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Showing content with the highest reputation on 06/08/18 in all areas

  1. Boys respond to instant gratification. Delayed reward that comes as the result of planning and working towards a goal, well, that's work. A JTE patch with multiple years on your shoulder is rewarding, but it's not really fun. A large package of Oreo cookies won in a patrol competition? Now that's fun!!
    3 points
  2. I've not liked JTE since Day 1, and I was a UC. It's metrics management. That's lean six sigma stuff. Why in God am I asking volunteers to sweat over numerical micromanagement of a program license agreement?
    3 points
  3. Why would anyone impose METRICS BASED MANAGEMENT on youth who are supposed to be playing a game with a purpose?
    3 points
  4. I'm going to use your Scouting fatigue comment to jump in a slightly different direction because I think that fatigue is only going to get worse with the introduction of the Lion rank. That's another year of kids doing similar adventures across ranks. (Ho many police or fire station trips can you take?) I suspect adding Lion is going to lead to kids burning out well before Soy Scouts. And it could also lead to kids not joining in the 2nd & 3rd grades - "why should I join, I already missed 2 (3) years?"
    2 points
  5. In my Troop, the adults (and SPL/ASPL) eat as a patrol. Over time, we've pretty much standardized our breakfast for most campouts. Sometimes on Sunday AM, we will go simpler, but this is pretty simple. Our breakfast is usually breakfast burritos. We make this as a one-pot meal, and more often than not, serve it without using a plate--we will use a paper towel. Ingredients: Breakfast sausage in a tube (Jimmy Dean's is a favorite, but we have used other brands, we have used mild, hot, and maple at different campouts-maple is not a good combo, IMHO). Usually we use a pound for 5-8 ea
    1 point
  6. You just need to rebrand that as "Expedition Cooking". If the cooking and backpacking MB books with debranded generic Kroger and other grocery store supplies isn't convincing enough, get the "NOLS Cookery" book out of the library. It details how they plan all their trips, including the 30 day+ trips in Patagonia, using bulk grocery store supplies.
    1 point
  7. My troop does what I call grocery store backpack cooking for the most part. We do have a few boys/parents who buy Mountain House or other premade, but most of us do it the cheap way. Everything we eat you can buy at the grocery store. For breakfast, we usually have instant oatmeal or instant grits cooked in the bag. Just add water, and mix with your spoon, and you can eat either one straight from the paper bag that the single serve instant oatmeal/grits are packed in. Generally, it's a good idea to have a bowl or cup to put the bag in, though. For lunch, we will do a sleev
    1 point
  8. I think you found part of nationals new growth strategy. Make it hard for small packs so that they will be incentiveized to recruit more.
    1 point
  9. Our group is still leaving and returning the same flights, but now they are going to do various 2 and 3 day hikes in Colorado. Drummed up some contacts, friends, etc but they have salvaged a trip.
    1 point
  10. I intend no offense at all Mash. Yes, these awards are often what the John/Jane Q Public think of when they think of a "Scout". There's been other threads here that have discussed it, and I take the side that the BSA hasn't done itself any favors by placing too much emphasis on the Eagle award. I fully, truly agree with you that clear delineation and consistent process is helpful, as it is really the best way to measure how the kid handled themselves. We like to say the "adversity" is helpful in teaching that things can go wrong in life, and how you plow through it is good teaching, b
    1 point
  11. The medal is not the pinnacle. The pinnacle scouting experience is hiking and camping independently with one's mates. When a scout can be trusted to do that, he/she has arrived. Service projects are just a way of showing a scout can apply what they've been doing in their troop to help their community.
