Who says kids are growing up too fast? Sure, there is an insane amount of hormones in our meat, rampant and indiscriminate mature material on network television, a huge disconnect between generations, and an unending list of narcissistic outlets (youtube, facebook, hipsterdom) and figures (perez hilton, paris hilton). But all that doesn’t mean anything. Right?
Now Boy Scouts are expected to keep up with the times. The Explorers program, a 60 year old affiliate of the Boy Scouts of America, is now less about tie knots and more about drug busts. This program used to teach kids some tools needed to grow up and be a civil servant, like a cop or a firefighter–but that is not in our national interest anymore. The fight against terrorism, the war on drugs, and the war on undocumented workers are more pertinent to our young boys and girls.
The training, which leaders say is not intended to be applied outside the simulated Explorer setting, can involve chasing down illegal border crossers as well as more dangerous situations that include facing down terrorists and taking out “active shooters,” like those who bring gunfire and death to college campuses. In a simulation here of a raid on a marijuana field, several Explorers were instructed on how to quiet an obstreperous lookout.
Most kids are between the ages of 14 and 16. Some of them are in it for unnerving reasons (“I like shooting [guns]. I like the sound they make. It gets me excited”), while others sound like they are trying to make the best of a bad situation (“I want to be a lawyer, and this teaches you about how crimes are committed”).
They all find fine tutors that teach them how to control a loud suspect (“Put him on his face and put a knee on his back. I guarantee that he’ll shut up”), and might get too comfortable with them later on. In the last thirty years, many police officers and Homeland Security officials have been charged with sexually abusing the kids they supervise.
The program is now backed by the Homeland Security Department and the FBI as a training program for future employees. From this early of an age they teach kids how to aim, fire, kill in very realistic training situations. They are taught early on what to expect in a hyper-fearful post 9/11 world.
“This is about being a true-blooded American guy or girl.”
More often than not, whenever the idea of being truly American is brought up, it’s usually conditional in a way that makes me uneasy. Patriotism is lobbed around more than it should; when it comes to kids, we shouldn’t expect them to grasp the subtleties of such complex terms. What ever happened to Sesame Street education?
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