> Actually new thinking among college recruiters is that they want youth with a breath of experience, diversity, however they also want one who has demonstrated a committment to something in particular, something that requires significant time and effort. Belonging to the band club and the chess club and the swim team and doing track is all well and good, but they want you to be President of the chess team, have organized chess events, etc. This is where Eagle has a little more cachet. In speaking with the folks in the building who decide such things for a major state university system, they are aware enough of what is happening with Eagle (making it a middle school award) but they still see it as a valuable asset in that it demonstrates a longer term commitment than football. We get kudos from parents because of our consistency. The meetings are scheduled and planned in advance as well as outings. The family can create their schedule with a high degree of confidence that nothing is going to change on a whim. Can't say that for a lot of the other activities. One reason why Scouts are sometimes "trumped" by sports is that our = Scoutmasters don't make a Scout run laps, do pushups, or sit on the = bench if he shows up late at meetings, or kick us out of the troop if we = miss a camping trip. Our Scoutmasters don't question the Scouts' = devotion to Scouting if they dare try to do something else, whether it = be another Scout unit (like Venturing) playing sports. I've heard of all = of those things happening in local sports leagues. Some parents push sports on their sons because they were in hockey, football, baseball, etc, and they want their sons to experience the same thing, (living vicariously through their kids). Others view the sports as a way for a cheap college education, (all the coaches telling them, "with a little more effort, your son could be the next Heisman winner"). Others may perceive the "teamwork" value of sports as being higher than Scouts. Others may view the short sports season as being a valid 'break' from Scouting, since Scouting goes year round. Others just may not see the value of Scouting. Let's be honest, we all joke about the parents who view Scouting as just cheap babysitting. How much do you think that they are going to push to have the Scouts do Scouting instead of Football? The actual Scouts may choose sports over a meeting/campout because if they miss that practice they have to sit out the next game, or if they miss a game they are off the team. That's a tough thing to fight. I can't see us doing the same thing; "if you miss the next Troop meeting you don't go on the next campout, or if you miss the next campout you are out of the Troop". Yeah, I can't see that working out very well. Others may feel that the joy of winning a game, and especially the chance to play a key role in it, is more fun than just going camping. I think all of us enjoy that rush when we 'win' at some competition. And you can see how competitive boys are. Just watch the difference in Scouts tying knots in a regular setting, and Scouts tying knots in some competition. Two completely different things. And some Scouts just look at the restrictions on activities, and may decide to do other things if there is a conflict. My nephew would rather spend time with his 4H club than his local Troop, mainly because they do a lot of hunting trips. My sister told me that the only reason he is still in Scouts is because he knows how much I want him to be a Scout. There are other things like academics that are tougher to deal with. It's hard to argue with a parent who says their Scout isn't going to a meeting or a campout because they have too much homework. Several of my Scouts were joking on the last campout about something that was "going to go on your permanent record". Evidently one of their teachers was trying to drive home how important getting those good grades were to them. Scholastics is one area where I think the word "trump" is totally appropriate. Religion is another area that is very tough to argue with. If a parent says their Scout will miss a meeting/campout for a church activity, (i.e. confirmation, youth group, retreat, alter boy, etc), there isn't much you can do to argue that. It's even tougher when the 40 Scouts in your Troop attend 15+ different churches of different religions. Of which only 4 are from your chartering org. I also agree with Randy on his post about the parents who are active in the Troop tend to have more active Scouts who are more likely to skip something else to go to a Scouting event. This isn't true in every case, (we've had more than one or two parents who force their son to be a Scout), and sometimes having an active parent in the Troop causes a boy to rebel and not want to come. I had a parent one time who I worked real hard to keep away from his son, just to keep the Scout having some fun in Scouting, (parent was way too strict in my book). I also think that parents who were Scouts are much more likely to have active Scouts as well. But that's something that we can't do anything about unfortunately :-) We have a few Scouts in the Troop who's parents drive them long distances through heavy city traffic to make meetings and events. Those Scouts tend to be the sons of parents (or in some cases grandparents), who were Eagles in the Troop 30 or 60 years ago, and who's parents will do whatever it takes to get them there. It would be nice to have a little more support like that from other parents. Ted