Re: AOL award
Ian N. Ford FRSH (ian@FORD.DIRCON.CO.UK)
Fri, 22 Jan 1999 16:40:45 -0000
>Kent Wolfe wrote :
> Kim Heble wrote regarding: Arrow of Light Rank-potential problem
>
>>Evening All,
>> Well here I am again asking for help.
>> Here's the situation: we have a 2nd year Webelo that wants his arrow of
>> light right now. The crossover isn't until March 15th, we have a
>> special Indian Ceremony every year, the boys receive a special arrow and
>> their Arrow of Light rank patch as they cross into Boy Scouts.
>> The boys father is demanding his son get the patch now, even though his
>> paperwork has not been done, the den leader has not seen the
requirements, no
>> one can even be sure the boy has actually filled the requirements (going
to
>> a Boy Scout Meeting with his parents etc.)
Surely all it needs is to check that the requirements have been met. Are you
saying you don't believe Dad ?
I am more familiar with the Boy Scout program where a Scout can be given the
patch straight away, then there is formal recognition at a Court of Honor.
If any Webelos Scout has completed the requirements, why not give it to him
at a Den Meeting
and then have the special ceremony when all the recipients get formal,
public recognition ?
>> Anyway, this Father is demanding (and I mean demanding) that we either
show him
>> Scout Laws or give him his patch. I told the Cubmaster I would ask you
all for any
>>help you can provide. Please answer soon as this Father wants the patch
>>"yesterday".
>
>Someone from the pack (probably the DL) must determine that all
requirements
>were completed before the award can be presented. Your pack may also have
a
>policy that the DL (not a parent) must order awards from the Advancement
>Chair because the DL is assigned the responsibility to verify earning
>awards. If so, dad needs to be (or should have been) informed of this.
>However, once it's determined the boy truly has earned the award, the boy
>technically is entitled to be presented the award, which means he does not
>have to wait for crossover to get it (which probably 99% of packs do).
Agreed.
>Check out the insignia guide for CS; it shows where the AOL is worn on CS
>shirt (i.e., why show this if you get it only when you're no longer going
to
>be a CS?)
Good point.
>
>AOL is the highest honor (not a rank) that CS can offer a boy. To persuade
>dad to wait, maybe you can present the alternatives of not waiting to get
>the AOL at crossover: not getting the AOL presented during a big ceremony,
>not getting it presented in front of numerous people, not getting it
>presented with the rest of the den, etc. Maybe this will be enough. Also,
>try to consider why the father feels this way. Perhaps the boy doesn't
plan
>to become a Boy Scout and dad doesn't want that to be highlighted in some
>way during crossover. Maybe there's a personality conflict between and a
>leader in the pack, and dad doesn't want to have to do what the other
person
>says. Possibilities could be numerous.
>
But it doesn't have to be one or other. Give the kids the awards as they
earn them so they can wear them on their shirt, then have a public
recognition for the whole group at a Pack Meeting.
>Reverting back to verification of requirement completions, as WDL I told
>parents and boys that the AB counselor (not parents, unless they are the
>designated AB counselor) would sign off the AB requirements and I would be
>reviewing all Webelos badge and AOL requirements. I took this approach,
and
>I recommend it to other WDLs in the pack, because Webelos is the transition
>to BS. And in BS, counselors must approve MB completion and, at least in
my
>older son's troop, a trained leader must sign off the individual rank
>requirements. Boys and parents need to start getting used to it as
Webelos.
There is no " requirement " that BS ranks may only be signed off by "
trained Leaders "
... in some troops lower ranks are signed off by junior leaders, and I
personally think that this should be encouraged if the program is really "
youth run " . But the general principles are correct.
It seems to me that we are in danger of the adults posturing and standing on
their dignity and totally forgetting the needs of the kid ... and isn't that
what we are supposed to be here for ?
Ian N Ford
District Committee Member, Mayflower District, Transatlantic Council BSA
