How many scouts have there been

Scouting places a very high value on community involvement and scouts take that commitment very seriously, volunteering for a wide range of projects - improving public land and property, serving food banks, and assisting the elderly, impoverished and the unfortunate, among others.

Scouting For Food, a project that collects food for local food banks, contributes not only food, but nearly a hundred million service hours across the United States every year. The Order of the Arrow , the Boy Scouts honor camping society, has hosted an event called "Five Sites, Five Weeks, Five Thousand Arrowmen" where a thousand Order of the Arrow scouts descend upon one of five national parks to improve, clean and work on conservation and fire-prevention projects. All told, volunteer Scouting hours probably total more than any other group in the United States - more than 2 million hours a year by a conservative estimate.

Boy Scouts - and to a lesser extent, Cub Scouts - spend countless nights exploring and camping in the nation's forests and parks. Environmental responsibility plays a large role in the program's curriculum and campsite locations are left in the same situation as they found them, under "Leave No Trace" camping rules, if not improved upon by the group.

Camping, especially for urban youth, is a rarity, if not unheard of. Scouting provides a conduit for getting boys - urban or otherwise - out away from couches, Xboxes, cable tv and computer monitors into the outdoors.

With all the technology surrounding today's youth, it's not difficult to imagine a childhood where the outdoors plays a substantially reduced role. Yet, Scouting is the antithesis of a sedentary life, introducing day-long hikes, cooking over an open fire, and survival skills.

The argument can be made that these skills aren't necessarily important on a daily basis, but because they are immensely valuable in a crisis or dangerous situations - and because they really aren't taught anywhere else - the fact that Scouting still teaches them makes the program more relevant than ever.

Scouting emphasizes a strong bond between boys and their families. In many cases, this is exemplified by the relationship between boys and their fathers, who are most often volunteers for the program. This traditional arrangement provides an ideal opportunity for boys to step away from their daily routine and not only learn core Scouting skills like orienteering, cooking or first aid, but also skills outside the Scouting curriculum, like negotiating the pitfalls of adolescence and growing to become men.

Yes, these are things that boys can learn elsewhere, but Scouting provides a conduit - whether a weekend-long campout, a two-week backpacking trek or just a weekly meeting - where interaction with teenagers and their fathers is mandatory — an occurrence that's sometimes difficult for many families at home. Then, there are Scouting's values, those twelve points that both brand and identify a Boy Scout as, that squeaky-clean, do-gooder kid: trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent.

For the most part, these are ideals that most of us want to see in our family, friends and neighbors. Scouting has consistently forwarded these values over their year history. Peter Applebome , an editor of The New York Times , once wrote that, as an adult volunteer involved with his son's scouting, he observed that "Scouting's core values Scouting's genuinely egalitarian goals and instincts are more important now than they've ever been.

It's one of the only things that kids do that's genuinely cooperative, not competitive. Any discussion of the Scouts' relevance wouldn't be complete without looking at the main criticisms people have against the program. The bulk of the criticism is centered on discrimination against atheists and agnostics and against homosexuals. Although these aren't the only criticisms, they are the ones that make the most headlines. The final point of the Scout Law is the dedication to be reverent.

Allegiance to, and agreement with, the oaths are checked often along the path of the program, with specific requirements to make sure that boys "live the Scout Oath Meetings, campouts and other occasions - depending on the local governing body - can include an element of prayer, typically in traditional Judeo-Christian fashion. While the Scouting organization doesn't define who God is and defers explanation of the relationship between boys and their deity to their families and religious leaders, it doesn't allow much wiggle room for those who do not believe in one of the major religions or minor offshoots.

So if you are a believer in Ja, Ra, Zeus, Quetzalcoatal, the flying spaghetti monster or a firm believer in using your Sunday morning for doing nothing more than sleeping in, the Boy Scouts do not have a place for you. To be fair, Scouting recognizes a significant number of religions and they are inclusive of some non-traditional beliefs, including Wiccans.

The Girl Scouts, an organization with similar membership declines, has found an interesting method for approaching the situationally sticky problem of pledging an oath to God, with a far more nebulous approach, encouraging its participants to replace the word "God" with a term consistent with their personal spiritual beliefs. Like any case of discrimination, there have been challenges to Scouting's demand for reverence to their prescribed religions and some boys have been expelled from the program for maintaining their atheist or agnostic views.

In several instances, the ACLU has taken the case for these boys and - seemingly more often than not - the BSA has allowed these non-believers to rejoin quietly. In occupied countries, Scouting continued in secret with Scouts playing important roles in the resistance and underground movements.

After the war ended, it was found that the numbers of Scouts in some occupied countries had, in fact, increased. The '60s, '70s and '80s Many countries gained their independence during these years. Scouting in developing countries gradually evolved to be a youth programme which was designed by Scout leaders in each country to better meet the needs of their communities.

Scouts, particularly in developing countries, became more involved with issues such as child health, low-cost housing, literacy, food production and agriculture, job skills training, etc. Drug abuse prevention, life skills training, integration of the handicapped, environmental conservation and education, and peace education became issues of concern to Scouts around the world.

What started as a small camp on Brownsea Island is today a growing Movement with members in nearly every country in the world. Through its unique combination of adventure, education and fun, Scouting manages to continuously renew and adapt itself to a changing world and the different needs and interests of young people across the globe. In doing so it continues to be an inspiration for young people to become active local and global citizens, helping them in creating a better world.

Skip to main content. The Story of Scouting There are more than 50 million Scouts, young people and adults, male and female, in over countries and territories.

The Early Scout Programme Scouting began as a programme for boys 11 to 18 years of age. Are you sure you want to delete this? Welcome to Scout. Who was the first Boy Scout? Is fleur-de-lis offensive? What does the purple fleur-de-lis mean? What is the Purple Boy Scout patch? Was Bear Grylls a Boy Scout? Which knot is used to tie the end of rope in World Scout badge?

Previous Article What are the steps in scientific method Grade 7?