Jason Bourne wrote:Just me I love ya but I just don't agree that the YW program in the Church is a lesser version of the YM program. The Personal Progress Program and it predecessor have been in place for many, many years. In fact when I was a YM president I use to despair that the YW had a better program for the YW that was Church focused then we had for the YM. That was pre Duty To God for YM and all we had was Scouts and whatever else we could design. Well guess what, not all boys want to do scouts. I didn't when I was a kid. I liked activities and camping and stuff but I just hated the merit badge program and had no desire to do Eagle.
The vibe for boys had been Scouts is the YM activity program for the Church. I disagreed. So as a YM pres I ran a Scouting program and staffed it with men you were good at that. Any boy that wanted to do scouting we kept them in it as long as we could. Essentially our weekly activity night was two nights scouting, one night joint activity with the YW and one night sports. The two nights that were scouting I had to figure out something on my own for the boys who did not want to do scouts. That or they did not show up two nights a month. So I took them out to bowl, eat, play foosball, career issues, srevice, whatever I could.
But the girls had an ambitious personal progress program that in my view, if they did it for all their years and completed it was equal to the work it took for Eagle. They had a much better program laid out for them.
As for activities and money spent, the girls had as much budgeted as the boys did. Boys had summer scout camp or high adventure, girls had girls camp and could do an extra high adventure type activity. Each year there was a joint boy girl youth conference as well.
The YW do not have a lesser program. One may not particularly like some of the focus for the girls which tends to be more on being a wonderfully prepared for temple marriage woman and being a good mom, service, etc. But they talk about education as well. No they do not hype careers though when I was a bishop all but one of the women the was a YW president were working women and quite good at what they did.
I will agree with you that the YM program isn't all that great. But I won't agree that the YW have a better program. Basically, they are both hit-or-miss at best and they are both very cookie cutter. Too bad kids don't fit into the molds.
I think that which is "better" is subjective and based on priorities. Since I think that career development and things of a more secular nature are more important than the teaching of get-married-in-the-temple-have-babies that is what I base my opinion on.
When I have been in YW as a girl or as a leader we have never really talked about education other than to say what the prophets have said on it. We never had any activities about education, other than religious.
We had Girl's Camp once a summer and that is it. Now they have camp one summer and high adventure the next. The boys typically try to have a campout once a month plus the big scout camp each summer. Obviously not all girls are interesting in more camping. I would have been. There are boys who are not into scouting, my brothers weren't. Like I said, cookie cutter.
There was always one conference overnight each year and then they started doing Pioneer Trek once every 4 years.
In our ward there is more fund raising for the scouts than for the YW. As a parent I know that the cost of having a scout is higher than the cost of having a YW. I'm not sure how that makes the money spent equal. To me it looks unequal and I've heard that complaint from people in other stakes. But, clearly I will never know what really goes on with the budget. Let's say that the church budget is identical for each. More is still spent on scouts than on young women by the individual members.
Anyway, I didn't say it was horrible, I said it was a lesser program and I still believe that based on my personal priorities of what I would like my children experiencing. That said, I get pissed off regularly at the scouting program as executed in our ward.
I love you, too!