Is It Time For Hacker Scouts?

ptorrone writes "MAKE Magazine asks: is it 'Time For Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts 2.0?' What might the future of education be like if it were based on online & earned skill badges, and what could the future of traditional organizations for kids, like the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, be like in a very modern, tech-savvy world? Social networks and the maker movement are the perfect intersection of where the kids of today are, but we don't see 'leaderboards' for skills yet; we only see them for video games. Is it time for Hacker Scouts?"

Is it time?

[YrWrstNtmr]

Yes, probably. Let's roll some tech into it.
But do NOT lose the outdoor aspect. Camping, etc. Far, far too many kids have no clue what the "big green room with the blue and white ceiling" looks and smells like.

Re:Is it time?

[Hatta]

The funny thing is, I remember computer camps being common in the 80s. Somehow as computers got more popular, computer camps got less so.

Fine as is

[twnth]

I do not think it is necessary to reform all organizations to match some illusionary techno elite mold.

Scouts/Guides teach different skills, like what the sun looks like and how to get along with others, that are not well represented by the can't-lift-face-from-LCD crowd.

Badges are about basic skills and sense of accomplishment (little milestones met). Leaderboards are about competition. Each has their merit.

P.S. Get off my lawn

No

[Hentes]

Isn't the point of scouts is to get kids out of the basement to move and do something?

Not really

[bjdevil66]

Yes, the core Scouting organizations could use online resources for organizational purposes or for some merit badges that could be done online.

However, most of the valuable experiences from scouting can only be gained in person - experiencing things in real life. Camping. Swimming. Hiking. Shooting. Meeting people in various fields and getting a real education about a topic (even if it is cursory), Etc.

However, online scouting would lose a lot of the value you get by interacting with live people who can share their experiences.

I was a "hacker" scout in 1994

[sdguero]

It's called an "explorer post." My troop was hosted by a kids Dad who was an engineer at a company that made Mars rover prototypes for NASA. We made websites for ourselves to start out, which they hosted on the companies web server (*nix running apache), and after we learned http we made websites for for car dealerships and other small businesses to raise money for the post. Among the many cool activities we did, they also let us program very expensive Mars rover prototypes to walk around and explore the office and we had challenges to see who could program the best runs etc...

That experience, and having a computer in my room at very young age, are probably the two biggest reasons why I ended up choosing a career in Engineering. I have often thought that if I ever get off my lazy butt to do something good for the community it would be a technology explorer post like the one I was lucky enough to get into.

Re:Is it time?

[lightknight]

Yes, I've seen that kind of 'appliance' thinking in action.

That's why we have a weird schism. One generation which bankrupted us and couldn't fix a toaster to save their lives, another which could write a fair number of new OSs but is hamstrung on the financial issue, and another generation immediately thereafter which has acquired both generation's mistakes and understands neither finances nor technology. W00F!