Fehler

No corporate logos that boys wouldn't be allowed to wear to school.

Through all this, I find it amusing that the Guide to Advancement is held up like a stone tablet, but the Guide to Safe Scouting is laughed out of the room.

An ASM in our Troop is insisting that the Troop adopt a formal Bullying Policy (the lack of one in their former Troop, and refusal to adopt one after repeated incidents, was a reason they joined our Troop).  They want more than a generalized "Bullying is Bad" statement, which is all I get from the official BSA statement, and is what our Troop currently has.  They want a statement with specific levels of interdiction and escalation.

Does anyone have something like this, or a guide/example that we can follow?  When googling, I found one Troop who had something posted like we were looking for:  http://troop185wellesley.org/sites/troop185wellesley.org/files/Troop%20185%20anti%20bullying%20policy.pdf

Boy Scouts of America Youth Protection Policy excerpts:

“The Boy Scouts of America places the greatest importance on creating the most secure

environment possible for its youth members.â€

“Bullying, verbal, physical, and cyber bullying are prohibited in Scouting.â€

Boy Scout Troop 185 Bullying Policy

Anti-bullying statement:

A safe Scouting environment is one in which every Scout develops emotionally, intellectually,

and physically in a supportive atmosphere free of intimidation and abuse.

Bullying of any type has no place in a Scouting setting.

Troop 185 will endeavor to maintain an environment free of bullying

The Troop 185 Troop Committee and the leadership shall not tolerate bullying.

Definition:

“Bullying†is the repeated use by one or more individuals of a written, verbal or electronic

expression or a physical act or gesture or any combination thereof, directed at a victim that:

(i) causes physical or emotional harm to the victim or damage to the victim’s property

(ii) places the victim in reasonable fear of harm to himself or of damage to his property

(iii) creates a hostile environment at a scout function for the victim

(iv) infringes on the rights of the victim at a scout function

(v) causes the scout to feel like they cannot participate in a scout activity

Policy:

Part 1: Any incident of bullying shall be reported immediately to the unit leader in charge at the

event.

- The unit leader and both sets of parents will confer to come to an immediate resolution.

Resolution A: Bullying scout apologizes and victim accepts apology (preferred outcome).

If bullying persists the offending scout will need to leave the event.

Resolution B: If accord cannot be made between the two scouts the bullying scout will

need to leave the event immediately.

Part 2: A second incidence of bullying by the same scout at a subsequent event shall result in the

expulsion of that scout from the event. A written warning will be issued by the unit leader.

Part 3: A third incidence of bullying by the same scout will result in expulsion from the Troop.

Part 4: Any incident of physical bullying shall result in the immediate expulsion of the offender

from the event.

Part 5: The second incident of physical bullying results in immediate expulsion from the Troop.

 

Are there any new thoughts/ideas about using Facebook Group as a Troop communication protocol?  Our Troop has a group, and its currently used for four purposes:  reminders about upcoming events, gathering/confirming sign-ups for events/campouts, shared photos from troop events/campouts, and the random posting of useful-to-useless scouting/camping related articles.

There is a debate over how its used (it is a closed group).  Some people want to limit membership to current parents only because of the event/camping sign-ups.  Others want to keep it more open, so grandma/other family can see the shared camp pictures.  Youth with Facebook accounts are currently allowed, and there is a question about if that should be permitted.

Thoughts?

I've never heard Secretary Clinton call Senator Sanders, "Lying Bernie".  Don't fall into the trap of the false equivalence.

Don't worry, I think your position is pretty clear. What wasn't clear was you ascribing to those who disagree with you the notion that we require 100% attendance. That was not true and needed clarification. 

Ok, so long as we are clearing things up, what are the options for Cub Scouts that miss activities completed by the rest of their den?  As far as I can see, we can either repeat the activities in the Den setting (which will discourage/bore other boys), hold a "make up" Den meeting/activity, which can be fun for the camping/cooking/hiking requirements, but not necessarily workable for all the trips required for Bear.  Or you can assign it as "homework".

Krampus, I understand we disagree on this topic. Nothing I say will change your mind, and you aren't going to change mine, so there isn't anything left. In my view, a Cub Scout who does their best to complete their Tiger/Wolf/Bear rank should receive it at the end of the year with their Den, regardless if they've completed every step for every Adventure Loop. And I want to make sure anyone who reads this topic knows there are valid reasons for that, even if there are other Scouters here who will mock and ridicule people who think differently.

Homework? Is this school? Are we teachers?

Hard to say "both sides do it" when one side is arguing about whether or not a chair was raised by a supporter in Nevada, while the other side's candidates are directly comparing "hand size" and offering to cover the legal fees of supporters who punch protesters in the face. For all the heatedness on the Democratic side, I never heard either candidate encourage violence from their supporters. This is not a "both sides do it" race.

Thank you Sec. Gates for your service and doing what needed to be done.

All this complaining about how sports and band and any other activity requires perfect attendance, yet you insist on perfect attendance to earn the Wolf Rank. If a cub scout does his best to complete the Tiger Rank, even if he's missed a couple months of meetings to play a sport (something we should encourage, not force a choice),then I see no problem awarding him the rank.

The handbook calls it a rank.  The Guide to Advancement calls it a rank.  It is a rank, regardless of how you think that term should be used.

