The "More" Child

On Saturday the Washington Post ran a story about a “misfit” band of 11 boy scouts of who have gone on to become Eagle Scouts, Boy Scouting’s highest honor. To have 11 in one patrol is a feat “that national, regional and local Scouting leaders believe is unprecedented.” Typically only 5 percent of Scouts achieve Eagle Scout status.

The story describes the boys as having been “babies,” “whiny goofballs,” “black sheep,” “ninnies” “losers” “quirky” and “dweebs” who went on to become “slyly ironic, decent, responsible young men.” For the moment I”ll put aside the negative stereotypes we’re dealing with here, and ask:

Can I set them up with my daughter’s Girl Scout troop? They sound like they’d be a perfect match.

Clearly these boys are highly gifted. “Campfire chats turned to the merits of Thai-Vietnamese fusion cuisine and the cinematic techniques of Ingmar Bergman or Hayao Miyazaki.”–I mean, c’mon!! And sure enough, one of the boys quoted is a senior at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology and is headed to Columbia University in the fall. Another was active in student government, band, fencing and model U.N.

C. has been in a similarly quirky Girl Scout troop for the past three years. Several girls are in one of the two middle school magnet programs. Several are in the same fencing class and on the same rec league basketball team. In many ways they are the anti-Girl Scouts. They’re sarcastic and goofy and loud and opinionated and gawky. They sell cookies, but they eschew the whole badge fetish and most of the cloyingly earnest trappings of Girl Scouts. They rolled their eyes in disbelief when an area leader solemnly told them that she was lighting their candle with a candle that had been lit by a candle that had been lit by Girl Scout founder Juliet Low. They just like the chance to socialize and plan cool trips and activities. They’ve gone to New York City together, as well as camping, caving, skiing and rafting. They’ve worked as waitresses for a senior club and as docents at Riley’s Lock House. It’s been fabulous. Just a wonderful, accepting and safe social outlet for C.

And all gratitude to the troop leaders, who are ideal for this group. One mom is a teacher who has two sons who have attended the GT/LD Center and are now in magnet programs; her oldest is also profoundly gifted. The other mom is a no-nonsense lawyer who loves to camp and is definitely not a girly-girl.

In the book See Jane Win: The Rimm Report on How 1,000 Girls Became Successful Women, participation in Girl Scouts emerged as a strong common factor of success: over half the women had been Girl Scouts. Rimm is quoted elsewhere as saying “Many of [the women] talked about their Girl Scout experience in terms of getting direction and taking initiative and especially the businesswoman. The executives talked about how that was very, very helpful to them. The scientists talked about how it introduced them to the environment.” Rimm again cites Girl Scouts in a compilation of Ten Tips for Parenting Gifted for the Davidson Institute. Tip #6 reads,

Encourage your daughters to be involved in all-girl activities like Girl Scouts, and consider all-girl classes or schools if boys cause them to lose confidence or distract from their learning.

For all this, Girl Scouts’ Gold Award–which is meant to be the equivalent of Eagle Scout–remains the poor relative in terms of recognition. Which is a shame.