The new Girl Scout Journey program is called "It’s Your World—Change It!" The Cadette journey is entitled "Amaze: The Twists and Turns of Getting Along" and is basically about relational aggression among girls and how to deal with it.
This journey has both its pluses and its minuses as far as I am concerned. For starters, I believe the topic is perhaps the most important that we can address as Girl Scout leaders. Relational aggression, for those of you unfamiliar with the term, defines bullying among girls. It encompasses all the unsavory games that girls can play in the social process that too often scars girls in the middle school years. In my opinion, any Girl Scout leader, mentor, or teacher who works with young girls should educate themselves about relational aggression and how to combat it.
A good starting point is Rachel Simmons revealing and thought-provoking book Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Aggression Among Girls. Simmons book is richly researched and demonstrates that the social quagmire that exists in middle school and high school is one that can irrevocably damage young women and resonate throughout their lives. As such, it argues strongly against taking the stance that "girls will be girls" and letting the girls sort it out for themselves.
Girls (and let's be honest, grown women) use lies, gossip and rumor, teasing, exclusion and ignoring, insults, and alliance building to manipulate the social scene. Generally, a girl is targeted so that others can "move up" in the social hierarchy, gain power and/or popularity, or simply deflect negative attention from themselves. The damage inflicted on the target, as Simmons demonstrates, can last a lifetime.
Simmons' book and others addressing the topic frustrate in that they do not offer solutions. The Girl Scout Amaze journey, therefore, offers a proactive approach to addressing relational aggression.
The Cadette journey has problems, however, beginning with getting girls interested in doing it. I have strong reservations about the whole direction that the Girl Scouting is headed. A lot of the new materials focus on talking, sharing, and reflection. Although that sounds fairly benign, in practice, when I offer my girls programs that center around these activities, the girls actively complain. To them, Girl Scouts is about doing. They would rather camp, shoot a bow and arrow, or perform community service. Pushing activities that they see as too like school work only turns them off.
Another problem that I have with the journey is related to this lack of attractiveness to the girls and that is the time commitment. The adult guide suggests eight sessions as a minimum to complete the journey. For many troops, eight sessions would encompass almost a year's worth of activities. Thus the journey program would effectively be the Girl Scout program with no time for badges, camping, or, gasp, cookies!
I am thus in a quandary over Amaze. On the one hand, I truly believe the topic is one that we as Girl Scout leaders need to acknowledge and address if possible. Yet I am not convinced that what amounts to a workbook is the best method to take that action.
