I went out on a recruiting run tonight. I got one potential Tiger Cub and one Webelos II. It's better than nothing. I hope those boys will enjoy our pack. It's a small pack, but we are enthusiastic about Scouting and try to give the boys a quality program.
Recruiting is hard. It's often a thankless task. You try your best to recruit boys, but either you can't get many or they aren't the "right" type of boys. In mind there is no "right" type of boy. Every boy needs Scouting. It's a program that can reach youth who may not respond to other programs or activities. It's got a great moral code that gives a great basis to one's conduct. I will take any boy into the troop and try to mold him into a good person.
Scouting has had a bad rap for a while. We've been seen as nerds, uptight dorks who are a bunch of goody two shoes. Well, yes, we are good people. We don't break the rules and yes, we wear uniforms. However, we get dirty. We go out into the wilderness and we make it back. We are tough and strong and resourceful. I certainly don't think we're dorks, but it's an image that we've had for a long time. It makes it hard to get boys in because they fear being less "cool". I know I didn't readily reveal that I was a Boy Scout when I was in school. At least not until I became an Eagle.
Another challenge to recruiting, that I've seen, is how some leaders seem to want to pick and choose their potential Scouts. They want the best of the best, the cream of the crop. They don't want the poor, single parent kids. That would be too much work. Well, I can tell you from growing up in a family like that that Scouting really made a difference. It saved me. It gave me morals and lessons that I would never had gotten otherwise. I am so thankful that I had this program in my life as a boy. We need to push back the idea that there two kinds of boys; the ones we want and the ones we don't want. There is only one type; boys. Every boy can benefit from Scouting, especially boys who don't have a dad at home like me. I would argue that the it's these boys whom we need to reach out to. If we can reach these underprivileged boys and can make a difference in their lives for the good then little by little our world will change for the better. If we ignore them as we do now, then yes, they'll most likely turn to violence, drugs and other negative avenues.
It really drives me crazy when leaders criticize these boys. I was close to being one of them. I was poor. My dad wasn't around. Is it fair to just ignore a boy because he's poor? That is showing a horrible example not only to those boys, but to the other boys who come from families with two parents and a higher socioeconomic status. If we say "Oh, we don't want those ghetto kids", what kind of example are we setting? We're essentially saying, "You're not as good as we are so we don't want you". It hurts and it makes things worse.
Probably the biggest hurdle in recruiting is the sense of proprietorship over schools that some troops/packs have. They feel that they own certain schools and to trespass is a mortal sin. I wonder where the fairness is in that. How is it that one troop has access to better schools than other troops? Is it fair just because a troop is located in one section that they can only recruit from the schools down the street? I feel that this hinders scouting because it really limits the options for boys. If a troop recruits from a school and they meet on Tuesdays, but won't let the troop that meets on Wednesdays recruit from the same school, what happens to the boys who can't meet on Tuesday but Wednesdays works for them? There is no choice for these boys right now. Also, the programs might be different. One troop may be more of a merit badge/skills troop whereas another troop may be an outdoors troop who does many trips. Well one may appeal more to a boy than the other. We need to collaborate and recruit together. It doesn't really matter where the boy goes, we just need to get them into the program so they can learn and grow. I think that we should band together and offer the boys options. One troop might work better than another.
Something else about recruiting. Parents need to join too. We're not a babysitting agency. The only way a troop/pack can function properly is parent involvement. But most parents take their kids to the meetings and disappear until the meeting is over. I'm sorry, but that's just not conductive to a good troop. So parents reading this, join your boy's troop even if it's just in the committee. The troop needs your help!
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