Everyone’s heard of the Boy Scouts: camping, tying knots, uniforms, patches and boys. That was until last Wednesday, when the organization decided that co-ed Scouts was more fitting. I believe the purpose of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) is to guide young boys into the path of manhood while teaching important values unique to men. Yet, last week’s move by the organization to accept girls has completely undermined this purpose. Now the name Boy Scouts holds no meaning.

The new proposal calls for the gradual recruitment of girls into the once traditionally all-male program; a first in the 107-year old organization whose membership includes almost three million young men. Acceptance of other genders into the BSA has been a hot topic for the past years, but especially now. In an effort to be more accepting, the BSA decided to allow transgender boys to join the boys’ club in late January 2017. However, in an unprecedented move, they have now chosen to let girls into the organization.

The Boy Scouts decided to admit girls due to decreasing membership and the want to appeal to a wider audience. Part of the problem is the conservative values Boy Scouts holds and its traditional activities such as camping and woodcraft. The organization is struggling to make do in a changing world with new youths with new appeals, interests far from the backwoods and rivers. The leadership of the organization should have consulted current members on what to change or ways to make scouts more appealing rather than pushing this new policy without any discussion. Instead of employing recruitment programs to appeal to the modern young teen they decided a better option was to reverse the status quo and pursue short term solutions.

Possible resolutions to the organization’s problem could include adding skills useful in the modern world such as coding or programming. This past year, new patches were introduced that tried to appeal to the changing youth and while it is a noble attempt, the new technology lessons are already outdated and almost obsolete. The scouts don’t have to remove merit badges that make the scouts unique, such as horsemanship or wilderness survival but adding new skills that we can apply to their careers in the contemporary job fields is what they need. I believe that even with the inclusion of young women, the membership rates are bound to decline again without a more permanent plan. Sure there might be a surge in membership but there is nothing to hold the new members interests when they realize Boy Scouts is not for them.

Speaking as a scout myself, I am disappointed in the BSA for caving in to outside pressure. As a member for almost five years, I know first-hand what being a scout means. The group teaches one to be “trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent.” Words quoted exactly from the Scout Law. It creates an environment where we can learn comradery exclusive to boys. When I haul a backpack down a trail or canoe a river for 12 days, singing songs and laughing with friends, I develop differently surrounded by peers I can be comfortable with. I can be true to the message the scouts promote, more so than one that is surrounded by a different gender.

The Girl Scouts are an entirely different organization altogether. A post from the official website right after the decision was announced dismissed the boys’ organization, calling itself “the best girl leadership organization in the world, created with and for girls.” The same reason I said before, that genders develop differently with their peers, holds true for girls. The post by the Girl Scouts stresses the importance of the single-gender environment free from men to promote female leadership.

Boy Scouts teaches brotherhood and principles that boys are taught to become virtuous in the outside world. The uniqueness of the scouts will be lost with the integration of girls. The inclusion of females will turn a camp trip with fellow male scouts from an opportunity to grow as men into just another recreational camping trip but with fancy uniforms and a now worthless name.