Leaderboard

I know we argue about Sports versus Scouting. I ran across this on another Scout Facebook page. It is long, but worthy of your reading. I attribute it to the name at the top. 'Nuf said... Brock Moore October 23 at 9:26 AM I promised myself years ago, every time I saw this I would re-post. Happens about twice a year. Rings true EVERY.SINGLE.TIME.... Here goes!!! Most people won't take the time to read this all the way to the end. I hope that you will. 17 INCHES" - you will not regret reading this An excellent article to read from beginning

I absolutely agree. The "outdoors" is BSA's big unique selling opportunity. It's debatable on BSA's track record with physical fitness, leadership and citizenship. BSA is generally really good, but those can also be addressed with sports, ROTC and other programs. But I really don't see a quality youth outdoor nature program other than BSA.

This is a marketing message BSA is missing. Getting America's Kids Outdoors would be a great positive message to counteract all the negativity. Doing more to save local Council camps that are closing. Protect parks. Developing partnerships with conservation groups that are working to protect some of the species that are linked to our ranks, like wolves and tigers and bears. There is very little real or functional connection in BSA to conservation, wildlife, parks, etc. Our purpose is so muddled and we miss opportunities right and left to cast ourselves in a better light

What is often missing in the rush to mBs via "colleges" or the like is the real benefit of the Adult Association method. The more personal the time spent with the youth, the more the adult assiciation as a method can be used to accomplish the aims. The biggest problem with the mB mills and the give-away mBs is they are an example of the opposite of our aims. Cutting corners and taking the easy way out is not ethical decision making. By focusing on advancement as the goal, handing out signed blue cards to scouts who have not fulfilled the reqs, showing scouts how to cheat the system and denying

I agree. Summer camps have turned into MB mills, with many non-outdoor offerings. The scouts should be hiking, swimming, boating, and shooting. Either for the MB or just for the fun of it. Life is sedentary enough in 2019. Too many scouts sitting on picnic benches at summer camp these days.

There's a strong push going on right now, led by me and another Committee Member, to limit our troop's participation in merit badge weekends to one per year. In previous years, we've gone to as many as three or even four in a calendar year. It's part of the reason we have some Scouts with merit badges wrapping all around their sash, but don't remember half of what they learned. Our goal is to replace those merit badge weekends with more traditional hiking, fishing, and camping trips. So far we're winning. Merit badge weekends are NOT needed. My son got his Eagle in early August at the ag

I am glad to hear of this direction. I do not think that these MB events serve anyone very much, except in the case of earning a small badge, like finger printing, which can normally be done in one sitting anyway. Certainly Eagle Required badges should require effort, accomplishment, and skill or knowledge acquiring. When I see thirty scouts come out of a First Aid badge class with a signed blue card at the end of the day, I am pretty sure they will not know a lot about first aid by the next camp out. But they will receive a badge at the next COH. And I have seen scouts learn to "work

LOL! Our troop is camping this weekend too. Only the temperature is supposed to be in the low 20's Friday night!

We have to separate the concept of "relevance" from the concept of being "worthwhile." Character education and skills training for youth today are certainly important -- worthwhile -- for the future, whether 5 or 10 or 30 years from now. But relevance is defined as related to or connected to the matter at hand. The matter at hand is the condition of youth and society today, now. To be relevant, Scouting has to be seen as a program that benefits participants almost immediately upon joining; those benefits to youth must be observable and understandable to the public; the program must be perc

MB Colleges cause a lot more harm that most of us realize. I found while on the District Committee that 70 Percent of our Troops used only Summer Camp and MB Colleges for a major part of their advancement program. They would look for opportunities through the Council for their scouts advancement. They got so used to these outside advancement activities that they lost the knowledge of running their own unit advancement program. One scouter on district made a proposal to change the District MB college. Up to that point, scouts showed up at 8:00 am and were not allowed to leave until 4:00

I like hearing about troops that provide in-house opportunities to help their youth --- after all, we're taught the importance of "servant leadership" so we need to do what the boys need. I like that you're not participating in more than one MB weekend per year, but I would be cautious about going overboard by making such a thing a "rule" or a "policy". Scout leaders should always remember to "remove barriers and open doors". If you implement a rule, you're doing a disservice to the scout who has a right to expect that you are following the "Guide to Advancement" and not just making up u

If there is a nudge from National to discourage or at least tighten up MB fairs, I'd say this is the most positive news I've heard in awhile. There are acceptable group settings to earn MBs at summer camp. Historically, these used to be primarily outdoor focused (rifle/shotgun/lifesaving/etc.). Many units didn't access to properties or equipment during the course of the year, so it was standard practice at camp. The MB fairs I see today are grand events, more spoon feeding than actually learning. The scouts go through the process and leave Saturday evening with MBs that used to r

Election Day, please remember to vote (Like) early and often.

I had to look this up. I wasn't sure it was in the original paper. It was the same except for the bold font. Anyway, this reminds me of a discussion I had with a group of people that are going to Rwanda where my wife and I sponsor a kid to go to school. They were talking about different kinds of poverty. The Africans have a material poverty. Many advance Western countries have a community poverty. This paper spells it out. Something else we talked about was the best way to help the people in Africa. Surprise, surprise, a lot of ideas were similar to developing leadership in a scout t

Yup, that's some of the logic that the UC kept saying. I am not saying that big or small dens are good or bad. I am saying make what you have work with the kids and the parents you have and ignore the people that say, well, we always do it this way so you should too. And I disagree with your point. I never used parents to split groups apart. They were simply there for talent.

I hope you find the right answer for scouting. I love the scouting program ... when it works. But if you don't find the magic, it's okay to look for alternatives. Your kids are only young once. Find the right answer to give the experiences to develop friendships and grow as a person. Scouting is a great program when it works. But don'[t chase windmills. There are other answers too.

Funny thing this topic of recruitment. We were doing a compass course at a local park. One group was about 30 minutes behind schedule because two non-scout friends showed up riding bikes. They ended up tagging along and watching the Scouts do their thing. I am hoping one, if not both show up at the meeting they were invited to.

The scouter's camp fire. Pull up a stump and join us.

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I recently sat on three Tenderfoot boards of review. One girl and two boys. Very impressive scouts, these three. The highlight question was "what do you like best about scouting?" All three brightened and said "camping!" Each in their own way, they articulated what they like about their first camporee. They mentioned the good points and looked back on the low points with humor. Collectively couldn't wait to go camping again. To me, this is what the BSA is all about.

Front the Commissioners Facebook page: Dear Scout Executives, Over the past year, leadership of the national organization has been working tirelessly to empower our volunteers and staff to focus on delivering the mission of Scouting to more than two million young people, while also addressing our organization’s financial challenges. The work that each of us puts into this movement is vital, but to do our best on behalf of the Boy Scouts of America, we each must also look out for our own personal health. Today, I am reaching out to let you know that Chief Scout