Leaderboard

I don't know where this idea came from (probably the BSA.) But it does harm to people and to the program. Eagle Scout is not some silver bullet for teenagers. If your grades suck, Eagle Scout won't get you into college. If you bomb your interview, Eagle Scout will not get you the job. As a corporate recruiter myself, I don't look for Eagle Scouts, I look for candidates who are qualified to do the job, and if they happen to be Eagle Scouts, then we chat about that after the serious stuff is out of the way. Eagle Scout is valuable not because it will cause other people to think bette

You're definitely not alone in that sentiment. My Troop is about to have it's 4th Scoutmaster since I joined in 2005. None were Eagles. 3/4 Took Wood Badge at some point during their tenure, but only one (the most recent) had Wood Badge before he became SM. All are exceptional, dedicated men. We've had a good handful of ASMs or Committee members (myself included) that earned Eagle, and it's been pretty good for the most part but I think each of them who were/are great in their roles would have been regardless of whether or not they were Eagles. I think you and I share the sam

I double down on this statement by saying that the BEST Scouters I have ever met are NOT Eagle Scouts. Many were guys who quit at various points in their Scouting career and came back to Scouting for their sons or daughters (Venturing). For whatever reason -- maybe to make up for what they walked away from, maybe to pay homage to a mentor, maybe they never had the opportunity to be Scouts, etc., -- these men (and women) are some of the best Scouters I know. Not Eagles. Not AOL recipients. No Wood Badge. No OA. Just good, solid leaders who take their role seriously, train hard and work for

As a recent Eagle I can back this up. No college I visited cared about Eagle. No college interviewer asked about it but they did ask about what I did in scouts. No job I’ve had really considered Eagle that much of a big deal. The internship I have now only asked me about Eagle because the guy interviewing me was a scoutmaster. Only scouting related jobs ever asked me about Eagle. My friends who are eagles have similar stories. I am fine with this. I climbed scouting’s Everest but it’s not like I’m going to use that to introduce myself at parties. It helped make me who I am but it’s not who I a

Maybe the most important thing said on this forum in a while......

Depends on the unit. In the 'High Speed, Low Drag" and "One and Done" Advancements units. probably no one. Those units will high standards and expectations, all of them. sadly my unit is in the middle of these two. We are working on getting those expectation high. Once upon a time, a Scout was expected to "master the skills," and "the badge represents what you can do, not what you have done." In the troop I grew up in, yes the older Scouts could do them as they were the ones teaching the skills to the younger Scouts. In fact, one of my Eagles as a 20 something Marine was stationed

I asked for the 1938 vol 1&2 for a gift from my Scouts. I thoroughly enjoy reading them and taking notes. We will be getting back to the basics. The Scouts will also be learning who GBB was and his impact on scouting. The books feel like a time machine. Great reading!

When in doubt ask Bill! From the Handbook for Scoutmasters, 3rd edition, 1938, Vol. 2.

Carpentry Merit Badge- (a) "make, with your leaders permission, a casket for your Scoutmaster or other adult leader. Demonstrate how you measured leader and planned dimensions to fit. If appropriate use hand tools to avoid violating Guide to Safe Scouting guidelines." (b) If appropriate if hunting a white whale casket may be nailed and sealed with pitch for emergency flotation device"

This is described by the original poster as a Boy Scout viewer for an atomic explosion. Can anyone shed light?

A scout is trustworthy. Ask the scout, can you tie those knots, swim those yards, and navigate that terrain? If the answer is "No sir," reply, "Come back when you can." To add to Flag's comment: if you've seen a scout struggling in an area, tell him that you're postponing his advancement SMC until he regains proficiency.

Yes. The PLC builds skills in to the program, beit meetings, projects or camp outs. Participation in an SMC is also considered being able to discuss the skills you have and demonstrate them. It's not pass/fail, it's participating in the SMC...and no one ever fails. If they are weak in a skill you know they will work on it to make sure they aren't anymore. But to be brutally honest, we just use the skills all the time since we are outdoors a lot. Our tents are modern but still require taught-lines to set up. We don't use pop-up canopies (we use Philmont flies) so the guys still need to kno

That's not complicated. Ask the scout. If he/she cannot tell you how he/she lived by the Oath and Law before he/she knew it, suggest he/she come back in a couple of months now that he/she's recited it. For example, to my knowledge, Duty to God doesn't depend on one's ability to pronounce shibboleth.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2016/08/10/girl-wants-to-join-boy-scouts/ Ireland says her main reason for becoming a Boy Scout is to receive the Eagle Scout ranking, which she believes will help her get into a great colleges, and help her get jobs she otherwise wouldn’t be able to get without the ranking.

That's what I've been saying about what happens as long as rank advancement is muddled with identity as much as achievement. Thanks for making my point for me.

