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"Bitter Old Man"
Link to original article here (with video)
One of the more difficult things to go through as an American youth is being overweight. The almost constant bullying and abuse from classmates can easily turn what once was an outgoing child into an unhealthy homebody. It is hard enough for kids who dont measure up to what arbitrary standards are put in place, but when an organization like the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) also tells a member that because of their size they are not welcome, it can be the Coup de grace to a childs self confidence.
Every three years the Boy Scouts of America hold a national Jamboree and this years is the most physically demanding ever. The Jamboree began today July 15, and will run for 10 days from its new location in West Virginia at the 1,000-plus acre Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve.
Activities ranging from rock climbing, to whitewater rafting, biking and rappelling are all in store, making this years event designed only for the fittest of Scouts.
It is not a case of a lack of activities for Scouts who may be overweight; these kids are being excluded from the Jamboree altogether. The Boy Scouts of America have instituted new physical fitness requirements that have eliminated morbidly obese Scouts from participating.
For this years Jamboree, 30,000 Scouts ages 12 to 20 and their leaders were required to meet a threshold for body mass index (BMI), and other health factors before being allowed to participate. Jamboree applicants with a body mass index (BMI) of 40 or higher were deemed ineligible, and those who fell between 32 and 39.9 were asked to provide even more personal information to Jamboree medical staff in hopes of being allowed to participate.
Dan McCarthy, director of the BSA's Summit Group says that "Part of the design in building this site was to address the need for physical fitness in our youth, which of course is a longstanding component of Scouting.
Dan is correct that physical fitness is important; in fact Obesity is the most prevalent nutritional disorder among children and adolescents in the United States. Approximately 21-24% of American children and adolescents are overweight, and another 16-18% is obese.
The problem is that the Boy Scouts of America, an organization which has a history of being exclusionary to atheists and gays is now keeping overweight Scouts from attending the years biggest event. From the statistics above we know that obesity is a problem in children, so if the Boy Scouts of America are truly concerned about the physicall fitness of its young members they should offer activities which promote that model, not tell a Scout he is not welcome at the Jamboree.
There are 50 mountain bike trails, 11 BMX tracks and jumps that total the size of about five football fields. The grounds also boast a paved skateboard park which was built by the same team that designed venues for the Summer X Games, which includes a bowl, a vertical ramp, street-style combinations and a foam pit for Scouts to try out new tricks.
At some point during the Jamboree, every participating Scout will be asked to take a 3-mile trek up a mountain; the irony is that the reward for finishing the 3-mile excursion is a barbecue waiting at the top of the mountain.
Gary Hartley, the Summit's director of community and governmental relations said,"We certainly want to get the Scouts outdoors, challenge them and have a healthy lifestyle," said. "We talk about the three C's as kind of the pillars, and that is cardio, character and citizenship. We have all of those embodied here."
While cardio may be represented in this newest incarnation of a Jamboree that tells a group of Scouts they are not good enough and therefore are not welcome at this years Jamboree, BSA's version of the remaining pillars of characters and citizenship leave a lot to be desired.
A message left with Boy Scouts of America has yet to be returned.
Some information for this article was obtained from Yahoo.com
One of the more difficult things to go through as an American youth is being overweight. The almost constant bullying and abuse from classmates can easily turn what once was an outgoing child into an unhealthy homebody. It is hard enough for kids who dont measure up to what arbitrary standards are put in place, but when an organization like the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) also tells a member that because of their size they are not welcome, it can be the Coup de grace to a childs self confidence.
Every three years the Boy Scouts of America hold a national Jamboree and this years is the most physically demanding ever. The Jamboree began today July 15, and will run for 10 days from its new location in West Virginia at the 1,000-plus acre Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve.
Activities ranging from rock climbing, to whitewater rafting, biking and rappelling are all in store, making this years event designed only for the fittest of Scouts.
It is not a case of a lack of activities for Scouts who may be overweight; these kids are being excluded from the Jamboree altogether. The Boy Scouts of America have instituted new physical fitness requirements that have eliminated morbidly obese Scouts from participating.
For this years Jamboree, 30,000 Scouts ages 12 to 20 and their leaders were required to meet a threshold for body mass index (BMI), and other health factors before being allowed to participate. Jamboree applicants with a body mass index (BMI) of 40 or higher were deemed ineligible, and those who fell between 32 and 39.9 were asked to provide even more personal information to Jamboree medical staff in hopes of being allowed to participate.
Dan McCarthy, director of the BSA's Summit Group says that "Part of the design in building this site was to address the need for physical fitness in our youth, which of course is a longstanding component of Scouting.
Dan is correct that physical fitness is important; in fact Obesity is the most prevalent nutritional disorder among children and adolescents in the United States. Approximately 21-24% of American children and adolescents are overweight, and another 16-18% is obese.
The problem is that the Boy Scouts of America, an organization which has a history of being exclusionary to atheists and gays is now keeping overweight Scouts from attending the years biggest event. From the statistics above we know that obesity is a problem in children, so if the Boy Scouts of America are truly concerned about the physicall fitness of its young members they should offer activities which promote that model, not tell a Scout he is not welcome at the Jamboree.
There are 50 mountain bike trails, 11 BMX tracks and jumps that total the size of about five football fields. The grounds also boast a paved skateboard park which was built by the same team that designed venues for the Summer X Games, which includes a bowl, a vertical ramp, street-style combinations and a foam pit for Scouts to try out new tricks.
At some point during the Jamboree, every participating Scout will be asked to take a 3-mile trek up a mountain; the irony is that the reward for finishing the 3-mile excursion is a barbecue waiting at the top of the mountain.
Gary Hartley, the Summit's director of community and governmental relations said,"We certainly want to get the Scouts outdoors, challenge them and have a healthy lifestyle," said. "We talk about the three C's as kind of the pillars, and that is cardio, character and citizenship. We have all of those embodied here."
While cardio may be represented in this newest incarnation of a Jamboree that tells a group of Scouts they are not good enough and therefore are not welcome at this years Jamboree, BSA's version of the remaining pillars of characters and citizenship leave a lot to be desired.
A message left with Boy Scouts of America has yet to be returned.
Some information for this article was obtained from Yahoo.com
