Cub Scouts
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LATEST POSTS
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The included link came in an email to me this morning from National, it appears. How many others may have gotten this? https://www.npr.org/2025/11/25/nx-s1-5615164/pentagon-scouting-hegseth-cut-ties -
By Eagle94-A1 · Posted
If you look at older BSA literature, @DuctTape is 100% correct. Troop meetings were designed to plan and prepare for trips, and well as competition amongst patrols. Patrol Meetings were where the learning was supposed to take place, with older Scouts working with younger Scouts. Prior to 1989, advancement was not the focus of Scouting, having fun and experiential learning was. In 1989, the introduction of aged based programs, and especially OPERATION FIRST CLASS (sic), changed the focus to advancement. With aged based patrols, new Scouts were lumped into one patrol with a single older Scout as a Guide to teach and supervise everyone. Challenge with that was burnout because one Scout had to supervise everyone in the patrol, instead of having multiple Scouts mentoring the new guys. That led to adults taking over and turning it into Webelos 3. And the LDS model of segregating their 11 year olds into a separate patrol and having an assigned ASM to work with them, as in Cub Scouts, was the model for this. LDS 11 year old patrols had a very adult led and regimented program which led to constant repetition of the program. But because the 11 yo Scouts moved to a traditional patrol at 12, they never saw the repetition. And the adults, not the Scouts, created a program designed to get them to First Class in a year. Scouts had no input. But OPERATION FIRST CLASS was the main cause for the change of focus from fun and adventure, to advancement. BSA's research showed that Scouts who got First Class in 12-18 months stayed longer in Scouts. As a result National pushed advancement. But the research data had some major flaws IMHO. As an older Scout I commented that the data did not take into account how active a troop is. A "hiking and camping troop" with fun monthly outdoor activities will retain Scouts, and provide more opportunities for advancement. And I learned later as an adult is that LDS troops heavily influenced the data. First and foremost, every LDS male was registered, whether active or not. And LDS units had a fixed 11 year old program designed to get them to First Class before joining the rest of the troop. Even doing only 4 camp outs and no summer camp at 11, they got First Class stayed registered, even if they didn't show up again. But maybe I am an old fogey stuck in the past. My troop has not focused on advancement, but fun and adventure. Our Scouts stuck around until they aged out, or went off to college. And two Eagles did activities with us in college and before aging out. We are now in single digits, and folding at the end of the year. We have not had a feeder pack in over 15 years, relying on word of mouth and Scouts dissatisfied with their original troops to keep our numbers up. But several troops we would get Scouts from have folded, and the remaining ones took notes from us, and are doing more activities and being more youth led to prevent folks from leaving. The last time we had Webelos visit, some parents didn't like the amount of camping we did, or our emphasis on fun and adventure; advancement is the Scout's responsibility. There is a quote attributed to Baden-Powell, " Advancement is like a suntan, it just happens in the outdoors." -
I do not think we are in opposite corners here. My primary focus is on the patrols and their activities (both meetings and outdoor activities). The PLC is NOT the conduit for transferring those baseline skills. This is done by the individual Patrol Leader (possibly with assistance from an Instructor). The PLC is the conduit for organizing the Patrols. Regarding the specific examples, those are a result of a failure all around. My main point is he Patrol is the fundamental unit, the PLC is a coordinating team to assist the patrols within the troop.
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This isn't correct at all, not from a doctrine standard nor from a practical or rational reasoning method. The doctrine in the Troop Leaders Guides Vol 1 & 2 is that advancement is part of the routine meeting methods. From a practical and rational reasoning method you don't send someone into a "field" environment without baseline training. Rank advancement is baseline training. Baseline training happens in weekly meetings. Outings are where mastery occurs. You can't someone on a campout without knowing basic baseline knowledge: basics of setting up a campsite, first aid, basic meal planning and cooking, etc... Within controlled environments such as weekly troop meetings your PLC should be transferring baseline knowledge to the rank-and-file scouts, then at the outings the mastery of such skills should occur. A patrol shouldn't take 3 hours to cook a meal because they had to spend the first 2 hours learning how to start a fire. God help the troop that doesn't teach first aid until an outing and an injury occurs.
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