Apparently, it’s cookie season. Girl Scout Cookie season. I
know this because the tortured pleas from desperate parents have been heard
throughout the halls and the sign-up sheets have papered the walls en masse.
I was never a scout of either gender, but I have a great
respect for both the Boy and/or Girl Scouts of America. Anything that teaches
children to love the outdoors is a-okay with me.
But I seriously question the merits of the cookie program*.
First there’s the image problem.
When I think of the Boy Scouts, I think pinewood derby—good
old-fashioned wood working, painting and hands-on craftsmanship. Bona fide
skills. Of course I realize that there’s a good chance a majority of the cars
are built by the dads, but at least it sends the right message.
When I think of the Girl Scouts, I think cookie sales. That
would be all well and good if, like the pinewood derby, they made the cookies
themselves—good old-fashioned baking, packing and distribution. That way they
would learn exactly what ingredients are going into their cookies.
And I realize that it sounds sexist to say that boys should
be in the woodshop and girls should be in the kitchen—it really doesn’t matter to
me what the task is**—but the point is that the boys make something and the
girls, as it stands, do not.
According to the Girl Scout’s website, “When a Girl Scout
sells you cookies, she's building a lifetime of skills and confidence. She
learns goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills, and
business ethics—aspects essential to leadership, to success, and to life.”
At one point in time, this statement was probably true. When
I was growing up, you could actually go door-to-door to sell stuff. Back then,
girls could certainly learn those skills through the process of selling. I
don’t disagree with the statement or the sentiment. But what parent is going to
let their daughter just wander off around the neighborhood talking to strangers
these days? Not many.
Instead, the program has become one where you get swarmed at
the entrance to a grocery store or have parents tacking up sign-up sheets at
their places of employment.
How does that build skills?
Second, the Girl Scouts promote what’s called the Healthy
Living Campaign. Cookies and healthy living? Do I really need to explain this?
Let’s move on from Let’s Move.
Third, there seems to be a whole slew of partners willing to
hitch their star to this wagon, so is the all-out blitzkrieg fund raising even
necessary at this point? And wouldn’t it be better to just donate to programs
directly anyway?
In my opinion, it’s time for the Girl Scouts of America to
retire the cookie program. It’s not longer feasible as a teaching tool and it
sends a mixed message to the very girls it’s intended to support. If fund
raising is truly needed, why not have the girls make sellable items with their
own hands? Or put on musical productions for the elderly? Or create artwork
instillations in public spaces that can be auctioned off?
If “goal setting, decision making, money management, people
skills, and business ethics” are the lesson, surely there’s a better way to learn
it than through box after box of cookies.
*Yes, I realize I’m not the first and won’t be the last.
**They could both make ashtrays for all I care