Unless they try to earn the highest rank of Eagle. That’s what Logan Blythe, who has Down syndrome, learned recently when the national BSA reversed a decision by a local chapter to accept his plan for his Eagle project. Even worse, the national organization voided every merit badge Blythe has earned since the time he was a Cub Scout, and told him to start over.
If it’s really true that Blythe can’t be an Eagle Scout, then the national organization has lost its way and ignored its own oath. Because there is no question that a boy with Down syndrome can promise: “to 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.