Leaderboard

I agree, but I disagree on focusing on effectiveness, max class size or things like that. Rather, I'd want people to focus on making these as interesting as possible. For example, a merit badge class day on metal working better include most of the day working on metal. Bending. Welding. Etc. I remember an oceanography course that I wish my sons could have gotten in on. It had lots of kids in it. But it was led by an active duty submarine officer and an oceanography researcher who could talk real life. That was cool. IMHO, these classes have their place. But it should be done i

No way. SM works with scouts! This is backoffice for sure CC is wrong.

I used to tell new Scoutmasters that dealing with the expectations of parents is one of the more challenging parts of the job. They scoutmaster is firm in protecting the program, but also a good sales person of how it works. You will generally find the best scoutmasters have read and studied some of the writings of Baden Powell, William Boyce Bill Hillcourt and other founding scouters to develop simple word explanations for the virtues of scouting. Do a search on Baden Powell quotes to understand what I mean. At it's simplest, scouting build confidence by doing. The new scouts are simply new a

Alas, nowadays it's only about numbers and designing lodge flaps.

IMHO - this is entirely a youth problem. By now those cross-overs should be either their own patrol with an elected PL or in existing patrols with their established PLs. In other words, they ain't crossovers, they are first-years. It's very simple. In the PLC, ask each PL how many of his boys have not earned scout rank. Then ask why. Then ask what he will do to change that. Then at every PLC ask those same questions until most of those crossovers have advanced. If all of the 1st-years are in one patrol, the other patrols will obviously have near zero who haven't earned scouts a

My understanding is that Committee Chairs are responsible for it, although the CC can designate someone (usually someone else on the committee) to be the processor. If you have Scouts who have stopped showing up to meetings, then I could see having the Scoutmaster be the one to contact them to find out if they plan to recharter or not.

Agreed. I think the fee increase will have an effect on those currently in scouts. We will, no doubt, lose some. I think it will have a much larger effect on recruiting new scouts into the program. A lot of the people in the program are already "sold" on scouts. Retaining them might be a challenge. Recruiting new people, who aren't yet "sold" on the program might be much more difficult.

We're up to $120 for scouts. (The leader's fee is less, but I'm inclined to put the same amount in by way of donation.) No complaints, and we intend to support anyone who can't afford it. The boys got serious with popcorn and wreath sales, which helped. But ... we told boys that we had a few fat years where we skated on camp fees. (An adult decision which I did not approve of.) Now they will have a minimum to pay for each campout (unless a volunteer proffers his/her back nine for a weekend). My hope is that will motivate them to sell aggressively. I'm more concerned about the junior

Hopefully some replacement ceremonial team members were discovered and trained in time, (under short notice, I know). The camping situation will be what it will be. That part is probably out of your hands. Decent ceremonies around a roaring fire will be impressive, and the day of cheerful service should go on, even if the Scouts sleep inside.

Exactly. Focus on bringing together great instructors into a setting where Scouts can be interested in and learn alot in a shorter, focused format.

I've seen fairly bad MB fairs and some better ones. Not sure I've seen anything great. Whether the focus is on interest or size of class isn't really the point, is it? What's the point in these fairs? Sure, we want the scouts to learn something and interesting counselors are always better than just grabbing someone and throwing them in, but don't we also want the scouts to work with a counselor at a level more than they get in the standard class environment. Introduce yourself, find out about the MB, what's required, talk to your SM, get the blue card filled out, get the book, read it, prepare

You are dealing with motivation and maturity. Also, young scouts aren't always confident with talking to adults. When the scouts find a need for for advancing, they will find the will. Still, there are some things you can do to build confidence. When we test and finish the new scout on the Scout requirements, we walk him to a list on the table where the scout request a BOR. He just puts down his name and rank for the BOR, then the BOR leader will find him to set a time and day. After he completes the BOR, the BOR leader will then show the scout how to personally ask for a SM Conference,

Your post is well taken. There are, indeed, good merit badge classes. We should encourage the experienced, knowledgable counselors to keep doing those. The problem is that there are also many merit badge events that are NOT good. They take short cuts. When there are multiple options to meet a requirement, the bad merit badge class always picks the easiest and simplest, not the one that delivers a meaningful experience. The bad merit badge class tries to condense 8 hours worth of requirements into a 2-hour lecture with no real activities and no testing. The document pointed

Don't Walk The Trail Alone!

So for good news from this weekend. We are a small, one patrol troop. The SM had some serious concerns about the patrol as they were your typical Scouts: having fun, not focused on practicing for the events, etc. But he followed Green Bar Bill's adage: "Train 'em. Trust 'em. LET THEM LEAD!" Over the past 2 months as they prepped, he had some major concerns, and thought he was setting them up to fail. Took all of his self control not to step in. And to his credit he did not interfere. At camporee, our Scouts had no adults following them around events. In fact we saw them only at 2 events t

@eTimesSoy, welcome to scouter.com!

Our shirts have an upside down camp map on the front. That way, they can lift up the bottom of the front of their shirt and have a camp map ready at all times.

Does the Scoutmaster take care of everything pertaining to recharter? All of the leaders in my Troop seem to think so including the CC.

Room was very quiet. Lots of grumbling as people left following the meeting. Several families have already said they won't be back as a result. We're trying to find funds to help offset.