Leaderboard

My own experience is that scout growth is dramatically slower without older scouts modeling the skills the new scouts need to learn. Troop Guides are OK, but they have to teach most of the skills in more of a classroom setting, while new scouts in a mixed age patrol just have to watch the skills being used in normal activities. The scouts in new scouts patrols tend to get bored because they don't stay busy enough when the troop guide isn't around. There is no resource of experience other than the troop guide. Then usually means the adults have to fill in to make sure the new scouts have a cont

Most definitely. I would add that the TG gets overwhelmed working with all of the new Scouts simultaneously. In a Traditional Patrol, older Scouts buddy up with the younger ones and work with them. Again concur. When I was a TG, if I was not actively working with someone, they were clueless as to what to do, even if I gave them specific instructions. And I was overwhelmed. In my case, adults did not get involved because we were an old fashioned Scout-led troop, unless it was disciplinary. After a year of trying, and also losing some scouts, we went back to Traditional Patrols. HOW

I would NEVER willingly put "troop" monies into an account our local council had access to. I have no problem at all imagining a SE deciding "un-designated bank funds at the end of the fiscal year get shifted to the Council general fund". If I was forced into a situation where a Council chartered troop was my only option, I'd probably establish a new charity with the sole function of acting as our "banker". We would "volunteer" for a fundraiser and the "Troopfund X" organization would simply hold our funds until needed and then they would cut a check for whatever needed paying. Kind of

There really isn’t any prep other than clearing your calendar. yes there are some post course goals to work. You get 18 months to finish those Find something in scouts you want to learn more about are want to get involved with. Bring those ideas to the class. But don’t start working on them until after the course.

This isn't a fringe view, you just aren't reading what he wrote in context. He's not saying women are "Neurotic" he's talking about the "Big Five Dimensions of Personality". Neuroticism is a trait, not a mental illness or criticism. Another phrase for Neuroticism is "Emotional Stability". But everyone should alsways keep in mind that not all the moderators read everything every day. If anyone thinks a post is contrary to the forum rules, they should "Report" the post rather than assuming a moderator will be along soon and notice it.

You are mixing up statistical and non-statistical terminology. In the context of a statistical study if something bad happens frequently then it's a "high risk". But a negative occurrence being a "high risk" has nothing to do with the severity of the potential outcome. Elementary Teachers, particularly in their first few years, are at "high risk" of contracting all manner of infections from snotty, unhygienic children. (then after a few years they are often relatively healthier, illness-wise, than the average adult) But the likelihood of a serious outcome from all those illnesses is extrem

Yes, I'd like to see the average age of the youth abuser, and the average age of the youth abused. Those ages would give us a clearer picture of the problem.

That's a great idea; and in many ways I agree with it in principle. The problem is that the US government spent 80 odd years (after slavery was abolished) keeping their thumb on the scale (via redlining) when it comes to minority populations. So we aren't talking about some new kid "coming lately to the game getting to take a swing". What we have here is something more like a kid who's been on the baseball team since 1st grade, but wasn't allowed to do anything in practice but chase stray balls. Now it's High School and he/she is told, "Congratulations, we've decided to give you a shot at

Look, it's another sweeping generalization based upon some headline somewhere. Not to diminish the mental and physical sacrifice people in the Health Care industry made during the first 12-18 months of COVID, but again, you just aren't relating the actual data accurately. The way statistics works is that when data is being unusually impacted by some specific factor that isn't likely to be ongoing, that data gets excluded the study as an "Outlier". When it comes to industry related mortality rates, that's what all of the COVID related deaths would be considered because world-wide pandem

Respectfully disagree. The best leaders for Venturing are the 18-20 year olds who are craving HA, but also are giving back to the troop as well. Sadly because BSA no longer gives the 18-20 year olds the respect they deserve, i.e. they no longer count towards 2 deep leadership, needs 2 registered adults over 21 when teaching a MB or 1 over 21 registered adult and 1 parent with them when teaching a MB, making them choose between Scout friends and schoolmates since they have to apply YPT policies to non-Scout life, but again they do not count towards 2 deep leadership, We are losing a lot of ex

Fred8033: I am similarly sad to read the documents revealing the actions GSUSA was taking at the time of our most-extreme peril. I recall the ferocious things their national leadership said publically about volunteers in the BSA (like the posters on this site). Most regretfully, I am troubled by how these attitudes were directly transmitted to their professionals and volunteers at the local level. Despite the bad behavior displayed and harshest words spoken to us nationally and locally, I have not heard one anti-GSUSA peep from anyone on this site, on my Scoutmaster Staff or around our

My thoughts. 1. Sea Scouts has been the exception to the Older Scout problem because they have customs and traditions dating back to 1912. Even when Sea Scouts turned into Sea Exploring, and you had traditional and non traditional ships, those traditional ships survived and thrived. 2. regarding advancement, that was NEVER meant to be a focus for Venturing, hence the original 5 Bronze in specialties, Gold, and Silver Awards. They were optional items. 3. Regarding the term Venture Scout, that term was already in use to those Scouts in Venture crews within troops. When Venturing

@Cburkhardt the one striking omission: older youth -- especially 18-20 year olds -- do not need a pair 21+ year old adults of the appropriate sex to meet and plan adventures. They would rather risk (or perhaps are ignorant of the risks of) the potential abuse inherent in meeting on their own in the absence of adults (or in the presence of just one adult of the opposite sex), and bring in, as needed, the occasional adult based on his/her qualifications to supervise their activities of interest. IMHO, this, above all other things, undercuts BSA's ability to fashion venturing into the umbrel

Great question! In reality, they weren't. That is, you can organize your Troop any way you wish, and if you want to have an older group called the Venture Patrol, then go for it. Here's a website with some more details... http://www.seniorscoutinghistory.org/seniorscoutsite/venture.html Programmatically, who knows why the BSA moved away from this? The old heads here (like me) remember the Leadership Corps, which was essentially the same thing. http://www.seniorscoutinghistory.org/seniorscoutsite/leadershipcorps.html The REALLY old heads will remember Rovers, Emergency Servic

I'm not sure what to think about this. I'm up for discussion, but I believe 95% percent of scouters couldn't even quote the Aims (character development, citizenship training, and personal fitness). or Methods (ideals, Patrols, Outdoor Programs, Advancement, Association with Adults, Personal growth, Leadership Development and Uniform). .And, those who can quote the Aims and Methods generally believe that the adults are responsible for both the Aims and Methods. I don't think knowing the Aims and Methods is the problem. I personally believe that not knowing how to use Aims and Methods is

My daughter-in-law speaks highly of the results of the Patrol Method.

How does one message the moderator team?

I wonder if SEs will be able to raid those unit accounts. Sadly i saw a SE raid the OA lodge's account that was to be used for camp improvements for conclave. When all the bills started arriving, there was no money to pay them.

The Bureau of Labor statistics fact sheet clearly states it does not include any infectious event not linked to an injury. That is not the same as saying that no one is at risk of dying, which I think we both clearly agree is a high risk event. The thing about the health care profession though is that infectious disease events are not outliers, they are inherent to the work. The type of fatality risk might be different for some professions -- falling out of tree for a logger for example vs. contracting a fatal disease for a doctor or nurse during periodic outbreaks -- but the types of individ

I think you should stop posting because if anyone from the mainstream world visits this forum and reads posts like yours claiming that neuroticism is why women aren't in leadership positions... that is very far outside the mainstream and is really terribly offensive. Again, where are our moderators? Are these fringe views acceptable and defensible?