Council Relations
Discuss issues relating to Scout Councils, districts and working with professionals
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LATEST POSTS
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And soon another bunch of phone solicitations and post cards about how we can buy a book????? -
By InquisitiveScouter · Posted
Most of us have felt this frustration. Remember who you are dealing with... Teenagers do not have a fully developed prefrontal cortex. That area of the brain is responsible for planning, goal setting, self control, evaluating risk, evaluating consequences, predicting outcomes, decision making, etc... all the things you and I struggled with as teens but may not remember well 😜 https://www.simplypsychology.org/prefrontal-cortex-development-age.html For this reason, I often think our US Scouting program is poorly designed. The things they are supposed to do for a successful program do not seem to be in line with their natural capabilities in the age groups we are dealing with. Now, there are always exceptions... from time to time, I come across a Scout who is really "switched on." Here are some things I perceive as common denominators to those Scouts: 1. Two parent family with strong religious values. 2. Extremely limited TV, computer, smartphone, and social media access up until about 15. 3. Avid readers. (Reading stimulates the imagination. Screens and video "imagine" everything for you, so the brain gets lazy, or just under-developed, in that department.) 4. Very limited involvement in sports. Often a lot of involvement in music. (Music is a language 😜 ) 5. Parents and Scout pick a few activities to be deeply involved in, instead of trying to do everything. 6. Parents encourage adventure and acceptance of managed risk. 7. Youth has much more free time than peers, and is allowed to self-select activities instead of having their day intensely scheduled. And these self-selected activities are usually reading, music, or doing something outdoors. Your mileage may vary. There may be some other commonalities, but I'd have to think more about it... So, as a Scouter, I see my purpose is to provide opportunity to do Scouting things. More and more of late (over the past six or seven years), fewer and fewer Scouts take advantage of the opportunities we provide. Fewer and fewer attend meetings, outings and overnighters. We still work to provide the opportunities, but Scouting is less and less a popular activity with youth because it demands a lot of them to make the program work as designed. I think this is why BP said a Troop should not be more than 16 youth. Here's the excerpt from his Aids to Scoutmastership -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ONE REASON WHY A TROOP SHOULD NOT EXCEED 32 The number in a Troop should preferably not exceed thirty-two. I suggest this number because in training boys myself I have found that sixteen was about as many as I could deal with-in getting at and bringing out the individual character in each. I allow for other people being twice as capable as myself and hence the total of thirty-two. Men talk of having fine Troops of 60 or even 100-and their leaders tell me that their boys are equally well trained as in smaller Troops. I express admiration (“admiration” literally translated means “surprise”), and I don’t believe them. “Why worry about individual training?” they ask. Because it is the only way by which you can educate. You can instruct any number of boys, a thousand at a time if you have a loud voice and attractive methods of disciplinary means. But that is not training-it is not education. Education is the thing that counts in building character and In making men. The incentive to perfect himself, when properly instilled into the individual, brings about his active effort on the line most suitable to his temperament and powers. It is not the slightest use to preach the Scout Law or to give it out as orders to a crowd of boys: each mind requires its special exposition of them and the ambition to carry them out. That is where the personality and ability of the Scoutmaster come in. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -
I see what is going on here now. This is being redone based on the demographics of the people surveyed in the first study in 2023. Check out the demographics of the people surveyed in the Scouting Edge study; there are 3 chart slides squeezed on to 1 and a half pages of the study in the appendex. The 2023 study was basically a random subset of the whole national population; they probably wanted that to be a marketing survey to see how to capture new or emerging markets (especially when you notice that the non-white male population was under represented in that study based on who historically and currently dominates the membership ranks of Scouting America). This new study is about Alumni and current membership. So in the R3 cycle of membership they did the Recruit emphasized on emerging markets, this is probably the Re-engage or Retain stage of the R3 cycle. -
Dude, a lot of what you have been posting just cumulatively sounds like the troop wants to do things a certain way to throttle back higher achieving scouts.
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The problem is getting these kids to actually have an imagination and want to do things. After our last meeting, I was ready to throw in the towel. I've been trying to coordinate extra activities for Scouts who want to Scout. This includes things like a hike in the local state park, the orienteering day at the local council camp, participating in the council's winter merit badge camp, etc. I was told that those distract from the planned program activities of one campout/activity a month. Youth leaders feel that they can use those extra activities to count as their leadership time instead of attending the official activities. Also mentioned was the pulling of adults from the official activities to man the extras. Now, the only adults I've had for the extras are myself and another ASM who is retired and taking care of his grandson. That's why he's in Scouting and I recruited him. I also was told that I shouldn't be serving as the collection point of money to pay for events that require registration as a troop. Frankly, I think I'm capable of handling finances better than the treasurer who can't give me a statement of the accounting after being asked a month ago and who is bewildered by popcorn sales. The final straw was when the SPL announced that there would be no meeting on the 11th due to Veterans Day and a large portion of the troop cheered. Kind of a sign that my efforts are being wasted here. Somewhere along the way, Scouting went from an activity that kids wanted to join to something parents forced them into in order to check a block on the way to college.
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