fred johnson

There were multiple efforts to restore felon voting rights. Now, I'd also argue there is a desire to get non-citizens to vote too. IMHO, I think that is what some of the voter ID laws were about.

Revisit the troop program such that there will be times and opportunities to work on those skills and to use those skills. Repeating and using the skills is what ingrains knowledge. I'd assert that if you send the scout home from an SMC because he does not know a knot and then he comes back later and is able to show the knot is just as much hit and miss. I'd bet that scout would again not know the knot in six months if he does not have a time to use it. Plus are we really focused on the scout knowing a specific knot ? Or, we using the advancement program to teach the scout to have a goal and and to work to achieve his goal. IMHO, we want to develop the learning attitude so that the scout wants to explore and try new things.

Interesting... Each unit is different and BSA does have direction on this. The BSA statement is that the scoutmaster conference is a conversation. The requirement is complete when it occurs. IMHO, by the scout talking to the scoutmaster about his skills, the scoutmaster conference requirement is done. Now it's just about getting someone to acknowledge it and sign his advancement. It's always okay to revisit and re-enforce skills. It's just not part of the advancement path once someone signs off on the skill. Essentially what you describe as good by the former two scoutmasters, I'd describe as creating their own program different than what BSA documents. ... And that's said nicely.

I used to try to wear the official uniform. When the centennial uniform came out, I bought three to show support. It was bad enough that the shirts lost numbers and patches. Worse that that the pants had bad seems that separated if used such as like ... camping. As of now, I wear a scout shirt. It's hard to promote an official uniform when it's more decorative than functional.

Earlier answers were good and references to the GTA were the best. IMHO, the real question is why is there a sign-off on the log? What's the purpose? The rank needs to be signed off, but the log is for the scout to use to benefit himself and be organized. There is no approval needed on a log. IMHO, that just promotes bureaucratic process oriented scouting. No signatures should be needed on the log. Just a "Wow, that's great." I know some troops promote such a process. I just don't care for it at all.

Our council has never baned it. In fact, it's used in the winter camping program as the only real affordable option for trail cooking. White gas takes a bit more care (funnel, filling tanks) and you can spill. But IMHO it's better than the continue hassel of the little green cans ... empty ?? ... yet another partial ?? ... more trash ... now everyone cooks next to each other to share the 20lb tank ... etc.

$16 !!!! Wow. I still remember when it was about 2x to 2.5x the cost of a gallon of unleaded gas for the car. I swear I just saw it at our walmart for $8 to $9 a gallon. I could be wrong.

Your experience is different than mine and probably reflects change of habits. A coleman stove may need to be refilled on a weekend campout if it did not start full, but usually not. On the flip side, I've seen the 20lb ones go empty over a camp out or two; definitely empty after a week long camp out.

The trailer discussion has made me reflect on our adoption of propane. IMHO, I think our troop is worse off because we switched to propane. Bad for cooking ... Poor temperature control continually causes burnt food. They either burn food quick or you need to run them so low that a bump of the knob puts it out. Bad for environment ... at least the small containers. I'd argue the large ones are too as you need multiple, need to drive somewhere to refill and they are heavy to carry causing other waste. Expensive ... Gallon of white gas can run a troop for months. Gallon of white gas costs about the same as two small propane containers Three or more gallon of white gas costs about the same as one refill of a large propane tank. Promotes bad habits Larger tanks used to avoid the waste of the smaller non-refillable expensive containers --> Promotes using multiple tap extensions --> --> Promotes everyone working in the same area --> --> --> Subverts working separately as patrols. Loud .... Propane is loud, like a small jet engine. ... Hard to have a quiet night with them around. Fails in cold weather ... Propane loses pressure in the cold. If you camp in colder weather, propane is a problem ... always. If you camp in freezing weather, propane fails. Space ... Backpack or trailer, propane takes up too much space. A week of camping would require two or more large propane tanks and six to twelve small contailers. White gas would be just one gallon. Conntections ... Propane has rubber tubs, pipe extensions and external tanks. Most white gas is packed in the stove or lantern. Two sets of gear ... Desire to use propane, but still need white gas for other situations. White gas was no panacea, but if you knew how to use it well, it was great to work with. Personally, our family is moving back to white gas. ... other than blowing up and some difficulty with generators ... I'm trying to remember why everyone rushed to propane ? Just easier ???

