Re: Wood Badge
George Crowl (WILLIAMM@ZIAVMS.ENMU.EDU)
Mon, 17 Jun 1996 15:21:29 -0600
Sent following message on Friday, didn't appear to make the list.
Michael Holmes and others:
Wood Badge courses are cancelled regularly if not frequently,
depending on what happens. If they don't make, they are
cancelled. Courses can make for 10-20 years, then miss,
depending on the situation.
The cancellation trend, I believe, is decreasing, due to better
scheduling and better understanding of the market.
Wood Badge must adjust to the market, and the market is in
weekend courses. The last information I had was that nationally
80% of the courses were weekend, and the great majority of the
weeklong courses are concentrated in the Western Region.
Let me give a specific example. Several councils from the
southwest had not offered a weeklong course in 20+ years. We
recognized that we were not serving a portion of the Scouters who
needed that opportunity. So, we formed a very informal
cooperative group, and asked each others' staffers to serve on a
weeklong course, as a _supplement_ to the individual council's
weekend efforts. These weeklong courses are smaller than the
individual council weekend courses, because there are very few
people, even drawing from many councils. On the other hand, a
northern council that is 600x300 miles in size holds 90% weeklong
courses (and very small ones) because weekend travel is so
difficult for them. Dallas and Tulsa alternate weekend and
weeklong, but they are very large councils.
Wood Badge scheduling is idiosyncratic to the council scheduling
it. While areas and regions may make some effort to coordinating
courses, the real situation is that each council does what they
feel is right for them.
I can't tell if it would help to point any of your disappointed
learners toward the weeklong courses being offered below, but I
give you the information in case it would help.
The following courses are being offered along the spine of the
Rocky Mountains:
(Dates, course, council, place, council address/phone)
June 22-29; W5-315-96, Montana Council, Camp Arcola, 820 17th Ave
South, Great Falls, MT 59405, 406-761-6000
June 22-29;, W5-64-96, Western Colorado Council, Camp OA Gregor,
839 Grand Ave., Grand Junction, CO 81501, 303-243-0346.
Co-sponsored by Pikes Peak, Santa Fe Trail, and Rocky Mountain
councils.
July 13-20; WM-61-96, Denver Area Council, Camp Tahosa, 2901 W.
19th Ave, Denver, CO 80204, 303-455-5522
Aug 10-17, WM-62-96, Longs Peak Council, Ben Delatour SR, PO Box
1166, Greeley, CO 80632, 303-330-6305
Aug 10-17; W5-695-96, Black Hills Council, Medicine Mountain
Ranch, PO Box 2931, Rapid City, SD 57709, 605-342-2824
Aug 17-24, SR-173, Buffalo Trail Council, PHILMONT SCOUT RANCH,
1101 W. Texas Ave, Midland, TX 79701, 915-570-7601. Co-sponsored
by Conquistador, Golden Spread, Great Southwest, Longs Peak,
Yucca, and Chisholm Trail.
If you are interested in any of the above, normal prerequisites
apply, including approval from your Scout Executive. Contact the
appropriate Scout office, return the application through your own
Scout office.
In Scouting,
__
____'/____ George Crowl
VV / \ UU AA, X226
/318\ Cncl Tng Chmn
/ 402 \ Wood Badge CD
/W-CS-38\ Double Eagle & Bear
/ ||| ||| \ Clovis, NM
|
Now for today's deathless comments:
Rob Lee, Jim Miller, etc:
I am a strong advocate of "send 'em to Wood Badge early." There
are some problems and some opportunities with that approach. Let
me explain where I come from.
I went to Wood Badge as a young man of 32, probably the youngest
person on the course. I had about 4-5 years of "serious" adult
involvement at the time. Wood Badge validated for me at that
time my experience as a youth and helped commit me to a lifetime
of Scouting leadership. I could benefit from it then, and
forever afterward.
In our council today, we have very few of the "experienced"
Scouters who have not gone to Wood Badge. Those few either
cannot go because of schedule, or have decided not to go for
their own reasons. Most of our Wood Badge candidates have from
0-4 years in Boy Scouting, usually add 2-4 years in Cub Scouting.
We hear regularly of SMs who were struggling with using the
Scouting program for a year or two, went to Wood Badge, came home
and had a much easier time of administering their troop, often
improved their retention and recruiting, meaning a rise in troop
size. We now have Wood Badge trained ASMs and committeemen in
nearly every troop in my district, and in some troops in the rest
of the council.
We are now sending people to Wood Badge who have not yet made the
lifetime commitment to Scouting. I hope that by going to Wood
Badge, many of them will. However, I am quite willing to accept
that many of them will just be better trained Scouters during
they time they are in, and probably will stay in a few years
longer than they might have otherwise.
The Wood Badge patrols don't have as fully qualified internal
resources as they might have had 20 years ago. However, the
course can take care of that. That is frosting on the cake.
What is needed is providing the high quality advanced training as
soon as possible so that boys get a better program. That leads
to better retention of boys and adults, and more staying in
Scouting as a lifetime avocation.
When I was invited to go to Wood Badge, you were only invited to
go if you really didn't need it. It was training for those who
were already trained or who had trained themselves. Today's Wood
Badge is designed for the person who has limited experience, who
understands the basics, and can benefit from the experience now.
We only offer weekend Wood Badge every two years. If we don't
snag a graduating Webelos Leader in the fall, it will be two
years before he/she has another opportunity to go. They might
drop out in those two years. It is my experience that taking
them to Wood Badge that first year is a near guarantee that they
will stay in for 4-6 years in Scouting. That is good enough for
me!
There is also a great deal of difference between districts and
between councils in readiness/push/culture. In my district, the
culture is that you are expected to go to Wood Badge if your are
an active Scouter. The "green scarfs" and "two-beaders" are the
ones who are selling it. They had a good time, they think it is
useful and fun, they are our best salespeople. Because so many
have gone, there is a support group for those working their
tickets. Other districts in our council are better than the
national average, but still don't have that culture of
"expectation" that nearly every active Scouter will want to go.
Therefore, we don't get as many from them and it is harder
recruit in those districts.
In my mind, the advantages of a more experienced participant
accrue more to the actual running of the course, rather than to
the effectiveness of program in the home troop. It is sorta
like, given that your child is going to drive at the age of 16,
would you rather give them driver's ed at 16 or 18? I opt for
16, knowing they won't get quite as much out of it at 16, but
they will be a whole lot better prepared for their driving
between the ages of 16 and 18 (and they won't have as many bad
habits to break either).
In Scouting,
__
____'/____ George Crowl
VV / \ UU AA, X226
/318\ Cncl Tng Chmn
/ 402 \ Wood Badge CD
/W-CS-38\ Double Eagle & Bear
/ ||| ||| \ Clovis, NM
|
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City |
