Re: advancement
Michael F. Bowman (mfbowman@CAPACCESS.ORG)
Sat, 3 Aug 1996 16:29:27 -0400
Marc,
You've raised a good question. If you look at the SM Handbook, the Junior
Leader Handbook, etc., you'll find that they all talk about leaders
signing after requirements are completed without saying whether this is
to be done by adult leaders or junior leaders.
In practice I've seen Troops where junior leaders teach skills and when
an achievement is completed they advise an ASM who signs. In other
Troops junior leaders have signed for completion of achievements for
Tenderfoot through First Class. There is some flexibility built in here.
In a new Troop just starting, it may be necessary for an ASM to review
the work until the Scouts can do this. In an established Troop, there's no
reason why we shouldn't trust the Scouts to be involved. And it goes a long
way towards leadership development for the junior leaders to teach and
pass younger Scouts on skills. Use your junior leaders - coach 'em and
they can do much.
>From the ancient history department: I can still remember my days in the
Bat Patrol of Troop 13 and how hard I had to work at some of the
requirements for First Class before my SPL would sign off. He was a lot
tougher than the SM and you really had to know your stuff. He got some
coaching from the SM on when to be tougher or to ease up, but did a
pretty good job of seeing that the younger Scouts made it through. Last
I heard he was a Vice President of a Fortune 500 Company - who knows,
maybe his leadership skills from Scouting paid off. :-)
Speaking only for myself in the Scouting Spirit, Michael F. Bowman
Dep.Dist.Commissioner-Training, G.W.Dist., NCAC, BSA (Virginia)
U. S. Scouting Service Project FTP Site Administrator (PC Area)
ftp1 or ftp2.scouter.com/usscouts E-mail: mfbowman@capaccess.org
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City |
