epalmer84

Thanks Eamonn. The BSALegal site presents information from the BSA POV of course, including the policies that have been codified in the wake of pressures including legal actions. I might note that BSALegal is run by Bork *for* the BSA. Bork specializes in legal communications. While we can certainly debate the moral correctness of homosexuality and atheism, the policies presented are what we must deal with as leaders. There are a few opinion pieces on BSALegal that rub me the Wrong way, but that's a personal opinion. Ed

The only way to get a true percentage is to find the total number of *individual* Boy Scouts and Varsity Scouts who have joined. Then add the number of individual Explorers (pre-1998) and Venturers who made First Class and were not dual-registered in a troop or team. This give the total pool that we can divide the 1.7 million Eagles into for a percentage. Until someone can present those membership numbers, we can't get a true sense here. Ed

To figure out the statistics, you need all of the numbers. Let's look at 2005. The membership report is at: http://www.scouting.org/media/review/2005.html We have 879,789 Boy Scouts, 63,637 Varsity Scouts and 249,948 Venturers for a total of 1,193,374. There were 49,895 Eagle Scout awards- that is 4.2%. But... Not all of those Venturers were eligible- some were female, some were over 18 and some never made First Class as a Scout. You take those out and it rises to something over 5%. But if we disregard all of the ineligible Venturers, shouldn't we also ignore the ineli

I'm sure this has been discussed here before, but the two best references are: http://www.bsalegal.org/morally-straight-cases-225.asp http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy_Scouts_of_America_membership_controversies Ed

I joined the Boy Scouts at age 14. My troop folded after six months and I unofficially Lone Scouted it for another six months before moving to a town with a great troop. I made Eagle just before I turned 18. My father pushed and prodded and I rebelled- we had a number of arguments over it (and a lot of other things). Looking back, I think I decided to go for Eagle because I finally grew a backbone and decided I was going to finish something in my life. Looking back at things, I realize that I took short cuts here and there and didn't always do my best- this has pushed me to do better and

Webelos is essentially a transition phase towards Boy Scouting. They get to wear the tan/green uniform, they can have a den name, and the denner gets a bit more responsibility. The best way to prepare them for Boy Scouting is to involve them in Boy Scouting. Hopefully, the pack has a good relationship with the troop or team. This can be aided with the use of the den chief and by involving the Webelos with the troop. If you don't have a relationship, start working on it. Our district has an annual "Scouting Adventures" camporee that is designed for interaction between the Webelos

I understand the issues with recruiting commissioners and assistants. Its not a glamorous job, and a lot of unit leaders don't understand their relationship with the commissioner service. In a perfect world, the new UC should be paired as an assistant to an experienced UC so they can learn the ropes. In practice, this isn't going to happen in most districts. The DC should ensure the UC understands the programs he is overseeing. If the UC has a Cub Scouting background, then that is where he should start. Once the UC is comfortable, then the DC should start expanding the horizon. Add

The chart of awards is at: http://www.scouting.org/awards/religious/awards/index.html The lead-in begins with: "This chart lists all Religious Emblems Programs available to members of the Boy Scouts of America." I have interpreted "available" as "recognized". If the UUSO award is recognized, why isn't it listed on this chart? The way this is worded does leave it open to interpretation. I think this particular issue is going to be a judgement call on the part of the unit leader. Ed.

I guess this is straying a bit off topic- I did not mean to stir this one up again. The UUSO is not connected to the UUA, thus the emblem is still not recognized. I would be disinclined to tell a UU Scout to remove the knot, but technically the BSA just doesn't recognize it. This was discussed here before: http://www.scouter.com/forums/viewThread.asp?threadID=88667 Also see: http://www.uua.org/news/scouts/050316_statement.html The official list from BSA is at: http://www.scouting.org/awards/religious/awards/index.html Ed

ScoutNut: You are right in that the program is 'owned' by the faith and not the BSA The square knot is a BSA emblem and can only be awarded for those faiths on the list. Every Scout should be encouraged to work the program of their faith, regardless of the patch. Ed

The religious emblem (square knot) can only be worn for these programs recognized by the BSA. Not all of the P.R.A.Y programs are BSA recognized. If you go to http://praypub.org/ and search by faith you will see that there is a program for Unitarian Universalist, but if you search by agency and choose the BSA you will see that UU is not listed as the BSA does not recognize their program. I'm not sure if there are any other faiths that have a program that is not recognized. As best I see, any new programs that are developed must go through a process. The faith must sponsor 25 units, de

This may have been brought up before. There are two bumps in the numbers for the last few years: 1998: Exploring was split with Venturing on the BSA side and Exploring proper moving to Learning for Life. This resulted in a drop on the BSA numbers. 2004-6: With the issues of membership fraud, a new system was put into place to verify members. This has resulted in an apparent drop as inaccuracies have been resolved. Ed

Before you can propose a new program, your religious organization must sponsor at least 25 units: http://usscouts.org/scoutduty/sd2gc16.html I seem to recall that this was in response to a proposal from a Wiccan group who wanted to create a program Ed

(got a database error on my previous post) Packsaddle: I agree- First Class is the most important rank. Star, Life and Eagle are a bonus. Right now, 5% of Scouts earn Eagle- that leaves 95% who should have gotten something out of the progam. Anyone know the stats on First Class?

There is a Wikipedia featured article that explains all of these questions: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle_Scout_%28Boy_Scouts_of_America%29 You might also want to check out Eugene Fluckey: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_B._Fluckey He was awarded the Medal of Honor before he was awarded Eagle. Ed