Do Girls Need Different Programming Today
Than in the Past?
Here's what GSNEO says about the world today vs. yesterday:
"At times we embrace change for the promise that it holds of a better tomorrow. In 1912, Juliette Gordon Low brought girls of all backgrounds into the out-of-doors, giving them the opportunity to develop self-reliance and resourcefulness. The skills and tools that today's Girl Scouts need to be self-reliant and resourceful are different than what girls needed in 1912."
In reality, fire building, hiking, and pitching tents were recreational skills in 1912, as they are now. The point of camping then, as now, is to be away from the everyday routine. It's the personal challenge, the camaraderie, and yes, the connection with nature. When girls go camping, they aren't just reading about something, they are not observing someone else doing; they are not students on a field trip. Girls make the plans, girls carry them out.
Classes, meetings, and workshops can be great things. But they simply cannot have the scope of an entire weekend away from home. The basic tools carried within one's self are the same now as they were in 1912. Observation. Thoughtfulness. Courage. Integrity. Judgment. Some of the names have changed: what is now called financial literacy was then called budgeting. Media literacy was called healthy skepticism.
What is different about today's world (as opposed to the world of 1912) is the pervasiveness of electronics and virtual reality. While this opens worlds undreamt of in Juliette Low's time, the downside is that children can become detached from the realities of nature and daily living. As our technological development speeds up, the value of REAL experience will become ever more prized.
The natural world needs more interpretation for today's girls, and it needs to be available to girls where they live - on a regular basis - not in a distant, rarely visited "premier" facility .
Read more from Richard Louv,"Last Child in the Woods - saving our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder".
"At times we embrace change for the promise that it holds of a better tomorrow. In 1912, Juliette Gordon Low brought girls of all backgrounds into the out-of-doors, giving them the opportunity to develop self-reliance and resourcefulness. The skills and tools that today's Girl Scouts need to be self-reliant and resourceful are different than what girls needed in 1912."
In reality, fire building, hiking, and pitching tents were recreational skills in 1912, as they are now. The point of camping then, as now, is to be away from the everyday routine. It's the personal challenge, the camaraderie, and yes, the connection with nature. When girls go camping, they aren't just reading about something, they are not observing someone else doing; they are not students on a field trip. Girls make the plans, girls carry them out.
Classes, meetings, and workshops can be great things. But they simply cannot have the scope of an entire weekend away from home. The basic tools carried within one's self are the same now as they were in 1912. Observation. Thoughtfulness. Courage. Integrity. Judgment. Some of the names have changed: what is now called financial literacy was then called budgeting. Media literacy was called healthy skepticism.
What is different about today's world (as opposed to the world of 1912) is the pervasiveness of electronics and virtual reality. While this opens worlds undreamt of in Juliette Low's time, the downside is that children can become detached from the realities of nature and daily living. As our technological development speeds up, the value of REAL experience will become ever more prized.
The natural world needs more interpretation for today's girls, and it needs to be available to girls where they live - on a regular basis - not in a distant, rarely visited "premier" facility .
Read more from Richard Louv,"Last Child in the Woods - saving our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder".