Another possible answer to A swimming experience
Bob & Lorrie Dewar (dewar@TECHHEADNET.COM)
Tue, 9 Feb 1999 13:18:18 -0600
My own son, Mike, experienced something similar when he was "stuck" at
the Tenderfoot rank. I and my wife did not want to see him give up on
Scouting so early, so after his Troop had tried on several occasions to get
him past this, we approached the Troop Committee and asked for 2 things from
them.
Number one was a waiver on this requirement so that he would not stall
out and would be able to keep up with higher level responsibilities within
the Troop with the other Scouts in his approximate age grouping (I know that
Boy Scouting is not age dependant for rank, but the boys' do level
themselves out to some extent).
Number two was a bit tougher. We wanted the Troop Committee and the
Scoutmaster to come up with something else in the way of a challenge so that
he would not be given the rank without some work on his part.
The Committee agreed unanimously to both counts, and then dropped the
ball squarely in the SM's lap to work with Mike and come up with this
"replacement" rank requirement. With the later approval of the Troop
Committee, he and my son came up with this deal. Mike was to take, and he
had to pass, the fitness test that is part of the Physical Fitness merit
badge. Once he had accomplished this the way would be clear for his rank
advancement, and my wife and I laughed to ourselves that this was also a
sneaky way on the part of his Scoutmaster to get him started on this merit
badge. It worked.
-----Original Message-----
From: Ted Mahler <ted@SH-GPL.TI.COM>
To: SCOUTS-L@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU <SCOUTS-L@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU>
Date: Tuesday, February 09, 1999 9:40 AM
Subject: A swimming experience part II
>> Ted,
>>
>> You make a very good point. I am still in favor of waiving the
requirement
>> when a scout can not swim after numerous lessons. There seems to be no
>> reason in my mind to stop a scout at Tenderfoot for 4 years. However,
>> waiving the requirement for advancement should not stop the scout from
>> continuing working on swimming as a skill. In fact you have made a good
>> case for keeping everyone on track for getting the swimming merit badge,
>> even after waiving the requirement so the scout can continue advancing.
>>
>> This is not to say that a waiver should come easy.
<snip>
> Of course I don't know the Scout or the depth of what has been tried
<snip>
>
> We had BSA lifeguards, with floats in hand, at the ready. I jumped in
>and hovered a short distance away in the water. Our nervous Scouts
> slipped into the water (many were afraid to jump) and we told them to use
>whatever stroke would propel them forward and get after it! With the rest
of
>the troop walking the dock along side of them yelling
<snip>
>I just hate to see a challenge removed with a waver
<snip>
>But I would really, really, really,
>try to get something in there for that swimming test.
>
> Overcoming that fear is a character builder and I've heard somewhere that
>Character Counts.
>
> Ted Mahler
>
