Re: Advancement (blue cards) -- long
John Yantis (jtyantis@TICNET.COM)
Wed, 24 Mar 1999 12:08:52 -0600
The discussion topic has been (generally) what Districts and Councils
have in the way of policy regarding the use and disposition of Merit
Badge Blue Cards.
Our Troop's PLC has had a tradition of wanting to go to a different
Summer Camp each year, so over the past decade I've seen the practices
of quite a few Councils in the Southwest, plus I've talked to unit
leaders from other "out of Council" units at those Summer Camps. In my
experience, there are quite a number of Councils that either don't use
the "blue cards" that we've been discussing here (BSA form 4124), or
that use a locally-produced variation of the "standard" form, or a
replacement for it. In fact, the only place I can find this form
mentioned in the National BSA Advancement Policies and Procedures is in
the listing of the publication numbers for literature and materials. So
my gentle advice would be that before making a general pronouncement on
how things should be, based on your experience or your Council's policy,
realize that there appears to be no National standardization on the use
of "blue cards".
In our Council, it seems that the task that is hardest for the District
Advancement folks to get done each year is making or updating the list
of Merit Badge Counselors. It seems that every new District Advancement
Chairman (DAC) gets the bright idea that by requiring units to submit
their section of each blue card to the District (where the M.B.
counselor would be validated against the District's list of registered
counselors), they could spur the units to ensure that the M.B.
counselors that their Scouts were using were actually registered. That
bright idea dims considerably, however, when it gets pointed out to the
new DAC 1) the sheer number of blue cards involved, 2) the fact that
quite a few units go to Summer Camp out of Council (how would you check
the registration of those M.B. counselors?), and that 3) nowhere in the
National BSA Advancement Policies and Procedures is the DAC given the
responsibility or the power to veto the awarding of Merit Badges to
Scouts. So the bright new DAC quickly learns that he or she will have
to use "carrot" methods, rather than "stick" ones to get M.B. counselors
registered, and to make or update the list that is required to be kept.
A couple of years ago, our Council's Advancement Committee (CAC) decided
to "help" the Districts out by announcing that they would soon be
requiring a new Advancement Report form to be used by all units. This
form had a place to list the name and phone number of the counselor for
each M.B. that had been earned. After all the resulting very
un-Scout-like language quieted down <grin>, the CAC got the message that
creating more paperwork for the units, without a corresponding benefit
to the boys, was probably not going to solve the problem of DAC's being
unable to manage their M.B. counselors. The form was quietly withdrawn.
The next shot in the battle of the blue cards was fired by the Council's
Registrar, who also had the responsibility for verifying the advancement
records of Eagle candidates. She decided to begin requiring candidates
to produce a blue card for each M.B. listed on the Eagle Application,
with the intent of validating that the counselor was actually registered
at the time it was earned. Another idea that looked good at first
glance, but which got shot down by reality. How was she going to check
the status for counselors of M.B.s that were earned possibly six or
seven years ago? And how were Scouts supposed to know, over six years
ago, that they would be required to produce that blue card if they
wanted to be an Eagle? And what about Scouts who transferred in, or
transferred in from Councils that didn't use blue cards? Oops!
Fundamentally, I think we have to view blue cards as a tool. They help
Scoutmasters to manage the advancement of Scouts, by requiring the Scout
to get authorization to work on a specific badge from a specific
counselor at a specific time. They help Scouts advance, by providing a
progress record, contact points, and a visible reminder. They help
counselors do a better job, by providing a pre-qualification function, a
status indicator, and a simple record of completions. They help unit
Advancement Committees by standardizing and formalizing the way Scouts
get credit for earning M.B.s, and by providing a back-up record. But
they are not meant as a tool to help DACs manage their lists of
counselors, and they aren't designed to be the kind of permanent,
official record that Councils are required to maintian.
IMO, the bottom-line responsibility for the entire process belongs to
the person(s) whose signature is on the official Advancement Report (BSA
form 4403) that is required to be sent to the Council. Above that
signature is the statement, "I certify that the following record of
advancement is correct, meets the standards and requirements of the Boy
Scouts of America, and that merit badge counselors are registered adult
members of the BSA."
Yours in the Spirit of Scouting,
John Yantis
Scoutmaster Emeritus, Troop 123
Longhorn Council (Ft. Worth, TX)
