MB Counselor Qualifications (Was: 5 badge limit)
Ben Parker (bparker@INTERACCESS.COM)
Mon, 27 Nov 1995 10:06:07 -0600
On Mon, 27 Nov 1995, Paul H. Brown wrote:
> What method do you propose to audit the qualifications of MB counselors,
When I first signed up as MBC, I used our local MBC form which requires a
statement of qualifications for each MB I wished to counsel for. This
statement was evaluated by the Advancement Committee and approved or not
for each MB. I was able to qualify as a counselor for 35 MB's.
Some qualifications come from the couselor's work experience (such as work
as a carpenter, plumber, mason, electrician, accountant, EMT, teacher,
entrepreneur, stock broker, actor, video director, journalist, nuclear
engineer, pilot, etc). These are easiest to judge and usually so obvious
as to require only cursory checking, if at all.
Other qualifications may come from serious hobby interests (e.g. amateur
radio, model airplanes, various crafts, etc). Again here, the approval is
only slightly harder than work-related qualifications. However, our
committee looked for some detail in the answers to verify depth of
experience. "I fly model airplanes..." would not necessarily cut it
without further inquiry, but a statement like "I have been building and
flying model airplanes for 15 years. I have been a member of xxx RC model
Club for yy years and am currently the Vice President of ...." would be
more quickly approved. Incidently, most scout leaders should qualify under
this category for the advanced scouting skills MB's such as Backpacking,
Camping, Cooking, Fishing, Hiking, Orienteering, Pioneering, Wilderness
Survival.
Other qualifications are harder to assess. Many parents are qualified to
counsel Family Life MB, Cooking, Home Repairs, Reading, and some others,
but deciding this without some explanation is difficult.
Another qualifying test might be whether or not the person earned the MB
when he was a scout, although this obviously cannot be used to evaluate
all the many qualified women MBC's or others who were not Scouts as a
youth.
Remember the first point of the Scout Law. If the desire is to have as
many MBC's as possible, especially in a geographically large council,
then too many roadblocks and excessive burden on establishing and
checking qualifications will discourage people to become counselors.
In all cases however, I believe it is helpful for the MBC's, especially
those who are not currently active unit leaders, to participate in a MBC
training course (such as the excellent course syllabus published by Chris
Haggerty on this list). This should cover necessary administrative
procedures (how to fill out a blue card and necessity for MBC to keep
some track of boys he is counseling), not adding to requirements, youth
protection, and registration. Most councils do not offer this training
or even have a simple few sheets of paper that cover the admin details to
send out.
> and audit whether the person signing a blue card is a registered scouter?
Well, this is another can of worms. In our council, the blue cards are
not seen by the council office. The go only as far as the Scoutmaster (or
unit Advancement Chair) who fills out the Advancement report. Thus any
checking would have to be done only at that level. Actually, this makes
it easier, since the current, local area MBC's are very likely to be known
to the SM/Adv Chair. Those they don't know, (in our troop anyway) they
try to check on by referring to the council MBC list which can be
difficult since the list is now 2 1/2 years out of date.
Out-of-council MBC's are difficult or impossible to verify, but usually
this only happens if we go out-of-council to summer camp, where the MB's
are signed by that camp director or designee and we have to assume the
MBC has been suitably qualified in that council. Again, we follow the
first point of the Scout Law about this.
There can be an easy tendancy to build a huge bureaucracy out fo this
molehill. Again, our council solves this by mailing a renewal reminder
(complete with adult application form) every year to all MBC's with a
letter reminding them thay must re-register annually as an MBC EVEN IF
they have another paid registration anywhere in the BSA or they will be
dropped from the list. Most everyone renews, no problem.
======
On the subject of MB limits, I believe that if any boy wishing to work on
any MB is denied the opportunity to work on it because of artificial
roadblocks/limits on the number of MBC's then we need to recall the name
of our program (Boy Scouts...) and get back to what we are all here for.
As to annual qualification checks and tests for numbers of boys counseled,
I think these also are out of line. There is an obvious tendancy for most
scouts to work on those MB's that are offered at summer camp and are also
on the Eagle Required list. This leads to an unavoidable large number of
scouts and MBC's working on these MB's.
Personally, although I have not counseled any scouts for American
Business, Salesmanship, or Theater and only 1 for Public Speaking in the
last 2 years, I want to remain on the MBC list for these MB's so that I
can be the one MBC for the scout who comes along wanting to earn them. I
would hate to be removed (and not replaced by another MBC) soley on the
evidence of 'low numbers' so that no scout in our council can attempt
them. I believe every council should strive to find at least 1 MBC for
every MB offered.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Ben Parker .............. (Oak Park IL) ........... bparker@interaccess.com
* ASM T-16 Oak Park IL (founded 1916) * Beavers are Busy! (C-22W-93) *
* Pachsegink Lodge 246 * Des Plaines Valley Council IL * Eagle Scout-1962 *
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