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Blog Entry 19 of 31 Musings, Ramblings and Scout Stuff

This blog is generally about what is piquing my interest at the moment which will probably be Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, or politics.

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Girl Scouts? What are they?

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Contributed by: Joshua Godinez on 3/27/2008

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120641101055361411.html?mod=hps_us_inside_today

That link will take you to a Wall Street Journal article about how the Girl Scouts are hiring a marketing person to increase awareness of the modern Girl Scout program.

This is a move I've been advocating for some time as a leader of a Girl Scout troop. I don't believe they did it just because I said so, but I like to fantasize sometimes anyway.

The article goes on to detail changes being made to the Girl Scout program. Here, I'm more ambivalent, maybe even a little hostile. I like the traditional program and wish it wouldn't change.

Girl Scouts wants to be responsive to what they say the girls are telling them. With membership declining on an annual basis, it makes sense to take some action to try to reverse that trend.

Cookies will stay. Some of the uniforms will change. Councils are being eliminated by merging with other councils. The San Fernando Valley Council is absorbing a number of others up through the Antelope Valley and I think also out to Ventura.

From the inside, I know also that the program is changing. Girl Scouts wants to get away from merit badges that reward individual effort to group projects that emphasize collaboration.

Traditionalists like my wife and me don't like losing the connection with the past program elements. As a former Girl Scout and now an influential leader, Cici doesn't care for the fact that Boy Scouts are more respected while Girl Scouts are considered cute.

She attributes this to a lack of identification. In the ad shown above you can see that the trend for Girl Scouts is to make the modern Girl Scout look pretty much like anyone else (despite the challenging tagline).

The best time to discover new things about the history of Girl Scouts is during cookie sales in front of stores. I love having women say, "I used to be a Girl Scout."

For one, it generally means a sale. But also they usually talk about what they did, where they went, how things were in their day, and sometimes they ask about certain places or programs.

To me, this indicates that the loyalty the public and former Girl Scouts have is to the traditions of Girl Scouts. If the modern organization severs that connection, I'm afraid they will hurt Girl Scouts more than help them.

My other fear is that Girl Scouts will be perceived as a trend chaser, a fad seeker. This plays into the negative stereotype of girls being fickle and easily influenced by peer pressure.

I hope I'm wrong and that the organization will actually increase membership while retaining its core values by answering the question, What is Girl Scouts?

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Submitted By: Patrick Murphy

posted on 4/11/2008 @ 1:53:05 PM

Rated Blog Entry

As a former Girl Scout leader, I too, am dismayed at the declining interest. But changing uniforms does little to entice new members. The movement has succeeded in the past because of parental involvement. Find a way to compete with the demands that parents are under for the use of their time and you will find a way to bolster the ranks of the Girl Scouts. I’m not sure why the author feels that today’s Girl Scouts do not have the respect that Boy Scouts have. My daughter and another girl from our troop became instructors for the Jr. Backpack Awareness courses. They had the utmost respect from the Boy Scouts in their classes. involvement

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Joshua Godinez

Mission Hills , CA

Joshua Godinez has posted 31 blog entries and 13 comments since joining on 5/17/2007. Joshua Godinez 's average blog rating is 4.92.

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