Re: "Slow" scouts

> Date: Thu, 04 Jan 1996 16:43:44 -0500
> From: "Bruce E. Cobern" <bec@PIPELINE.COM>
>
> On Jan 04, 1996 13:31:08, 'Milt Forsberg <miltf@UX1.CSO.UIUC.EDU>' wrote:
>
>
> >I have often wondered which is cause and which is effect. Is it the boys
> who
> >will stay in the program are the ones who get to First Class or is it
> because
> >they get to First Class that they stay longer? My feeling is the first
> >statement is correct.
>
> Thank you. I agree with your statement and I believe that is the flaw in
> national's logic when they designed the whole First Class/First Year push.
> Obviously, those who stay long enough to earn FC have made a commitment to
> the program and so will stay longer.

I agree that national seems to have forgotten to look at the direction of
causality when forming their logic, but I'm not sure that the result was
bad (I am also not convinced that nobody at national was bright enough to
recognize this -- I wonder if that is just a line developed to avoid
getting into long philisophical discussions).

As I see it, the requirements for 1st Class are such that any boy in an
active troop with a little bit of encouragement can get 1st Class in a
year. I think that the emphasis on First Class/First Year is to get the
troops to offer programs that cover the various areas on a regular basis
and to get the boys through the basic skills (which is what I see the ranks
through 1st Class as being) in a timely manner so that they can more fully
appreciate their scouting experiences. It also prompts the leaders to give
encouragement to the new boys to get the recognition of rank advancement to
help them become fired up about the program (especially those who haven't
yet learned to self-motivate and aren't being driven by obsessive parents
-- ones who often fell between the cracks before).

While 1 year seems a bit arbitrary to me, I think that any troop where most
of the boys aren't reaching 1st Class in a timely manner needs to seriously
evaluate their program to make sure that they are not failing to provide
opportunities to the boys to learn and demonstrate these basic skills
(since not having these skills seriously hampers their ability to truly
participate in other scouting activities).

--
Jon Dixon
dixonj@colorado.edu
http://spot.colorado.edu/~dixonj/

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