Re: advancement
Bruce E. Cobern (bec@NYC.PIPELINE.COM)
Thu, 1 Aug 1996 23:21:03 GMT
On Aug 01, 1996 11:41:40, 'Marc Grey <Arrowmen@AOL.COM>' wrote:
>Fellow scouters,
>I am the Scoutmaster of Troop 317 of Davie, Fla. I would like some help
>from the list regarding who exactly is allowed to sign off for requirement
>accomplishment for Tenderfoot thru First Class. Besides the obvious SM,
ASM
>and Advancement CM sometimes a problem arises in our troop when someone
goes
>outside the troop to accomplish a requirement.
As far as I know, there are no specific requirements as to who can sign off
those requirements, although if I recall the transition material when the
current program was introduced (new Scout patrol, etc.), there was some
mention of the ASM for the NSP being the one to sign this off.
However, you seem to have left out what to me is a very obvious group of
people to sign off the basic skills - the other Scouts, particularly the
Troop Guide (if you have one) the PLs and any of the other older boys who
are already at least first class.
We have established a constantly updated list of "counselors" for each of
the basic skills categories and encourage our older Scouts to "register" to
be able to sign off requirements in one or more of these categories. Each
category has one or more adults who monitor the quality of the teaching and
"testing" done by the boys and in order to be authorized to sign off the
requirements the Scout must demonstrate not only a knowledge of the
subject, but also the ability to instruct in that subject and an
understanding of the details of the specific requirements and what is
expected of the Scout in demonstrating them.
The advantage of this is that it gives the older Scouts opportunities to
demonstrate leadership and be actively involved in the training of the
younger Scouts. And, since I firmly believe that one of the things that
should be EXPECTED of any Scout who has reached first class (and
particularly Eagle) is to put back into the program much of what they took
out earlier on.
>For instance, a boy went to the local public pool to get his swimming
requirement >done and the local lifeguard (not a scouter) wrote on a paper
that he had done the >requirement.
In this case it would depend on whether I felt that the lifeguard
understood the requirement, but since there is not much complexity to the
SWIMMING part of the requirement I would probably not have a problem with
it. Whether I would accept a statement from the lifeguard that the Scout
demonstrated knowledge of the Safe Swim Defense Plan as required as part of
the Second Class swimming requirement is another story.
--
Bruce E. Cobern
bec@pipeline.com
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City | 
