[22667] in APO-L
Re: [APO-L] Scouting info taught in pledging
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Buddha Buck)
Tue May 28 16:53:51 2002
Date: Tue, 28 May 2002 16:52:08 -0400
Reply-To: Buddha Buck <bmbuck@14850.COM>
From: Buddha Buck <bmbuck@14850.COM>
To: APO-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU
[resent because first sending went to Randy alone]
At 01:01 PM 05-28-2002 -0400, Randy Finder you wrote:
>I ran into an APO alumnus recently who didn't know what Order of the Arrow
>is. This sort of surprised me and I wondered if this is something that
>should have been taught as part of pledging. I'm looking for opinions as
>to whether the following things about BSA should be known by pledges by
>initiation...
>
>1) BSA is headquartered in Irving, TX
>2) What the organizational structure is for BSA
>Unit - District - Council - (Region) - National
>3) What Council the chapter is in.
>4) What District the chapter is in.
>5) Existance, Ages, & name of unit type for 3 primary programs (Cubs,
>Scouts, Venturing)
>6) What National Eagle Scout Association is.
>7) What Order of the Arrow is.
>
>Anything else?
I would say those are appropriate IF Alpha Phi Omega was a scouting
organization affiliated with the BSA, but we are not. While the ideals of
the BSA is in our roots, it has been over three decades since a history of
BSA membership has been a requirement of Brotherhood.
There are other scouting organizations that chapters can get involved in;
should the pledges also be expected to know the equivalent information for
the GSUSA, for instance?
As a Brother who joined APO without the benefit of being a Boy Scout, the
existence and purpose of the National Eagle Scout Association or the Order
of the Arrow is of limited importance to me -- I cannot aspire to becoming
members of either. Similarly, most of the rest of the information you
suggest is not obviously useful for explaining what APO is, or why we are
the way we are.
Obviously, if a chapter does a lot of work with the local Boy Scouts, then
it would be natural to know about the Boy Scouts that the chapter works
with, including which council and district the chapter works with, and how
the local scouts organize their primary scouting programs, etc.
The Ideals of Scouting that APO supports and tries to embody do not depend
on where any scouting organization is headquartered, or what organizational
structure it uses, or where geographically the chapter is located in that
organizational structure, or what programs it sponsors, etc. There are
many scouting organizations worldwide, all of which have similar Ideals
that APO fosters. The structure of one, even one APO has historical ties
to, is not important to the promotion of those ideals.
It may be appropriate to discuss the historical organization of scouting to
the degree that it lead to the development of APO -- such as the
significance of the large number of Eagle Scouts in the early days of APO.
The BSA has received a lot of criticism recently over certain issues and
policies -- policies which APO and other scouting organizations worldwide
do not share. I'm concerned that an over-emphasis on the BSA as it stands
now might scare away good people who are interested in fostering
leadership, service, and fellowship but have concerns about the current
policies of the BSA.
>YiLFs
>Randolph Finder
>
>
>--
>Leadership, Friendship and Service - Alpha Phi Omega
