should have used the tiny url in the email you sent out too.

yes, it's a small world and it got forwarded around a bit.

I always think about those things after the fact

:/

bnelon.....not tryin to be nasty or anything like that.

Just asking a question here......

why do we need presentations for advancement????

Either the boy can tie a square knot or not. or Planned and cooked the menu or not.

Seems pretty cut and dry to me.

Give me a list of requirements and either he can do them or not.

Far as alternate requirements......We need an Eagle patch, certificate and pocket card with a HUGE asterisk on them.

> why do we need presentations for advancement????

Because too many adult leaders add too many additional requirements to the process because they have their own idea of how the process should work and the boy is caught in the middle. Especially when he moves between units or states.

OH BOY!!!

MORE POWERPOINT KARAOKE!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UV3kRV46Zs

I will review the content to make sure what I'm saying is current, and then I will continue with my standing training aids:

- BSA requirements.
- MB Pams
- Homework sheets (how I love ripping them up to make the point Scouting isn't school! :-) )
- MB apps.

Someone needs to remind National to pull obsolete items, such as
Worksheet for Building a Merit Badge Counselor List, No. 4439

The list of badges is current as of....



Wait for it...






1999

Oh, dear Lord...

Slide 5: Merit Badges are about the Advancement Method.

Hello.

How many 14 year olds, in a couple years, are going to be asking Ms Smith, in a cold call, for a JOB?

It's at least as much about adult association... That's not a potential, that's a REALITY

Danger Will Robinson, Danger Danger!!!!

Slide 10

"These are the only qualifications the BSA National Council places on merit badge counselorsregardless of the merit badge"

Who on the curriculum team forgot to read the special qualifications for the shooting sports and aquatics merit badge families?

Then comes... SLIDE 11
In it, are these words:
"A list of these badges is provided in the Guide to Advancement, topic seventy eleven, Qualifications of Counselors, along with the specific qualifications required of those supervising the activities."

You have to love it when one slide contradicts another in the SAME PACKAGE!

Dear National Council: Does the term EDITOR mean anything to you?


Cue Forrest Gump...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MT3CihStFQ(This message has been edited by John-in-KC)

John,

Watch/listen to the video on merit badges, your point is brought up and highlighted.

http://www.youtube.com/v/tFZS67p0FYA

Slide 12

Finally, authoritative word on the cost to register as an MBC (especially if you are outside the unit circles)

The cost to register is zero dollars. Thats right, it is free!

I'll be showing that to my Professionals

Slides 34-35

Merit Badge Colleges are now condoned.

John,

I am not sure what you are commenting on.

If it is the slide deck for MB Counselor training, read the speaker's notes:
http://www.scouting.org/filestore/training/advancement/Merit_Badge_Counselor/The_Essentials_Presenters_Notes.pdf

If it is the video, then watch the video before commenting.

And, as always, a Scout (and Scouter) should be following the Scout Law and be courteous at all times.

REALLY, NATIONAL??? YOU MUST BE JOKING!!!! HOMEWORK SHEETS ARE OK????

"Worksheets and other materials, which may be of assistance in earning merit badges, are available from a variety of sources including the Internet and troop libraries. Use of these aids is permissible as long as they can be correlated with the current requirements. Completed worksheets may suffice where a requirement calls for something in writing, but they do not work as substitutes where Scouts must
discuss, tell, show, or demonstrate something.

"The Boy Scouts of America does not currently produce any worksheets or other similar learning aids for merit badges simply due to the costs and additional effort related to keeping them up to date. The national Advancement Team, however, recognizes the value of such tools, and permits their use as long as merit badge counselors and unit leaders understand this is not official material and that use of the tools must not serve to alter merit badge requirements or provide unauthorized shortcuts. Scouts are still
expected to complete all the official requirements as written."

It is intuitively obvious to the most casual of observers that the National Staff has forgotten how much FUN homeworksheets are...


... NOT!!!!

OMFG!!!!

Slide 38:

This is fairly straightforward. Once a registered and approved counselor signs completion on a blue card, that should be the end of the story. However, because of the incidence of complaints to the national Advancement Team that Scouts are receiving signed blue cards from merit badge experiences where they did not actually and personally complete all the requirements, the national Advancement Committee is considering a proposal to provide unit leaders a method of recourse, when it is clear and obvious that requirements were not fulfilled as written.


Oh, boy, more bureaucracy for the Advancement Committee!