Boys around the country are causing a debate about whether if girls should be allowed to participate in Boy Scouts. Many say that no, they should not, and that Boy Scouts is called Boy Scouts for a reason. Others say, why not? It is a free country and if a girl is wanting to participate in Boy Scouts, who is there to stop her?

Although many think that girls and boy scouts are the “same thing”, both programs offer skills that are completely different. The skills taught in Boy Scouts, such as improving their physical fitness, citizen, and person growth are not taught in Girl Scouts. If a girl is wanting to learn how to pursue these different skills and can only do so by Boy Scouts, she should be entitled to join.

Many want to argue the fact that there is Girl and Boy Scouts for a reason and each gender should stay to its own. But then again, many have fought to get girls to be able to join. On October 12 of this year, Boy Scouts opened their doors to girls to be able to join, but not everyone is happy about it.

Out of polled Timberland students, 219 responses, 42 said that girls should be allowed while the remaining said no.

Some may have a negative outlook on this, but allowing girls to join into Boy Scouts can allow them to learn new skills at a young age that could make them more independent. Young girls learning more “masculine” skills can help them and should not have them be confined into their own subcategory of gender roles.

To learn more about the history and continuing changes of Boy Scouts visit www.scouting.org.