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Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2008 > February > 25
Monday, February 25, 2008
Kids, activities and politics
I’m a big fan of the Girl Scouts. And it’s not just because I have more than 100 boxes of Girl Scout cookies currently stacked up in my living room.
I have three daughters who I hope will all participate in Girl Scouts. Right now it’s just the oldest — a cookie selling fiend. Cookie sales are a good fit for her. She is competitive and a natural at sales so she is shooting for the top prizes for hitting sales goals.
But it’s not just the cookie sales. Her troop is a nice group with a very good leader. They do fun stuff together. And I like Girl Scouts as an organization.
But when it comes to Boy Scouts — the boy’s versions of youth scouting — some people have big concerns with the group’s politics.
I was thinking about this as I was reading the New York Times Magazine Sunday. Every week they do a celebrity interview and this week it was Texas Gov. Rick Perry, an interesting figure who has played a big role in education in that state. So I was very interested in reading about him.
The interviewer, Deborah Solomon, eventually started asking Perry about his deep involvement with Boy Scouts. And she really pressed him about the Boy Scouts record regarding homosexuals and the relevance (or not) of some of the badge activitities to today’s world.
I have a few friends who are wary of Boy Scouts for their sons because they disagree with the group’s politics on gay issues. But it’s a tough sell to the kids. They don’t understand, or care about, the politics of it all. They just want to go camping with their friends and wear a snazzy suit to school.
Have you had this experience? Have you ever found your personal politics come into conflict with an activity your child wanted to participate in?
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