A scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful.......

You may not know this, but I was a Boy Scout once. Unfortunately, I hated it and quit- when I was a Life Scout (one away from Eagle). However, I would like to think that the Boy Scout morals have carried on with me, and still consider the Boy Scouts to be a great organization in spite of my personal experiences with it.

I just read, however, that the Boy Scouts of America are adding new merit badges. Now, if you don't know- Merit Badges are what Boy Scouts need to advance. They get them in various subjects including: Wilderness Survival, First Aid, Emergency Preparedness, Family Life, Personal Fitness, Personal Finance, Music, Art, Orienteering, and many, many, many more. I personally had over 20 and was proud to flaunt them.

So why do the Boy Scouts need new badges? Well, to fill in gaps or make up for changing times. Two of the new badges are Photography (a long-needed badge) and Disability Awareness (a much-needed badge, in my opinion). Then there are a few which seem a little frivolous. For instance, there's a Good Manners badge (requirements should hopefully include chewing with your mouth closed, since that seems so hard in society), a Hiking badge (not that you ever need to hike as a scout), a Family Travel badge (seems like an excuse for rich kids who take vacations every summer to get a free badge), and Reading and Writing (it's not like scouts learn those in school or anything). However, a few of the new badges seem... a bit different. As if they're trying to appeal to a certain crowd. Some of these new badges? Skateboarding. Hockey. Kickball. Pet Care. Video Games. Yes, Video Games.

It seems like the new
Scout philosophy is to
Prepare for real life

That's right, it would look like the BSA are attempting to make a shift to practical things such as Pet Care and Video Games. Because let's face it, no one ever actually hikes or goes camping. Camping is so 1990s romantic-comedy. But seriously, I think the video game badge is actually a good move. They're teaching kids good habits surrounding games. The kids will be playing video games anyways so you may as well take advantage of that fact. The badge teaches kids to save money on purchases and to practice moderation in playing, which are both very useful things to have in life. The same idea applies to skateboarding and hockey, where the kids can learn proper safety in a controlled environment rather than going out and breaking their arms (they can still do that with rollerblading if they really want to).

And I apologize for the 2 days in a row of video games. They've been in the news. Different topic matter tomorrow, I promise.

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/04/28/boy-scouts-new-video-game-award-sellout-say-critics/?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a4:g4:r2:c0.000000:b0:z5