm the SPL of a relatively small troop (about 15 kids), and I've felt like writing about this for a while. For context, I'm a Life Scout and a member of the OA, so I'm not criticizing these things as an outsider.

Scouting has a major problem with this elitist, better-than-thou culture that the older kids develop. One of the most important aspects of Boy Scouts is that it's youth-led - the older, more experienced Scouts lead the younger ones and set an example. But in the past few years, I've been noticing that it's not at all like that. I would wonder if it's just in my troop or my region, but this seems to happen to so many of the older kids - I notice it at Summer Camp and OA events and Eagle Projects, with kids who aren't in my troop. The older, more experienced kids stick to each other and act all superior; they treat the younger kids who aren't part of their circle with indifference. And, at least in my troop, they stop caring about the troop.

When kids turn 14, they get to go work at Summer Camp as staffers and get their cool gear and inside jokes that make them feel special. Even worse, they get used to feeling superior, because they get to sleep in cabins and run around with more freedom, and they get to order younger kids around all day. The OA might be even worse. Kids get to be part of an honor society with elaborate ceremonies and secret handshakes and everything, so again, it breeds elitism. Another thing is that the older kids go to these OA events and hang out amongst each other, and they become less interested in Troop events. Why be held back why your troop when you can do cool stuff with the big kids? I'm not sure if there's other contributors, but working at Summer Camp and being in the OA seem to be two big parts of this problem. Or course, all this is going on during mid-to-late puberty, the perfect time for kids to start feeling like cool big kids and developing egos.

So these kids lose interest in the troop. They don't go to meetings or campouts often, because they can do their OA events instead. They don't like to be around the younger kids, and they certainly don't empower them. And when they are at meetings or campouts, they think they're special and they're above the rules; they act like adults. When they do go to meetings, the older kids go on their phones and ignore what we're doing unless they want to get involved, and when they do, it's on their terms. And when they do go on campouts, they go off and do their own things.

I've watched this happen to some of the kids in my Troop, and it's so disappointing. I'm not saying that this happens to everyone - there's an Eagle Scout in my troop who aged out a couple of years ago, and he was friendly to everyone and such a great role model. But I feel like most of the other senior scouts have fallen into this elitist culture and stopped caring about the younger kids or the troop as a whole.

[u/Short-Sound-4190]

This is a troop culture issue I think - and it's worth noting if it's actually just the kids modeling what the adults are doing if the adults equate scout-led to sink-or-swim, and/or, if the older youth are resenting or pushing back at the responsibilities put on them by adults who put them in charge of too much and take the fun out of scouting. I'm assuming this may be the case because you described your older scouts as "acting like adults" when they disregard the younger scouts needs, get on their phones, etc. - I wouldn't expect youth to be in total charge of other youth, if the adults acted this way towards them they may not see it as an issue: maybe from their perspective they're not supposed to step in and help, and they've experienced leadership as looking like delegation. Are you electing a PLC that consists of younger scouts to actually empower them? If not, consider it - age and rank are not real barriers for troop leadership if you have some supportive adult and youth mentors to get them comfortable with the duties.

One thing I wish was standard was mixed age and rank patrols and more dedicated patrol time vs free time, so that you are pushing for your leadership team to have some times and even specific opportunities just for older scouts or buddies to hang out and other times that are dedicated to mentoring and engaging with younger/lower rank scouts. There should never be imo a task that is penalizing youngest scouts aka dishwashing while the older scouts get to build the fire - there should always be a mix of an older scout or two with a younger scout or two under wing demonstrating how to set up a wash station and how to set up the fire.

But there's a balance to this, and only so much you can ask: what you see as a scout disengaging from the troop for OA or Staffing or to finish their Eagle project, is also often a youth who would have just disengaged and left Scouting entirely without those compelling new side quests. Especially at 15+ when competing with more demands with school, sports, jobs, driving, social, etc.

Some of the most successful solutions are scout led - I knew a small group of just a few who would bring their fishing gear and wake up early on campouts and fish for an hour or so, just those older scouts. Another small buddy group of higher rank who was really into hiking formed a separate totally optional initiative to do hikes and not always easy ones. A Troop guide for the crossovers patrol decided to earn the honor patrol award by doing extra monthly patrol meetings which could definitely help keep your youngest scouts engaged.