If a scout is held back a year in school, I would take the parent's lead in deciding if the boy should repeat a year in Cub Scouts.  If his current Den was together several years, maybe keep them together (if the boy is mentally and socially ready to continue.  There must be a reason he was held back).  But if the parents want his to repeat in a younger Den, I'd allow it.  The boy is going to continue in school with boys in the earlier year, and is closer to them developmentally.  It'd be an advantage for him socially to build and maintain friendships with the younger Den.

The question was about possible new NOVA awards. Posting information about the existing awards is not helpful. As is offering opinions about the suitability of such awards. It's like I asked for directions to the gas station, and you gave me a road map of Michigan and told me Detroit sucks.

Ah, good.  And the original question was about rumored new awards, Nova Boy Scouts: Jamboree, etc, looking for information.  At which point you posted an unhelpful link to the requirements of the existing award.

As to the original question, no, I haven't heard anything about these three awards.  But the BSA National Meeting is happening/about to happen, so I'd expect any roll-out to happen there.

Why don't you explain to how the NOVA award can be earned while outside at Philmont enjoying the outdoors. See the links I posted for your clue.

Which is why, I'm guessing, that they are creating a new NOVA award option specific to Philmont.  Like the Road Biking/Mountain Biking options for Cycling.  But please, belittle me. 

Science doesn't happen outside?  That's news to me.

Nope, they were around when I left in 2010.

 

Wrong? That's up to you. But your own post pointed out that the kids do not equate a patch to an accomplishment, so maybe it was just a waste of money.

 

MBs are like Webelos old activity awards. You have to earn them for the rank.

 

IMHO the "activities" dumb down the whole process. I feel the old Webelos and AOL path was closer to what Boy Scouts do. The new "adventures" seems more like Brownie "Try Its". 

Our Scoutmaster pointed out that the pin had a picture of a hiker on it.  Nothing wrong with visual clues to jog a memory.  I guess they should have just named the pin "Hiking" instead of "Webelos Walkabout", so the boys didn't get confused about what a "walkabout" was.

I really don't get how the new Webelos/AOL program is that different from the old Webelos/AOL program.  Fourteen pins as opposed to eight, nine required as opposed to four, but three of those required pins are just a restating of the non-pin requirements (both Duty to God pins and Scouting Adventure).  Camping, Fitness, Citizenship, First Aid, its all there.

As for the Adventures at the Tiger-Wolf-Bear level, I think the boys appreciate the loops a lot more than the "Progress Toward Rank" beads.  The visual clues to help remember their activities are much better than they were with a plain yellow bead.

And Brownies are 2-3rd graders, aka Wolves-Bears.  Yes, some of their activities are going to look similar.  I'm not sure what point you are trying to make.

The old Monthly Theme patches?  Those haven't been given out for at least 10 years, that I know of.  I did grab a stack of the "Take Flight!" patches out of the discount bin, and handed them out to Cub Scouts that came to our tour of the control tower at the Minneapolis Airport.  Was that wrong?

And aren't Merit Badges just a part of another patch, aka the required ones for Eagle?  Why not get rid of all the Eagle Required Merit Badges, and break out each requirement individually throughout S-L-E, like they are for T-2-1, chucking the unimportant "filler" steps used to pad out some of the lighter Merit Badges?

Then please tell me what awards at the Cub Scout level you consider "show-up=get".  Because otherwise I have no idea what you are talking about.

So your own posts proves the point that the patch is meaningless. It took a verbal cue to remind the boys of their fond memory. The PATCH didn't do it, the verbal reminder did! So why the patch? If the patch is supposed to be an "immediate gratification and recognition" it is NOT doing its job because the boys had no clue why they got it.

 

MBs are not meaningless if the Scout is the one driven to take the class. As for the other 130+ badges, they usually have requirements around them and are not just awarded for showing up.

How can Adventure Loops and Pins at the Cub Scout level be meaningless bling but Merit Badges for Boy Scouts not?  Why do you have such a low regard of Cub Scouts?  If first graders should be satisfied with a pat on the head, why not the high schoolers?

Maybe the shoebox is a fine place to store the awards, but having and possessing the awards reinforces the memories of the event/activity done to accomplish it.  I see an interesting pin/patch on a boys uniform, I ask them what they did to earn it.  Last night I awarded our Webelos Den their "Webelos Walkabout" pin, and the Scoutmaster asked what they did to earn it.  Most of them shrugged, until he added "it looks like a guy hiking", and then all of them erupted in a story of the 5 mile hike they took at the State Park last month.

If the actual award is meaningless, why do the Boy Scouts award 130-some odd merit badges, and a patch for every campout and jamboree?  Maybe the Silver Buffalo should be replaced with the "Silver Head Pat"?  (Boy, there's a double meaning.)

Immediate recognition of awards is a strong component of Cub Scouting.  Boys take pride in their achievements, and like the reminders of the fun activities they participated in.

When only 8 out of 34 boys made it through Stosh's Webelos program, its not hard to believe that his New Scout Patrol can handle 50 miles in a canoe.  They could probably storm the Somme.

And nothing better represents the banality of "free market" capitalism like the cotton gin.

Not really arbitrary, as stated, its what the overtime cutoff would be if it had been indexed to inflation when first created.