Leading the Way: Youth-Led Non-formal Learning in the Girl Scouts

Abstract

Recently, the US government identified the lack of financial literacy skills in formal educational institutions as a wide spread problem in the productivity and economic growth of the nation (GSSD, 2011). American youth are, thus, inadequately prepared to become engaging citizens in a global economy. As financial literacy skills are no longer emphasised in American primary schools, children and young people (as well as their parents or guardians) must seek out alternative spaces of non-formal education such as youth leadership organisations like the Girl Scouts. For the past 100 years, Girl Scouts have sold their famous cookies in neighbourhoods and in front of grocery stores, raising millions for the organisation. Unlike other youth organisation fundraisers, the Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) recently transformed the cookie sale into an educational programme focusing on five fundamental business and leadership skills: goal-setting, decision-making, personal relationships (i.e., people skills), money management and business ethics. The organisation defines the fundraiser as an educational programme rather than a sale, emphasising its educational aspect instead of its primary function of earning money. The Girl Scout cookie programme thus claims to empower girls and young women by providing these much-needed financial literacy skills; however, many of the values expressed within the non-formal educational space of the cookie programme promote a vision of citizenship that relies on neoliberal ideals such as participation in free markets and community management.