Re: Re[2]: Uniform thoughts
Godbout, Marc (GodboutM@ANDOVERCONTROLS.COM)
Mon, 27 Oct 1997 09:01:50 -0500
A few comments below. FWIW, I am most definitely *not* against having a
uniform. I'd just like to know why the olive pants are such a major
part of it. Let me re-phrase my ideas a bit. How do we feel about
changing the official BSA uniform pants to a blue material, so that blue
jeans could now be uniform? Apparently this was one idea when the
current uniform was designed about 20 years ago.
Anyway, here are my comments:
> ----------
> From: Bob Taschler[SMTP:bob_taschler@PUBLICITAS-USA.COM]
>
> Funding of uniforms is a separate issue from how the uniform is
> worn.
> I have always been able to find a sponsor or a used uniform for
> any
> boy who needs one. There is little economic excuse for not having
> a
> proper uniform for each scout.
>
<Some snipping of earning money for scouting>
This could be a topic for another thread, but why should we make it more
difficult for parents to come up with the money to keep their kids in
Scouting? When boy joins the troop, the first thing parents ask is
"What do I have to get?" The cost per boy runs something like this (I'm
not sure at all about the actual costs, but I think I'm close):
Registration: $18
Uniform shirt: $20
Uniform pants: $35
Uniform shorts: $20
Troop hat: $9
Troop neckrchf: $3
Troop T-shirt: $6
Handbook: $6
Sleeping bag: $100 (this is New Hampshire)
Footwear: $50
Pocketknife: $20
Backpack: $80
Misc camping $20
Winter clothes $30
-------------------------
$417
And this does is only necessary start-up costs, not covering recurring
costs, such as summer camp, other camping & admission fees, badges, or
awards. Then add on troop expenses such as equipment and maintenance.
I fully agree that we should provide the opportunity for boys to earn
their own way, but can't the BSA at least make an attempt to ease the
burden a little?
> Sports teams, either private league or school program league do
> not
> allow each child or participant to make up his or her own rules
> or
> uniform. Mostly local business sponsors pay for the private
> league
> uniforms and taxpayers pay for the school uniforms. Either way,
> everyone wears the same thing or doesn't play. Even choir members
> "pay" for their robes through the donations they make every week.
> Funding for uniforms does not have to be direct.
>
Has anybody gotten business sponsors for troops? This isn't a
rhetorical question, I'd really like to know how to do it. In sports, a
business usually gets advertising in return - their names on jerseys and
printed in the sports pages. What could we, as scouts, offer? As for
the others, schools and choirs, these involve the many, taxpayers and
congregation, paying for the few, players and choir members. Is there
any way to get that kind of support with scouts? I know our chartering
organization, a church, is not able to help us here. Where else could I
turn?
> The second issue is who decides what the program and uniform
> should
> be. Scouting is boy run, but not boy designed. If it were up to
> the
> boys, paintball, go karts, motorcross, hanggliding, parasailing,
> etc.
> would be instantly added to the MB program. Think pants are
> expensive?
> Go see what a paintball gun costs.
>
This bothers me a bit. Once upon a time, when I was a fledgling
scoutmaster in a different troop, I proposed a change in the way our
troop ran. The committee argued strongly that my proposal was tried and
didn't work. The boys would make stupid decisions. The meetings would
be a mess. My proposal?
Become boy-run, have elections, and go by the patrol method.
Let's give the boys the benefit of program, wherever we can. I still
have a tough time telling the boys that they're boy-run, but leave the
tough decisions to the adults.
> But then, I could be totally wrong. Just ask my wife. I hear she
> keeps
> a list.
>
It must be from some newsletter. I think my wife has the same list. :>)
> P.P.S. Marc, if you can think of a way to get National to bring
> those
> cargo pants back, make them out of something other than
> polyester, and
> lower the price, I'll be there to help you. How about an internet
> petition? Think about it.
>
FWIW, I've heard that they are reconsidering the cargo pants (let's hope
they put pleats in them to allow them to hold something), and I have
seen wool-poly pants, which look just like the polyester ones, in our
Scout store. But at $50+, they don't exactly fill your third request.
How about a petition to change the pants to blue and offer non-cotton
versions with cargo pockets?
Marc Godbout
SM Troop 98
ASM Troop 412
Derry, NH
http://www.tiac.net/users/godbout/troop98
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