Hmm. Well, I suspect that your first paragraph is what’s causing the heartburn, and that’s well past the area that I’m qualified to comment on, again, never having been a Scout and not being a parent... and it's probably best to steer around issues of politics, religion and sex here. <br><br>About the most I can say, is that I’ve run across Scout troops in the woods from time to time, and they seem to vary more in character than one would expect from a large institution- on the other hand, it’s been a lot of years since I encountered even one such group, so possibly that has changed as well.<br><br>On a more theoretical note, I always thought there was a lot of wisdom in the system that evolved in England and Europe over several hundred years, and which we abandoned, perhaps prematurely, a with the Industrial Revolution.<br><br>Basically, a boys life was divided into sevens… for the first seven years, he was primarily the mother’s responsibility, and she was in charge of teaching him the basics of domestic life, hygiene and housekeeping.<br><br>At around 7 years old the boy became primarily the responsibility of his father, learning his father’s trades and skills, and the basics of a man’s role.<br><br>At 14 years, as most of us know, most boys have learned all they’re prepared to learn from Mom and Dad, and are growing increasingly impatient with them. Generally, though, they will respect and learn from an adult outside the family, and that’s where the apprentice system came in. A contract was signed which traded 7 years of the boy’s labor in exchange for room and board, training in a trade to journeyman level, a set of basic tools for his craft, and a suit of clothes at completion. With any luck, he emerged at age 21 (hence the age of majority) with experience and training in 3 different worlds, and able to make a living for himself.<br><br>No system is perfect, of course, but this seemed to match pretty well the natural tendencies of growing boys, and trying to keep most at home until age 18, much less 21, creates huge strains. I think I sort of hoped that Scouting took over at least some of the role left vacant by the apprenticeship stage when it disappeared.<br>