Re: Active Membership
Bruce E. Cobern (bec@PIPELINE.COM)
Mon, 3 May 1999 11:55:52 -0400
-----Original Message-----
From: Sam McNamee <smcname@MANU.COM>
To: SCOUTS-L@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU <SCOUTS-L@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU>
Date: Monday, May 03, 1999 11:07 AM
Subject: Active Membership
>G. John Marmet wrote (in response to allowing a Venture Crew decide who
can
>join):
>
>>> Technically this process probably violates Article VII, Section 1 of
the
>BSA
>Rules and Regulations which states that an "active youth member is one
who,
>with the approval of a parent or guardian if necessary, becomes a
member of
>a
>unit; obligates himself or herself to attend meetings regularly;
fulfills a
>member's obligations to the unit; subscribes to the Scout Oath or the
code
>of
>his or her respective program; and participates in an appropriate
program
>based on a members age...." <<
>
>I was struck by the notion that an "active youth member", is one who
>"obligates himself or herself to attend meetings regularly" and
"fulfills
>a member's obligations to the unit". In the context of the ongoing
>discussion about "active participation" for Eagle candidates, how does
the
>above quote from the BSA Rules and Regulations lead to National's
>interpretation that any scout who is registered must be considered
>"active"?
Well, first of all, I disagree with John's conclusion, because I have
always understood it that the UNIT has the right to set its own
membership standards, as long as they were more restrictive than BSA's.
Thus, a church can exclude membership to its own members, etc. Thus,
the crew, I believe, has the right to exclude the potentially disruptive
members, and to make that decision based on a vote of the current
membership. I believe, in theory, a troop can do the same thing. I
don't necessarily believe it would be a good idea, but I believe the
right is there.
As to your question about active membership, the BSA rules and
regulations provide the unit with the ability to determine which of
their members are "active" and which are "inactive" as defined in the
rules and regulations. Should a unit decide that a particular Scout is
not meeting the obligations of "active membership" I believe it was
agreed here a while back that they have the right to change his charter
status to "inactive" which would certainly stop the clock. So, I
believe the point is that as long as the unit continues to consider the
Scout as an "active" member, he is accruing time.
Again, I'm not saying I agree with national's position, but since we
know what it is we can then know how we can work within that position
and still accomplish things the way we want them. I agree with Roman's
post about making sure expectations are clear. There is nothing that
prevents the SM and Scout from AGREEING on the things that the Scout
will accomplish in order to EARN the right to his next rank. Then, if
the agreed upon terms have not been met it is much easier to convince
the Scout that the failure is his, from failing to perform agreed
service, and not the result of some arbitrary decision by an adult. WE
cannot add more requirements to what the Scout must do, but HE CAN. Of
course, this doesn't always work, but it can defuse these situations a
large part of the time.
--
Bruce E. Cobern
mailto:bec@pipeline.com