I was fortunate to have an SM who was a long time Scouter, and allowed us to use what we learned at BA22. When I staffed JLTC, SMs were suppose to attend a precamp conference. about 1/2 did. On the final day, there was a graduation ceremony that SMs were invited to attend, less than 1/4 showed up (it was on a Saturday). Purpose of those two events was to get the SMs behind the Scouts. When we had a post conference meeting to see how folks were doing, the #1 complaint was that the SM would not let them run the troop like they were taught. The troop locally that was dying until last year a

The average Scoutmaster has just under 9 months on the job, has no idea what the Patrol Method is, and is not inclined to allow boys to plan or lead. Nor does BSA do anything to change this. The new SM is pretty much on his own. 2/3 have no UC, assumning they are competent. There is no training on the Patrol Method, much less what Bill was doing fifty+ years ago. There is no pressure to use it and no recognition if you do. If his Scouts take NYT, he is not inclined to allow them to do what they have just been taught to do: "That may be how they do it, but that's not how we do it."

Here's a sneak-peak of some of the GBB documents I plan to scan and post in the resources topic.

The mediocrity was astounding. The last year I volunteered, I had around 25 Scouts. I think 4 of them completed the badge. There was prework, req 5. Communications requires them to come up with some presentations or speeches for requirements 3 and 6. that they probably needed to complete outside of class time. Those were the requirements the Scouts did not complete. Since there were so few presentations they even had time in the class to work on them, but again, 4 of 25. The few that did give speeches and the develop and teach a skill req did wonderful stuff. However, I left that final session

My philosophy is once in a den, he stay's with the den. I had one Cub in the same situation, and he stayed with us. I had another Cub who quit before he failed. He later came back to Cub Scouts in another pack. He was put in the grade specific den there because A) He was not involved with my den at that level and B) His schoolmates were in that den. Unlike school, you and you son have a lot of options with Cub Scouts.

In 1975, a program called "All Out For Scouting" was announced and the idea was to get Scouts camping and doing Scouting...by Patrols! For an article about it, and a good description of what many of us on the Forum would like to see, check out this link from Boys' Life. As part of this initiative, there was a training program designed for Senior Patrol Leaders to go back and help their Troops succeed in the Patrol Method. A special thanks goes out to @Eagle94-A1 for providing the Brownsea Double-Two syllabus in attachment below. Brownsea_22.pdf

Sometimes being Trustworthy, and Loyal will appear to others as being unKind or unFriendly to others. Sometimes being Helpful will make you appear disCourteous and unKind. And I can go on and on. I do my best to live up to the Oath and Law. But try to insult or hurt My Scouts you need to watch out. I personally think allowing girls into Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts is the worse mistake ever, and one that is irrevocable unlike 1972's Improved Scout Program. I think it will hurt boys, and even the CSE made comments to that effect. That is why they want a separate girls program. But we al

Leaving aside the question whether that is ever true, it is not true in this forum.

OK, well it seems that us Scoutmasters agree. I will continue the path. I did point out that this last weekend when we went climbing, they offered to cover some merit badge requirements for the boys, only 2 were interested, the rest just wanted to climb and rappel.

Much like replacing facts with emotion, replacing objective standards with relative ones never ends well. The end result is a morass from which it gets increasingly difficult, then impossible, to extract yourself from.

Sometimes Scouts need to be un-scout-like to defend what is theirs.

Yes, more accurately, I don't believe there was a violation to report.

Thanks for all the replies. I wish I had done a better job of conveying the story. I do not think this was any kind of YPT violation that needed to be reported, but I did think it was an interesting example of when issues that sound black and white become more gray. As I said, he dragged his mattress out of our room and was just outside the door. I pretty much tripped over him when I got up. His presence in the far corner of a large room with six other scouts was no more nefarious than my presence would have been as I passed through to use the rest room and then made coffee in t

It's certainly not a failure to be a scout but not reach Eagle. I think sometimes it gets equated to "failure" or "not finishing" if someone doesn't earn Eagle, but from an achievement perspective it's still years of work, commitment, and effort required just to be a scout at all. If a kid joins in 1st grade and is active into high school but doesn't reach Eagle, that's still a decade-long effort in a fantastic youth leadership organization. If it's a question of documenting participation in something (Johnny should finish Eagle so he can put it on his college application) a kid can (and

I meant only the knot to differentiate between the badge and the knot and wearing both which is a no no.

That's my wish. And is there enough magic out there in the moonlight to make this dream come true?

If they get held back it is still a blow to their ego, making them 'repeat' a year in Cubs makes no sense.

I don't know why so many Boy Scout leaders keep insisting that boys just want to have "fun." There are scouts who actually do want to work towards advancement and no, that doesn't always meant that their mom or dad are ardently pushing them from behind the scenes.

Dealing with the well-oiled machine issue Heard at a council meeting in 1962 or 63 Bill: "Never do for a Scout what he can do for himself." Scouter in audience: "But 'do' to what standard?" Bill (after a brief pause): "Why to a boy's standard, of course."

