Some memories of youth are carried forward as proof of what a childhood once made possible. In a pair of letters to The New York Times, readers answered a July essay by Erica Song about girls entering the Boy Scouts, and one former Girl Scout recalled a late-1950s Dallas troop whose campfires, mountain hikes and service work shaped the women its members became. The exchange is less a verdict than a reminder that the question of how girls learn to lead has long been asked in many forms, and that the answers often depend on who had the time, money and support to try.
Readers Weigh In on Girl Scouts Versus Boy Scouts and Whether Girls Need Camping to Lead
A stealthy feminist instruction book
Mark
Why does a pair of letters about scouting deserve attention?
Mimi
Because they answer a real question: where do girls learn to lead? Albritton answers with specifics, a troop of four women in their 80s and what each became.
Mark
She lists a sociologist, a library builder, a real estate seller and a writer.
Mimi
Yes, and she says the troop also volunteered with occupational therapy programs and as museum docents. It wasn't kitchens and bank tours.
Luke
Careful, though. That's one troop's memory, recalled decades later. It doesn't tell us what Girl Scouting was like nationally.
Mimi
Fair. She even says the setup depended on educated parents, gas money and free time.
Mark
So she undercuts her own case a little?
Mimi
I'd say she qualifies it honestly. That's why her closing question, whether boys would have improved it, reads as opinion, not proof.
Luke
And the second letter says camping isn't necessary for leadership. That's an assertion too. It offers orchestras and school kitchens as examples, but no evidence.
Mark
What do we actually not know here?
Luke
We only have excerpts, and Song's essay isn't quoted. So how fairly the letters read it, we can't confirm from this text. The second writer's name isn't even in what we have.
Le Pouls
- A guest essay on girls entering the Boy Scouts sparked a rapid response from readers who felt their own girlhoods had been misread.
- A former Dallas Girl Scout pushed back with vivid memories of tents, cook fires, Rocky Mountain hikes and a troop whose members went on to demanding careers.
- A second writer challenged the assumption that leadership requires campouts, pointing instead to orchestras, school kitchens and varied merit badges.
- Both letters rejected the idea that girls need the boys' version of scouting, and the debate over single-sex versus integrated programs is far from settled.
Some memories of youth are carried forward as proof of what a childhood once made possible. In a pair of letters to The New York Times, readers answered a July essay by Erica Song about girls entering the Boy Scouts, and one former Girl Scout recalled a late-1950s Dallas troop whose campfires, mountain hikes and service work shaped the women its members became. The exchange is less a verdict than a reminder that the question of how girls learn to lead has long been asked in many forms, and that the answers often depend on who had the time, money and support to try.
A troop of Dallas girls in the late 1950s pitched tents, built cook fires and hiked in Rocky Mountain National Park, and fished from piers on the Texas coast. Jane Albritton of Santa Fe, N.M., remembers it that way, and she wrote to The New York Times to say that an opinion essay by Erica Song, published July 26, had left the wrong impression of girls in her era as scouts who spent their time in kitchens or touring banks.
Her troop, led by Marjorie Wheeler from 1955 to 1963, has since scattered into lives of achievement. One member holds a doctorate in sociology, one founded two community libraries, one sells high-end real estate, and Albritton herself writes. The girls also volunteered with teen occupational therapy programs and served as museum docents. Albritton pointed to the Girl Scout manual of that time, which she called a stealthy feminist instruction book that taught planning, cooperation and practical skills.
She was honest about what made it possible: educated parents, money for gas to reach distant campsites, and free time. She closed by wondering whether sharing the experience with boys could have improved it, and admitted it was hard to imagine.
A second letter took a different view. Its writer argued that girls do not need the discomfort of camping to become leaders, since leadership grows in a school orchestra or a student kitchen crew, and that many merit badges offer varied ways to lead. Both letters rejected the idea that girls need the boys' version of scouting, though they reached that position by different roads.
A troop of Dallas girls in the late 1950s pitched tents, built cook fires and hiked in Rocky Mountain National Park. They also fished from piers on the Texas coast. That is the picture Jane Albritton of Santa Fe, N.M., offered The New York Times this month, in a letter answering an opinion essay about what happens when girls get to be Boy Scouts.
The essay, a guest piece by Erica Song, ran July 26. Albritton, writing as a member of Girl Scout Troop 145 of Dallas, took what she called gentle but firm exception to the impression she took from it: that girls in her era spent scouting in kitchens or touring banks. Her troop was led by Marjorie Wheeler from 1955 to 1963. The four surviving members are now in their 80s.
Albritton listed where they landed. One holds a doctorate in sociology. One created two community libraries. One sells high-end real estate. Albritton herself writes. Beyond the camping, she said, the troop volunteered with teen occupational therapy programs and served as museum docents.
She pointed readers to the Girl Scout manual from those years, which she described as a stealthy feminist instruction book. It taught planning and cooperation, she wrote, along with how to be capable outdoors and how to change a tire or a bandage.
Albritton was candid about the conditions behind that experience. It did not come from nowhere, she wrote. Her troop's members had highly educated parents, money for gas to reach distant campsites, and free time. She closed by asking whether sharing the girls-only experience with boys could have improved it, and said that was hard to imagine.
A second letter, whose writer's name does not appear in the available text, took a different angle. It accused Song of the typical mistake of believing girls cannot become leaders unless they endure the discomfort of camping the way boys do. Leadership, this writer argued, is often built in other settings, such as girls leading a school orchestra or a staff of fellow students in a school kitchen.
The writer said a person does not have to be wet, cold, exhausted or hunting for firewood in a dense forest to grow into a kind and capable adult leader. Many kinds of merit badges, the letter added, offer varied leadership experiences, and work of any type gives a chance to learn to lead. Those who never much liked camping, the writer said, can vouch for that.
The two letters share a target but not an argument. Albritton defends her troop's outdoor record and its girls-only setting. The second writer says the outdoors is not required at all. Both push back on the idea, as they read it in Song's essay, that girls need the boys' version of scouting to gain leadership. The debate over single-sex versus integrated youth programs is likely to continue, and Song's essay is the piece to read for the other side.
Citations marquantes
Her troop had highly educated parents, gas money for distant campsites and free time, and she finds it hard to imagine boys would have improved the experience.— Jane Albritton, letter to the editor
Girls do not have to endure camping discomfort to grow into capable leaders; orchestras and school kitchens can teach leadership too.— Second letter writer (paraphrased)
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