Re: Cracked "Eagle" Egg
Rodger Morris (rodger@FISHNET.NET)
Thu, 9 Jan 1997 20:15:10 -0800
At 10:53 AM 1/9/97 -0500, Linda K. Clossen wrote:
>Dear Scouters,
>
>I have a Life Scout who is in trouble!
>He has been sitting at Life for 22 months.
>He is 15 years old.
>His parents are pushing him to Eagle.
...
>Mom and Dad say he has to finish the rank NOW or quit.
>I have discussed with both him and his parents the problem.
...
>As his SM, how can I help him to "Poop or get off the pot"? How can
>I direct him? What would you suggest??
>
>YiS,
>Scoutmaster, Linda Clossen
>Troop 135
>
>
Linda,
I have a great Scout. He is 17 years old and has been a Star Scout for
almost 3 1/2 years. He is _one_ requirement away from completing each
one of his three required citizenship merit badges. Completion of any one of
these three merit badges will enable him to stand before a board of
review for advancement to the rank of Life Scout. He will turn 18 on
November 24th, and he is finally (!) saying he wants to press on to Eagle
Scout. I have let him know that we adults will support him and that
whether or not he becomes an Eagle Scout and the pace at which he does
so is up to him.
I respectfully submit to you that the Eagle Scout award is not the end-all,
be-all of the Boy Scouting program. As an example, Scouting helped me
tremendously, even though I topped out as a First Class Scout and dropped
out of Scouting entirely at age 14.
In my experience over the past 25 years as a Scouter, most of my Scouts who
remained in Scouting until they turned 18 _did_ eventually become Eagle
Scouts. About half of them finally turned their Eagle Scout applications in
at the council service center during the last week preceding their 18th
birthdays. One of those Scouts beat the deadline by turning in his paperwork
5 minutes before the council office closed for the day on the day before his
18th birthday. Then, he procrastinated and finally had his board of review
89 days after his 18th birthday.
I have also had Scouts who remained in my Troop until they turned 18 who
chose not to become Eagle Scouts. One of them from the 1970s was Mark
Nielson. He topped out at Second Class Scout. He was utterly uninterested
in advancing to First Class Scout, but he knew his Scoutcraft skills very
well indeed. One of the skills that he refused to allow himself to be
tested on was lashings.
About 1975, he and three of my other Scouts (who were Second Class Scout,
First Class Scout, Star Scout and Life Scout, repsectively) saved a college
student who had walked off a thirty foot cliff whilst hiking without a
flashlight in the darkness. He was about 12 miles in from the trailhead.
One of the things Robert did was to use parachute cord to lash together
a stretcher constructed by two of the other senior Scouts who used a
Buck knife to cut down and trim some alder saplings. The parachute cord
was brought by the fourth Scout who ran three miles back to camp to get
it. The four of them had walked out of camp with fishing tackle to fish
in a fishing hole near where they found the victim.
Sergeant Mortenson, the then-leader of the Ventura County Sheriff's
Search and Rescue Team told me that these Scouts made "the best improvised
stretcher that I have seen in the over 20 years that I have been in search
and rescue."
My Scouts made a 15 mile forced march to the nearest ranger station, then
guided the search and rescue team back to the campsite where the victim
was being cared for by a church group. Then, they helped bring the
wheeled Stokes litter out to the trailhead. They finally arrived at
their car about 4:30a.m., after having been on the trail for about 21
hours. (Non-Scouting backpacking/fishing trip by four friends who had
been in Troop 225 for 5 years since crossing over from Webelos)
By the time they got there, they had put in over 40 miles that day (almost
50 miles for the runner, who was a member of his high school Junior Varsity
cross country team). They were so tired, they decided to just drive home
and get some sleep. Can't say I blame them...
The other three Scouts eventually became Eagle Scouts. Mark Nielson did not.
Did Scouting fail Mark Nielson because he did not become an Eagle Scout?
I think not.
Should we have removed Mark from Scouting for failure to advance? Again,
I think not.
Did Scouting provide Mark a place he needed to grow and mature. Yes,
without a doubt, as he himself told me some years later.
Here are two facts concerning Eagle Scouts that may be of interest to you:
1) The median age of boys earning the Eagle Scout award is about 16 1/2
years
2) The median time between achieving Life Scout and Eagle Scout is
slightly over two years
In my considered opinion, the parents of your Scout are dead wrong in
demanding that your Scout advance immediately to Eagle or leave Scouting
entirely. They are committing the classic and common error of confusing
Scout advancement with the aims of Scouting.
Advancement is merely one of the eight methods we use in Scouting to
achieve the three aims of Scouting. It's not even the most important
method in Scouting, let alone the only one. The three aims are, of course,
the development of good character, good citizenship, and what we call
"personal fitness".
Collectively, these form the Scout's launching pad into a happy and
productive adult life. Why are your Scout's parents so starkly intent
upon destroying that launching pad and the Space Shuttle with it before
it launches?
Yours in Scouting,
Rodger
Rodger Morris <rodger@fishnet.net>
Scoutmaster, Troop 852 Wood Badge 416-18
Ventura County Council at Philmont, 1973
Camarillo, California, USA "I used to be a Beaver..."
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City | 