    1 point
  12. We're getting ready to go through round 2 of this with our kids. We are in a school district with a *very* firm Sept 1 cutoff for K. My kids both have early Sept birthdays so they can crossover in March as AOL with 6mos in their dens since turning 10 or ~9months total as Webelos and as 4th Graders. For older son this was a great option. The other choice wasn't waiting a whole year, it was to join BS in the Fall as an 11yo with or without AOL. Instead, he's been to summer camp and every monthly camp out. Tomorrow he'll finished 5th grade as a 11yo and Saturday we head off for his crew's Boundar
    1 point
  13. I'll admit - I don't dislike JTE. JTE is simply a Management By Objective tool. In essence, a troop JTE is encouraging us to do: - have a budget - recruit new members - retain your current members - encourage Webelos to cross over - encourage Boys to advance - hold monthly camping trips - go to summer camp - do service projects - use the patrol method - proactively recruit adults to help - get your leaders trained None of these things are crazy. When I see troops that get less than Gold, it's because they're not trying on some of these general things. "What, I ac
    1 point
  14. Maybe 6 sigma/iso9000 whatever, but certainly nothing to do with lean. Lean, TPS, continuous process improvement, Covey's sharpening the saw, whatever you want to call it is actually a bottom up process for improving workflow and capturing innovation. Scouting actually tries to do a good job with this. Both the plan-do-review framework and Thorns and Roses are Lean by another name. The problem with JTE is the rigid top down metrics that don't allow for small scale organic improvements that are likely to be more meaningful long term.
    1 point
  15. I hear this from the Webelos leaders that cross over into our troop. They all want to wait until after the B&G. Mid to late March is typical here too. When I was a Cubmaster, I did the same. As a Troop CC, I'd recommend thinking about this differently. One of the best ways to get a new Boy Scout off to a good start is to get him to go on a couple of camping trips and then to Summer Camp. When a Scout crosses at the end of March he's lucky to have 8 meeting a before summer. That's not a lot of time to get integrated into a troop and ready for Summer Camp. If it were up to
    1 point
  16. Well, I for one am always grateful to those who are generous enough with their time to help guide and tame the discussions that go on here, and compared to some other forums I have been a part of, I have found the conversations here to be predominantly civil and considerate. Thank you, moderators, for all that you do to provide a safe place for learning and discussion. I know I have benefited HUGELY from it as I have used this forum to expand my understanding of Scouting and connected with people of similar purpose!
    1 point
  17. Well, that question would also apply to troop-level JTE, right?
    1 point
  18. My gut tells me this is an honest (albeit misguided) attempt to prepare the next generation for the "real world" scenarios experienced by the previous generation. At least around here. Plenty of guys got by with a handshake and maybe a handwritten contract. But a woman in the same profession would feel she had to come with a polished proposal and all the bells and whistles to land the same bid. Then to stay in the business, she had to outdo herself or lackluster competition would call on the good-old-boys network to grease the wheels in their favor. I hope it's not just Mash's GS cou
    1 point
  19. my gripe with AOL requirements and cub scouting in general is a cub can go through 5 yrs of cubs and obtain AOL without ever going camping at some point overnight camping should have been a requirement to earn such badge,
    1 point
  20. That DE would not be welcome any longer at any or our functions, we would be Scoutlike (as much as possible) in that communication. Sounds like you are doing fine without his help.
    1 point
  21. Tutavena, sorry I hadn't responded sooner. Direct Service is no longer a Council- nor is it a separate office within National anymore. I was part of Direct Service units in Nicaragua, Panama, Bolivia and Ecuador. in 2014 National shut down Direct Service. The number 800 might still appear on Scouter.org but it is no longer valid. Units in other parts of the world fell into Transatlantic and Far Eastern councils. The units in Latin America and Caribbean (Western Hemisphere) were left homeless until National Capital Area Council took them under their wing. They have them as a sub-district becaus
    1 point
  22. There's a lot of hate for those in the profession, including me when y'all don't even know me. I mean I get it, there are A LOT of bad, even crooked Pros out there. Whatever, it's not gonna stop me from doing my job of trying to grow scouting and give kids opportunities. Again, I believe we work together and have the same goals in mind... I'm sorry if that's not the case in your council. Thank you all for what you do for scouting.
    1 point
  23. Sadly effective October 1, 2019, the Patrol Method will be no more. They can no longer do any activities,i.e. meetings, day hikes, grocery shopping, service projects, etc by themselves. They will need 2 registered adults over 21. In essence the Patrol Method is being replaced by Cub Scout dens.😡
    0 points
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