An interesting challenge
Ronald Oakes (oakes@PEACH.RTSG.MOT.COM)
Thu, 24 Feb 1994 00:21:36 -0600
Tonight at my troop's scout meeting, I was presented with
and interesting challenge, which I could greatly benefit my
troop, or cause serious problems.
Early in the meeting a potential new scout and his father
stopped by. This scout is a Life scout, who turns 18 in
December and wants to finish his eagle. He is a very large
young man -- I would guess 6'2" or more, and very bulky. He
has also not had the best of experiences.
He dropped out of school after a less then successful 9th
grade year, and a traffic accident that kept him out during
his 10th grade year. He is currently presuing a GED. He
also apparently (euphemism mode on) made a mistake with a
young lady, and has married her, but they are not getting
along real well.
My first impression was that he is basicly a nice person,
who is sincerly interested in completing his Eagle, and
helping my troop.
However, after the meeting this evening, he was talking with
several of the other scouts. I was involved in other
conversations, but noticed him place a "choke hold" on a 12
year old scout, who nearly passed out. At that time, I
misinturpreted this as a demonstration that got out of hand.
I later learned, through my Assistant Scoutmaster -- who
learned it from his son -- that actually the younger scout
had been teasing the new scout about his name (The new
scout's mother is from Mexico and his first name is
spanish).
Because of this incident, I am now somewhat concerned that
this scout could have a very negative effect on my troop.
We are currently about to enter the third year of a slow and
difficult rebuilding process. We expect to get several new
scouts from the pack at the same school. If this large, and
apparently short tempered, scout causes problems with any of
our scouts we may lose these scouts and several friends.
Additionally, since this scout does need a leadership
position and I did not want to risk him getting into a major
role, I asked him to serve as a JASM. I felt this was the
position where I could allow him the time to do what he has
to, and still get the necessary experience. Since the JASM
is also part of the SM's team, this should allow me somewhat
better control over which tasks he undertakes.
Unfortunately, my Assistant fears that this might give this
new scout authority over other scouts in the troop, and lead
to political problems. My thought was the opposite, it
would keep him clear of the SPL and PLC where the actual
running of the troop is done (most of the time).
This scout's father is a trained scouter (I don't know how
recent his training is) who is willing to work with our
troop committee, but does not feel he has time for any more
involved work.
I would like some advise on how to deal with this new scout.
Specifically, I could use some suggestions for the following
challenges/problems/question:
1. How do I fit this new scout into a program
consisting of 5 scouts with 1 year experience, 2 or 3 with 2
years, and 2 scouts with 3 years experience. We also expect
several brand new scouts to join us in the next few months.
2. Next week I plan on sitting down with this scout
for a Scoutmaster's Conference to discuss where he fits in
the troop. I also will need to discuss the incident with
the sleeper hold and make sure that he is aware that that is
unacceptable. What else should I discuss, and how can I
approach this to gain maximum benefit.
3. Should I reconsider my decision to ask him to
serve as JASM. Is there another position that he could fill
without impacting the troop leadership as much.
4. Our district uses an "Eagle Coordinator"
position to approve eagle projects and to help the Eagle
candidate work through his requirements. The coordinator
for Palatine is an old scouter and can be a bit of a "hard
case." He has the attitude that too many scouts are getting
advancement too easily and it is his job to make sure that
make up for that before getting Eagle. I do not feel that
he would necessarily be good for this scout. I am currently
planning on talking to another Eagle coordinator for another
community in our district, and asking him to deal with this
scout. Is this a good idea.
5. Are there any other suggestions that might help
me deal with this new challenge, one which right now appears
to be almost over my head.
If it makes a difference, I do not have a son in the troop
and am in fact single. My two active Assistant
Scoutmaster's are a father and a 20 year old student at a
local comunity college.
Ronald B. Oakes
Scoutmaster, Troop 91
Palatine, IL
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