Last weekend I spent Saturday helping 10 little boys earn their pottery badges for Boy Scouts. Then I started wondering more about the Boy Scouts since obviously I couldn't be one--what do they stand for? What are all the badges and sales of popcorn supposed to do? What kind of badges are offered? And what's going on in the news with the secret abuse files??

So here you are:"The mission of the Boy Scouts of America is to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law." Some of the descriptors in Scout law include being, " Obedient, Helpful, Thrifty, and Clean." They do this by earning badges in various skills such as pottery, but there are also badges for Citizenship in the Community... 

In light of the recent news stories concerning the Boy Scouts, I've designed a couple of badges that could be earned. This first would be for Citizenship in Real Communities--ones that include people who may be different from the ones who live in the ideal Boy Scouting communities. The second badge would be called the "Whistleblowers" badge. In light of the Boy Scout's mission to teach moral and ethical decision making, I think that teaching when something shouldn't be kept a secret is a valuable life skill.