Re: Great Human Don't Always Get Eagle
Calvin H. Gray (405geezer@IGG-TX.NET)
Sat, 1 May 1999 15:26:26 -0500
Jim Peterson wrote:
>
>
> Are you actually suggesting that "be active in your patrol and troop" could
> possibly mean that we could have an Eagle who hasn't attended troop
> meetings and activities?
>
Of course not! I've certainly never seen a boy do this and I've served
as Scoutmaster for 80 Eagles. To make First Class, a Scout must attend
at least 10 troop activities other than troop meetings, and these 10
must include at least 3 camping trips. To earn the Camping merit badge,
a boy must have at least 20 days/nights of camping. Realistically, a
boy can't make Eagle without being active in his troop for an extensive
period of time.
> The fact is (and most of us really know this down deep in our
> hearts) evaluating scout spirit and active service is a subjective
> evaluation that is done in concert by the Scoutmaster, the troop committee
> and the board of review members based on information that is provided by
> community members and parents through letters of recommendation but also
> through direct observation of the scout at scouting meetings and
> activities. If you are actually suggesting that a scout can skip the
> meetings and activities and be evaluated "long distance" by input from
> those outside of scouting, then pretty much any boy, anywhere, who is a
> "good kid" could receive Eagle.
>
Actually, I've found that judging Scout Spirit is fairly objective.
First of all, I'm probably going to see most Eagle candidates at troop
meetings for at least two or three years. If I don't have this
opportunity, some other Scout leader did and I can contact this person
for an evaluation.
The requirement states, "Demonstrate Scout Spirit by living the Scout
Oath and Scout Law in your everyday life." The references called for on
the Eagle Application can help a Scoutmaster with this evaluation, as
can phone calls to teachers, school principals and religious leaders.
It doesn't take seeing the boy during troop meetings throughout his
whole Scouting career to know if he is fulfilling the Scout Spirit
requirement necessary for Eagle.
When a boy, close to Eagle, finds that he can't attend troop meetings or
other activities on a regular basis because of other things going on in
his life, I'm not about to tell him that Scouting has to be the number
#1 priority in his life. As someone else indicated, it's not "On my
honor I will do your best," but rather "I will do my best." If a boy is
doing this, I'm not about to place barriers along his Trail to Eagle if
he finds himself in a situation where he can't attend troop meetings and
other activities.
YiS,
--
Calvin H. Gray
Scoutmaster, Troop 405
Georgetown, Texas
I used to be an Owl (WM-62-2-98 @ Philmont)
mailto:405geezer@igg-tx.net
http://www.troop405.org
