I served as a Merit Badge Counselor this past weekend at a "Merit Badge College" type of event. The other counselor and I were only able to sign off one of the six scouts attending, mostly because the other scouts had done very little advance preparation.

Now, in fairness to those scouts (none of whom grumbled about it), the e-mail that was sent out to them before the event wasn't totally clear on what they needed to do, and it was only sent out a couple of days before the event. The scouts have the contact information for the other counselor and me, and we're hopeful that some of them will follow up with the additional requirements.

This does appear to be a merit badge that can be completed in one session, as long as the scout does the right preparation. So for future use, I made the following web page, which lays out exactly what the scout needs to do. I hope this information will make clear that the scout won't pass any requirements simply by sitting through a "class".

I also included links to web sites that should be reliable sources of information, either instead of or in addition to the MB book.

Here's the page:

http://www.w0is.com/scouting/ScoutingHeritage.htm

I would appreciate any suggestions for changes or additions. Also, if other scouters find it helpful, feel free to make use of it.