I doubt it has changed all that much unless you're a lot older than me EXCEPT that 1) BSA is a member of Leave No Trace and 2) Society has changed beyond belief since I was a boy.

If you read my note, I let boys whom I trust with a sheath knife carry one when it does not otherwise violate a local regulation. That would be most of the boys most of the time.

We take axes and hatchets when it is appropriate to use them (about 1/2 the time). I simply exercise veto-oversight on exactly who the patrol leader assigns those tasks to. There is nothing I can do about the majority who are grossly unsafe with chopping tools unless closely supervised every swing. And this is boy-run, so I'm on the edge exercising that much control already.

We have raised our own 4 kids pretty much the same way we were raised. All our kids can fend for themselves with about any tools from knives to guns to automotive tools to sewing machines to carpentry to - well, you get the idea. I cannot do that for 20+ other kids that I spend 90+ minutes a week with plus a weekend or so a month.

It is NOT Scouts that has changed..

Tom