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    The McMaster Department of Philosophy has now put together the following notice commemorating Barry: Barry Allen: A Philosophical Life Barry…

Scouting, STEM, and…Philosophy?

Christopher Pynes

One thing that philosophy seems to struggle with is wider public influence and understanding. How do we get people before they get to college or independent of college to know about and appreciate philosophy?

A story titled “the exact age when girls lose interest in science and math” appeared 28 February 2017 on CNN.com. There is an accompanying video to the story titled: Girl Scouts: building robots and tech leaders that is available on YouTube. In this short video, the CEO of the Girl Scouts, Anna Maria Chávez, promotes STEM mentoring in the Girl Scouts. She then says that 75% of female U.S. Senators are Girl Scout alumnae—that is an amazing fact.

Given that information, one might wonder how many Congressmen were or are associated with the Boy Scouts America (BSA). A BSA list for the 113th Congress provides the following totals: youth members (174), Eagle Scouts (28), and adult volunteers (57). According to Congressional Research Service report there were 432 men in the 113th Congress, which means 40% of men in Congress were in the BSA with 13% active as adults.

If you want to increase early knowledge of philosophy AND possibly have lawmakers with some passing familiarity, then get philosophy into Scouting, both Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts.


There are many merit badges that have strong, underlying philosophical principles, such as the three Citizenship badges: Citizenship in the Community, Nation, and World. So why not have the philosophical community propose some merit badges that would be useful to Scouts, Scouting, and philosophy?

Take a look at the Merit Badge list. A few of these might surprise you:

American Business
Archeology
Art
Animal Science
Astronomy
Chemistry
Communication
Dentistry

Drafting
Engineering
Geology
Graphic Arts
Law
Medicine
Music
Nuclear Science

Oceanography
Plant Science
Programming
Salesmanship
Scholarship
Space Exploration
Theater
Veterinary Medicine

Look at all those disciplines that make themselves accessible to Scouts. The purpose of a merit badge as stated on the merit badge proposal form is: “A merit badge provides a Scout with additional opportunities for learning, personal growth, physical development, career awareness, citizenship, and life skills development.” Philosophy anyone? The BSA should have merit badges that are explicitly philosophical in nature, such as: a logic merit badge, ethics merit badge, or knowledge merit badge.

I know what you are thinking: “We don’t need no badges.” Or you might object to some of the BSA policies. To this I say, work for change from the inside.

As for the Girl Scouts, I am sure there are similar programs and badges that could be considered. Philosophical role models like the STEM cases are also something that could be promoted. I will leave it to readers in the know to help incorporate philosophy more explicitly into the Girl Scouts.

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7 responses to “Scouting, STEM, and…Philosophy?”

  1. Michael B

    Are atheists and anyone not hetero still banned from being Scout leaders, do you know?

    Reply
  2. Christopher Pynes

    Michael —

    I believe the answer to both is yes for the BSA. As an atheist and inclusive person, this is bothersome to me for sure. The Scout Law requires that a Scout be reverent, which most interpret as belief in God. And we know from that big survey of philosophers a few years ago, that something like 70% of philosophers are atheists. So, this will be an impediment for most philosophers, but not the roughly 15% of philosophers who are theists.

    Philosophy, however, is neither atheistic nor theistic. So having it in these organizations in a way that fosters understanding, in my view, is a good thing. But I completely understand the objections to the bans on certain individuals like atheists and homosexuals.

    Reply
  3. Steven Hales

    Eagle Scout here. I think the merit badge idea is a clever one, and I like the creativity of finding new ways to get philosophy out to a broader audience. I don't agree with every policy of the BSA, and didn't when I was a kid. I don't agree with every policy of any organization. For me scouting was mostly about going camping and doing fun stuff with other kids. Let's not get bogged down in pointless (but pious!) critiques. Philosophy will prosper in the agora only if philosophers don't stick up their noses at groups they deem to be ideologically impure. Those are just the groups that would benefit from a Critical Thinking merit badge.

    Reply
  4. Matt

    For what it's wroth, the Boy Scouts, as a national organization, no longer ban homosexual scout leaders. See here: http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/27/us/boy-scouts-gay-leaders-feat/ However, individual troops or sponsoring organizations (a very large % of troops are sponsored by the Mormon church, for example) are allowed to discriminate if they wish.

    As an aside, there are some somewhat amusing bits in Robert Paul Wolff's autobiography, published on line about being a cub scout (and, I think, boy scout) leader for a troop that his sons were involved in. So, at least some philosophers have been involved with scouts. But, some explicitly philosophical merit badges sound like good ideas.

    Reply
  5. Emma P

    I note that Boy Scout adult members (and merit badge counselors have to be members) have to sign a form stating they will subscribe to the precepts of the Declaration of Religious Principles

    "Adult citizens, or adult noncitizens who reside within the country, may register with the Boy Scouts of America in any
    capacity if they agree to abide by the Scout Oath or Promise and the Scout Law, to respect and obey the laws of the United States of
    America, and to subscribe to the precepts of the Declaration of Religious Principle."

    An excerpt is included on the form http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/524-501.pdf

    The Boy Scouts of America maintains that no member can grow into the best kind of citizen without recognizing an obligation to God and, therefore, recognizes the religious element in the training of the member, but it is absolutely nonsectarian in its attitude toward that religious training. Its policy is that the home and organization or group with which the member is connected shall give definite attention
    to religious life. Only persons willing to subscribe to these precepts from the Declaration of Religious
    Principle and to the Bylaws of the Boy Scouts of America shall be entitled to register.

    The full principle in the bylaws also has the statement

    The recognition of God as the ruling and leading power in the universe and the grateful acknowledgment of His favors and blessings are necessary to the best type of citizenship and are wholesome precepts in the education of the growing members.
    http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/bsa_charter_and_bylaws.pdf

    The Boy Scouts no longer have the bar on gay or lesbian members (adult or youth); however, individual religiously chartered units can still discriminate (but merit badge counselors are with the council not a chartered unit). The Girl Scouts do not discriminate on religious or sexual orientation grounds (they even allow the modification of 'God' in their promise if the word does not fit the members beliefs). However their system of badges is different than the Boy Scouts (they do not have official merit badge counselors as far as I know).
    http://www.girlscouts.org/en/our-program/badges.html

    Reply
  6. Anon

    Scouting in the United States has been in decline for decades. The BSA has less than half of the membership it had at its peak in 1972 (when the US population was about 210 million rather than 325 million today). The numbers of Congress members involved reflects more about the age of the average member of Congress than it does about the present vitality or influence of scouting.

    Although most of the various bans on LGBT people participating have (finally) been lifted over the past couple of years, the BSA remains a deeply conservative organization, especially when it comes to anything related to religion. (The Mormon Church is the single largest organization that charters Boy Scout troops, followed by Methodists and Catholics.) This could pose serious challenges when it comes to how to address philosophy of religion in any proposed merit badge. Indeed, the BSA still bans atheists from participating in the organization.

    Reply
  7. Tim O'Keefe

    Re: Boy Scouts and atheists. How strictly the national policies are enforced varies a lot locally. My sons are both atheists, and they're both in the scouts, and I'm involved, and I'm an atheist. (I did beg off from a request a while back to be a Den Leader because I thought that, as an atheist, I couldn't in good faith lead some of the activities.) In my local Pack, the pack master said (several years ago when the controversies about the national LGBT policies were raging) that, regardless of what happened at the national level, everybody would be welcome at our local pack.

    I'm basically with Steve Hales: there are aspects of scouting I'm not a fan of, but mostly it's about going hiking, camping and doing other fun stuff.

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