I think you’re thinking of the Scout Oath:
On my honor I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my country
and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong,
mentally awake, and morally straight.
“To keep myself physically strong” could be interpreted more broadly as “to keep myself healthy”.
Instead of complaining about the hate against fat people, why don’t they take that as a wake-up call and start working out? Dualism is a disease. When you neglect either your mind or your body, your neglecting both.
I agree that a fitness test might be more appropriate, e.g. you have to be able to run 5 miles in 40 minutes or less in order to attend the Boy Scout Jamboree.
And they probably should require everyone to be certified by a doctor to be able to participate. I recall that when I was in high school, everyone had to be certified by a doctor in order to play sports.
See, that’s part of the problem with discrimination against fat people. Although it’s sold as being on the basis of health, it often seems like that’s just an excuse – the real reason is often that fat people are physically unattractive.
Well they probably should. But much of the hate and discrimination against fat people is still worthy of criticism.
Besides which, it’s not clear that flat out excluding fat people from social activities is such a great motivator. My instinct is that a better strategy is to welcome them while at the same time gently encouraging them to eat and exercise healthier and work towards modest goals.
Troops with fat kids need to work up to going to the Jamboree.
When I was a Scout, we raised money for a year to go on an adventure, we collected many many tons of newspaper.
Having a troop shape up and get more fit for a few months is a great idea.
Gives a sense of importance to the upcoming event.
If you needed to hire a public relations firm, would you choose the one used by the Boy Scouts?
Maybe it’s just me, but I only stopped being fat and got shredded when I received nasty comments and realized it was time for a change. Bullying helped me go from a morbidly obese fatty to a bodybuilder.
It sounds to me like the statement quoted in the OP is aimed at least as much at the adult leaders as at the kids. They don’t want the adults thinking “While the boys are marching a mile and a half to the opening ceremonies, I’ll tag along in a golf cart.”
I went to a Jamboree as a kid, and as I remember it there was a substantial amount of walking involved to get from place to place. It sounds like this year’s venue is hillier, and possibly more spread out, requiring even more walking. A seriously out-of-shape participant, of whatever age, would very likely slow down the group he was with, aside from the health risks involved.
I don’t see anything obviously wrong from their website. What am I missing?
I never went to the National Jamboree. Locally our scouting events were by no means very strenuous. You had to be able to walk a few miles and that was about it. I recall the public parking area for our summer camp was about a 3/4 mile from the camping area. They didn’t let parents just drop us off right by the tents. 
Scouting was more about character building when I was in it. The longest hike that I remember was about 10 miles. Our part of the state is pretty flat. So no mountain climbing for us then.
Yes, I was just speculating. It’s possible that being nicer to fatties will only result in more and more fatties.
Wouldn’t that be the more Scout-ly way, too? It sounds like a great opportunity for an Eagle candidate, now that I think about it: Design a program with nutrition and health experts to help a younger troop get in shape for the Jamboree.
Wow, I never realized that jamboree’s program, et alia, of watching stadium shows, playing with lego, playing with computers, trading patches, shooting, sitting in a zip line harness and sitting in a raft in class I were so physically dangerous to very fat people.
Good thing this place is the new permanent home for the national jamboree. Wouldn’t want the very fat people to start thinking that they too could ever participate in these physically benign activities.
I just find it funny that an organization with PR nightmare after PR nightmare has a PR firm.
ETA: many of their “situations” could have been handled differently, IMO.
Bolding mine.
I imagine the real reason is financial liability. Money is more likely to motivate a business’s restrictions than aesthetics.
Seems the most sensible solution.
Why have a hard-line rule? Either he’s healthy enough to do the activities, or he isn’t.
In either case, there is some benefit to the kid. If he tries and can’t do some of the activities, he will presumably be motivated to work out until he can.
If it were limited to the Boy Scouts, I would give that hypothesis more credence. Perhaps the Boy Scouts noticed that really fat scouts are far more likely to have accidents which result in lawsuits and insurance claims.
But a more typical scenario involving fat discrimination is, for example, if a fat girl applies for a job as a paralegal at a big city law firm. Her chances of being hired are a good deal less than a similarly qualified thin girl.
I went to Philmont with a BMI of about 30, and completed the entire thing, and was pretty athletic at the time, just with some extra fat- I swam competitively, played football, did shotput and discus, etc…
I may not have been the fastest kid out there, but I didn’t need to be rescued and didn’t have any health crises or anything like that.
I think a fitness test would be the best way to go about it; there’s enough ambiguity with BMI measurements in the first place, and combining them with kids undergoing puberty seems like a recipe for otherwise capable kids to be excluded, and incapable kids to be included.
Fair enough.
If there is a health liability risk, have him checked out in advance by a doc at his parent’s expense and have them sign a waiver.
Agreed.