While the Girl Scouts, as an organization, still has its uses, it is a far cry from its British or European counterpart, the Girl Guides.

In Switzerland, I have heard, those girls who go through to the very top (the equivalent of Eagle Scouts), are automatically made officers when they do their year of military service. That speaks of some pretty stout training.

Here, it has become very much a "feel good" organization. When my girls were in it, I had high hopes. However, toward the end of my older daughter's first year as a Junior, I was asked to go through the book with some of the girls, and see what they had done during the year that could be stretched and/or fudged into a badge or award. It seemed that nobody wanted some girls to get more badges than others. Never mind that some girls had worked harder than others-the goal was "no girl left behind."

In my mind, that cheapened the awards that some girls had actually earned. In the minds of the girls, as well.

I remember that one badge had to do with collecting something. One group of girls had done some research on prairie grasses, and gone out and found examples of about 16 different varieties, picked them, mounted them, and did an oral presentation about them. When I was asked to help some girls dig for something badge-worthy, I was told that having one girl bring in her collection of My Little Pony toys and reading the blurb on the package would count for the same badge. Another brought Beanie Babies, and treated us all to a list of the comparative prices of same.

This teaches our girls something, in my opinion, undesirable. They learned that a national organization will permit cheating, and that hard work has no more value than pure acquisitiveness.

I suppose that going to Girl Scouts is better than sitting at home watching TV, but barely.

Learn more about this author, Veronica Prior.
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