Why There Isn't a Chess Badge in Girl Scouts

I participated in Boy Scouts for many years in my youth, and I can say that scouting definitely changed my life for the better. It taught me how to have confidence, how to be a good leader or follower depending on the situation, and to take initiative. With the badge system, I could choose specific skills to learn, and the affirmation that comes with earning a badge showed me a world where the amount of effort you put in results in a specific amount of reward.

Unfortunately, the real world is not really merit-based, but when you're young a system like that can help you believe in your ability to pick up something new and figure out what you're passionate about. Deciding to give back to the organization that gave so much to me, I recently became an official Merit Badge Counselor for the BSA (Boy Scouts of America) for the Chess badge. The badge requires that scouts learn and demonstrate the basic concepts of chess, and form their own tournament as the final activity.

The BSA was founded in 1910 and quickly became the largest youth organization in the US. Though fraught with controversies over the decades, it's recently shown much more inclusiveness than ever before, even allowing girls to join the BSA. It's interesting because I find myself wondering if that's impacted membership numbers for the Girl Scouts. In my youth, I personally remember girls wishing they could join the BSA, finding the level of support and activities to be much more abundant, better funded, and focused on self improvement through outdoor experiences.

Badges were incorporated into the BSA in 1911, though only a few of the original 57 badges remain today. There are currently 135 badges available for scouts to earn, including the Chess badge. Stated in the official guide published by the BSA, the goal of the Chess badge is to help develop things like abstract reasoning, concentration, critical thinking, and strategic planning.

With so much discussion and debate about women in chess (concerning skill level, intimidation, and participation challenges), I had to look in to whether the Girl Scouts also has a Chess badge. They do not. They do have many badges though, just like the BSA. Many of them have a STEM focus, including topics like Programming Robots, Cybersecurity, and App Development. But why not chess?

I feel like no one can argue that learning chess at an early age (like the age in which kids usually join scouting) won't lead to all kinds of great things even if they don't continue to play chess later in life. Of course it will. Students who participate in extra-curricular activities at an early age usually have better grades. And I know that in scouting, your report cards matter. Have poor grades for too long, and you can be suspended until they improve.

And we also know that there are a lot less women playing competitive chess than men... I think a recent article put it at about 11%. Many tournaments provide additional women's prize pools alongside the open prizes, as a means of encouraging more women to play. There is also a second track in international play for women to earn titles that recognize their skill at the game. 

Why isn't there a chess badge in Girl Scouts? Not sure. Adding a chess badge in Girl Scouts can do a couple great things for the organization. It can introduce chess to girls at an early age, which might lead to an increase in women chess players in competition, and it would increase parity between the BSA and Girl Scouts, which might help reduce attrition in the face of the BSA's new admittance of girls into their "side" of scouting.

How can it hurt? You're on this website because you love chess. Wouldn't you do anything to help grow the community of the game you love? And how can it hurt to provide girls with another opportunity to develop abstract reasoning, concentration, critical thinking, and strategic planning?

If you agree, you can sign a petition I started to ask the Girl Scouts to add a chess badge. Unlike most petition sites, you can sign anonymously and without providing your email address or other contact details that typically lead to spam. You can provide your name and a comment, or remain completely anonymous.

Please click here to sign the petition.