Recently I was with a bunch of Civil war re-enactors. The Sargent Major talked to us about how he ran his program for boys between the ages of 14-20+. That the structure required by these events plus his dedication to the program really developed strong character within the boys. He claimed to have been given lots of compliments from parents about how their sons attitude/character had improved after being in his program.
Two weeks ago I was talking to my sons wrestling coach and he said; give his program time and watch how much confidence my son will gain from the structure of his program. He claimed to have seen this many times how the wrestling program developed confidence in boys.
BSA, touts its self as a character building program, but so do many others.
I dont really want to debate which is of these or others is the better program.
My question: Is it structure that above all that boys need? Is it the common group sharing of experiences with team members that does it? Is it the dedication os adult paid/volunteers and their character influence that mentors the boys?
What comprising a good character development program for boys?