@jjlash, if my district/council charged for training I know many folks here would not take it. Why? Many units already charge adult volunteers and leaders a premium over the $33 adult BSA reg fee...some as high as $100/year. Next, few units locally reimburse for gas for trips and such. More out of pocket. Summer camp? We have to pay to attend that plus the transport fee. Now training that's required for us volunteers? That would be the last straw. Good luck with this approach. It would go down like a lead balloon in my area. Thankfully my unit only charges $33 for dues and pays for leader

S.O.A.R. 2.0 - This time it is personal. Save the pristine Boundary Waters Wilderness Area from mining pollution!

As a general rule, no. This was defined by the PLC. That said, we do activities that can count toward rank or MBs but it is up to the Scout to follow-up with their MBC or Instructors. For example, on one camp out we did wilderness survival shelters for fun. Some guys went to their MBCs for credit, some didn't.

Thank you, @T2Eagle, for bringing up this topic. It has been a good and interesting discussion. We've determined that Youth Protection Training is important for both the youth and adults, yet it is clear there are fuzzy areas where it seems to be a judgement call. If you feel you'd like to know more about the BSA's YPT or have questions or desire clarifications, it would be wise to contact your District Executive.

This is why training parents and leaders is so important. A trained leader should know better, as there are always other options (car, grabbing another leader and BOTH sleeping in the main hall in a corner near the adult room, etc.). Truly a tough question. It could be an honest mistake where nothing happened. But as the events of the last month or so are showing us, what if something did happen and it comes out later? @T2Eagle, not sure you can convey enough information for any of us to really get a sense for how innocent of a mistake (or how bad it may really look) this really is.

As with ANY course or program, much depends on the instructor, the curriculum, student participation/attention, the class size, how confirming prerequisites are completed, and many other factors. We have all seen well-run courses and some real howlers. The important thing, as an individual, is to do your own research, read and practice. This can make up for a lousy course, instructor or otherwise. As for reality TV, do yourself a favor and don't watch it. Your IQ will drop 10 points with each one you watch. Read a good book or watch something about science or history. If not available, st

Was this a violation of the Two Deep Leadership policy? No - There were three adults on this outing. Was this a violation of the No One-On-One policy? No - There were multiple scouts in the room. Was this a violation of the Youth Privacy policy? Maybe - Older versions of the YP policy mention placing blankets or some sort of divider between adults and youth when using the same room. I don't see that in the current version. All I see now is mention of a clothes changing area. I would think that the scouts sleeping in the main area would need a designated changing area somewhere oth

Not necessarily. A YPT violation is not a charge of abuse. It does not, in itself, constitute an actionable offense. Scouters have been retained after events like this.

I think teens are a vital part of our workforce. They are often able to work the hours that parents cannot. Young teens come with two uncertainties: - transportation - first time hire Both put them at a disadvantage relative to the rest of the employment pool.

If you look here ( https://douglasernst.blog/tag/star-wars/ ) Kathleen Kennedy (The CEO of Star Wars) is wearing a "The Force Is Female" shirt. and Rian Johnson (Director of Last Jedi) is posting that he likes and wants a shirt that says, "Ask Me About My Feminist Film Agenda"

Okay, since I have been involved deeply in branding in my professional life I feel the urge to chime in here. BSA has a very strong brand, both nationally and world wide. Brand equity, value, recognition, recall and a whole slew of other metrics are strengths for BSA. If BSA did not have a strong brand do you think GSUSA would have spent so much effort and money after the last policy announcement? BSA is certainly using it's brand to their advantage in bringing girls into Scouting. If Trail Life had made the same announcement instead of BSA I don't think you would have heard a word f

Would you give Eagle to a Trails Life scout who decided he wanted Eagle instead of whatever award it is they give out? Let's just be honest. Mrs. Ireland has not done the work, because she's not eligible to do the work. I can't study advanced coursework and then go to the local university and demand my masters degree, because I "did the work." I have to follow the requirements as the university lays them out if I want their degree. Unfortunately there are no procedures in place for a situation like this, because Mrs. Ireland is the first who's the challenged the situation in this way. Th

It's a forgone conclusion that Ireland will be the first female eagle scout designated by BSA.

Hawkwin, we seem to agree most of the time, but I can't join you on this one. I think it is appropriate to make a distinction between a youth who actually lives in another country and a U.S. resident who is able to participate in a program in another country. Plus, while it is great that her parents have the resources to fly her to Canada and back on a regular basis so she can get a "Boy Scout (ish) experience," what would the BSA say to a girl (with the same "timing" issue) whose family could not afford all that traveling? This decision has been controversial enough without adding in e

The problem with the whole climate change question is that no one seems to know what the ideal environment would be. Are CO2 levels currently higher or lower than optimal? Nobody knows. All we know is that they are slightly higher than they used to be. It may turn out to be that higher CO2 levels are a good thing. Future college students may be complaining about declining CO2 levels.

They look nice. This is small stuff.