Scouts is (or always was!) an incredibly middle class activity

[Greatballzoffire]

Just that. Our local one is full of very wealthy families, waiting list are years long & the children that could probably do with & afford scouts can't get in the door.
I always associated scouts as an inexpensive activity that all children can access. Ours seem to be predominantly full of middle class families who travel from other areas to our scout unit.

Definitely not the case here!

Depends where the group is located. We have too in our village... one fir the village children is quite diverse ranging from kids who needed free uniform and subsidised fees to professional families.
The other is attached to the Private school exclusively for their pupils.

Very different vibes!

Is it? My dad was a scout and definitely not middle class.

Surely it depends where your pack is?

Not here now and not when my dad was a boy in the 1950s or my husband in the 1980s.

I imagine a big problem is it’s run mostly by volunteers. Wealthier areas tend to have more willing and able volunteers.

My very working class grandparents/great grandparents would disagree. My great grandmother was an Akela, & my grandparents ran a scout group in East London during the 60s & 70s.

@PuttingDownRoots ours is the only one around here so it attracts from neighbouring villages. DS joined the Beavers in September & it's definitely not people like us! It's a lovely group, he's made friends with lovely girls & boys. The volunteers do trojen work to give the children amazing experiences all in their own time.
Maybe it was my own mindset, I didn't think such a simple, affordable activity would be as attractive to the middle classes

But surely Scouts (even your local one) is still accessible to all, OP? Unless you're suggesting that the middle-class families are all somehow in cahoots with the scout leaders and jumping the queue/getting preferential treatment, then there's nothing stopping the families from other backgrounds getting on the waiting list too, is there?

Packs are local to an area so the make up of a group would reflect who lives there. My daughters do Brownies and it is by far the cheapest afterschool activity I have come across. I pay £30 for the term which seems very cheap compared to things like swimming, ballet and gymnastics. There are costs for other optional activities like camp but they seem to be good at keeping prices reasonable.

There is no doubt that more well off families can take more advantage of all the opportunities though. DH is shortly taking some Scouts to Poland.. its a couple of hundred for the flights alone (very cheap once there) so some self excluded immediately

Are the volunteers the middle class parents?

I do think there should be some element of catchment area but groups need volunteers. If you're in a typical w/c area and a few people from the church have set up scouts to give the kids something to do, it does seem off to be driving the middle class kids across town to take all the places just because they've got more money to spend

Maybe it was my own mindset, I didn't think such a simple, affordable activity would be as attractive to the middle classes

Yes, you have a strange mindset. 'Simple, affordable activities' are attractive to many people, regardless of 'class', which is so inconsistently defined and often based on nothing more than assumptions rather than facts, that it's fairly meaningless.

But I have to say that it Def isn't noodle class at ours. All the kids and leaders are local and wc. We know that means that for trips parents bring able to subsidise isn't very high and fundraisers need to be not going back to immediate family.

Definitely not the case here either, but then we aren’t in a very middle class area!

Putting a kids name on a waiting list doesn't cost anything, so it's not a income thing as such, but does exclude children whose parents are less able/involved or who's lives are too chaotic to think that far ahead.

But the real problem is that demand outstrips places, which is what leads to the two year plus waiting lists. The only solution is more volunteers, but as others have said, volunteering is more likely in certain demographics, so middleclass areas are likely to have more provision.

OK so what is the costs of the actual events or other related costs are you specifically complaining about or is this another 'I have a chip on my shoulder against anyone doing something I want to do but can't and I'm jealous'

Are the actual costs really that high? Is there another genuine issue?

Maybe it was my own mindset, I didn't think such a simple, affordable activity would be as attractive to the middle classes

Well this is quite judgemental. MC people are just people, you know. Scouts is amazing for life skills, resilience, friendship and being part of a group. That’s not restricted to any class

Not like that here.

Maybe it was my own mindset, I didn't think such a simple, affordable activity would be as attractive to the middle classes.

You are correct in your assessment of your mindset.

Are you saying that middle class children should be excluded because of their class and how would you define this? Scouts are run by volunteers and the fact is that many people, irrespective of class, have a sense of entitlement to their hard endeavours.

Hmmmm. I don’t know if that’s true or not.

The only thing I will say is by the time the kids are the age to attend Scouts you get a fair few drop outs because it’s not considered cool anymore.

The boys that continue on do seem to be a certain type of child, and those kids do seem to have the kind of parents who are keen for them to continue going and it becomes a non-negotiable alongside music lessons etc.

So it stands to reason that he younger groups of beavers/cubs might have more of a mix of families and scouts/explorers might have a different demographic.

So?

Not the case here- no waiting list at all.

But would agree it is the more proactive/ parents with professional jobs who arrange for their kids to go.

It simply reflects the area the group is in surely? DDs are in the local brownie and guide group. The groups are all kids from the local state schools. We have a lot of units in the division but I can't imagine other units being different.

Perhaps it is in Toryville, but around here (very much Labour) it's an activity for all classes.
We have a few small 'well to do' villages along with the more working-class towns; all attend Scouts and the like.

In our family, all of us were in Brownies, Guides, Cubs, Sea Scouts and we were definitely not MC, what an odd assumption to make?

The Scout/Guide movement is an excellent way for children to meet others, learn a sense of pride & achievement, do activities and experiences they may not otherwise have done.
Would always recommend it and look back with fondness at my own time with them. 😊