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LATEST POSTS
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It can be a good position if the scout is on the outings and mentoring the rest of the scouts through the LNT process; they can also be used as a LNT specific Troop Guide for crossovers. The biggest problem with the outdoor ethics guide position is Scouting America licenses the LNT program from LNT.org and LNT.org has stopped providing their certification to people under 18. There was a time when you could get a willing Outdoor Ethics Guide to step up and go take LNT and come back with a serious case of saving the planet but now it's not an option. -
By Eagle94-A1 · Posted
When I was a Scout, there was a unit that folded because a CO's IH no longer wanted a troop, and they wanted the troop's money, and equipment to sell at their yard sale. One of the members opposing the decision, and was an ASM or MC with my troop. Prior to folding, the money in the account was used to pay registration, BOYS' LIFE, summer camp, and in a few instances Philmont or NSJ. Equipment got sold to those units taking their Scouts very cheap ( I think we paid about $5 for 5 tents). The troop left about $100 in the account to give to the CO. So I understand the jadedness. In this circumstance, no one has issue with the CO doing that. With the exception of the recent de facto temporary pastor, the relationship has been extremely good. They have provided us with many resources over the troop's long history. They have paid for many things for us to use, and in the past have helped Scouts out financially. -
I'm a little jaded. I don't trust a council or a CO to hold cash for a future scouting unit that would be created years down the road. My gut feeling says the funds would be rolled into a general fund. -
By InquisitiveScouter · Posted
We have tried, but, like most of these positions, you usually wind up with a Scout doing little more than wearing a patch and doing some "low threshold" tasks during their tenure. (to use your words.) Big picture, for each SPL tenure of office (for this unit it is every six months), the SPL must appoint a slate of PORs. Many often continue in their role, and that is fine. Shortly after installation into his office, the SPL organizes and leads an Introduction to Leadership Skills for Troops (ILST). During ILST, the PORs learn about their jobs and SMART goals. They must use that information to develop three SMART goals for their tenure, and the goals must be approved by the SPL (and the SM) I am the adult in our unit who mentors the OE Guide. The three goals we see are along these lines: 1. By the end of my tenure, I will complete the Outdoor Ethics Orientation Course, S1110. ( An alternate to this is, by the end of tenure, I will assist in teaching an S110.) 2. By the end of my tenure, I will complete the Outdoor Ethics Awareness Award. (Or alternate, I will complete my OE Action Award.) 3. By the end of my tenure, I will give two 5-minute presentations on an Outdoor Ethics topic or principle at a Troop meeting, both of which must include teaching and practicing a hands-on skill. (How to hang a bear bag, how to deal with dishwater after a meal, how to measure 200 feet so you know where to dump dishwater, how to erase the evidence of a fire using Leave No Trace techniques, etc.) The Scout should come up with these goals, but often, the Scout does not "know what right looks like." I view these as all low threshold, but it seems over the last decade or so, even these have become significant challenges for Scouts. And, we have not had an OE Guide for the last year. We try to use the job descriptions from the Scout Handbook to create the SMART goals, as those list specific tasks of the position. Creating and approving the goals is a chore, and we often fall short on doing the work necessary to ensure accountability for the goals, unless the Scout needs the position as credit for advancement. Our Scouts generally avoid PORs nowadays, unless needed for rank advancement... a sad state of affairs if you ask me, and one of the signs that our unit is on a downward trajectory. (I see this dearth of effort to drive accountability [by SPL and adults] as a contributing factor to the downward trajectory.) -
By AwakeEnergyScouter · Posted
You missed the fine print - Scouting America explicitly says that they mean nothing in particular by the word "God" in the Declaration of Religious Principle. And the reason they do this is that they can't require what it says if "God" means the usual everyday interpretation in US context of the Christian god and still stay in the Scouting movement. Either the statement can't mean what it seems to say, or they have to exit the movement. TBH it seems like a setup - they want it to be read as the usual everyday meaning but rely on a legalistic trick of not meaning anything in particular with the word "God" to stay in the movement. I balked at the statement because I knew this immediately and therefore read the fine print associated with the asterisk on the word "God" - and there it was. God can be your cat if you like, Scouting America means nothing in particular with the word in that declaration. But that's of course not what most readers will take away from it. It sets up this very situation.
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