So so true. I've seen that with our trailer. Gear expands to fit the size available. I'd say over the last ten years, our trailer has over twice the weight of gear it had before. What's been added ... A large shelter ... pipes, roof, walls, etc. Large propane stove Two new propane lanterns Propane stoves. Still have most of our white gas stoves for cold weather camping. Large propane cylinders. Small propane cylinders. Portable table Multiple bins to store extra unmatched cooking gear. Time to throw. Old tent poles ... just in cases Extra dutch oven Ya know when I start thinking about it ... one of the biggest causes of growth in our trailer is ... propane. White gas packed tighter. A gallon was enough to run a full week of everything. Now, we need small and large cylinders. New stoves ... and the stoves don't work in the cold and the stoves control cooking temperature poorly. ... Where's the white gas when needed....

Yeah ... that's about as backwards as you can get. At the time that information is widely available on the internet, BSA documents that could be a great marketing tool by BSA are pay only. It's just easier to find the information elsewhere ... and for free. MB or first class skills are two sides of the advancement coin. IMHO, the number one priority is getting the scouts out camping and doing things. Everything else stems from an active troop.

"Taught" / teach ... Everything we do in scouting is about teaching. ... but ... I understand and agree with the comments. We don't want sit down at a desk and fill out paperwork teaching. We want live, hands on, active, doing things teaching. It's more about mentorship or counseling or guiding. But either way it's still a teaching role. Just ideally not a sit down at a desk. I must disagree about the merit badge book. I see very few scouts using the merit badge books these days. And, it's just not how scouts learn or want to learn. Now if you put those books online and told the scouts too look at a web site before the merit badge, I think you would have alot of takers. And/or they'd open them during down time during the class. IMHO, it's all about online these days.

Ya know ... personally ... I think it's a great idea. I've seen district camporees with patrol competitions. It's fun for one or two years, but then scouts quickly learn the playing field is not level because troops prepare scouts to different levels and help their scouts different amounts. Plus, it gets old quick. Only time I've seen it stay fun is when it's water volleyball tournaments or climbing races or other competitions that really is 100% scout. Those I see go on for year after year. No judging issues. No adults helped one team more than another team sort of thing. No subjective judging. I have yet to see a SAW event in our council, but I like it as advertised because ... "taught by". That's a huge draw. IMHO, scouts crave interactions with people who have strong skills and can quickly small out and ignore those who are just pretending. One of the best I saw was an oceanography class taught by an officer on a submarine and a ocean research scientist. Or metal work done at a workshop where the scouts bent, cut and shaped metal. I also like the "taught by" because I remember my son really pushing for a specific merit badge because he wanted to learn. He's the one who pushed because the people did a strong sales job on that it would be a good merit badge session. But then he got there and it was flat, dry and nothing new. .... of course ... "taught by a lawyer" .... hmmm ...

I fully agree. MBC should be similar to an apprenticeship. Short term, but still like an apprenticeship. The sad fact is that it's rare. Some MBCs don't have enough experience or don't have the time to really do it well. I steer our scouts away from MBCs that use the workbook. Classes bother me less as long as it's not "class room" (aka sit at the desk) and more a group of scouts exploring a topic with an experienced mentor. Most merit badges can be done well as a group ... as long as the setting is right.

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Fascinating. I applaud more of this. I'd still like to see online PDFs for the key documents like the G2SS and GTA. But this site is a nice resource.

Huh ... how the tables turn? Mocking as right wing someone who is encouraging others to read, learn and be informed. I often hear the right being criticized as blue collar uneducated. I don't understand the arguments here. Rowe's article was pretty simple and rather bland. Essentially he's saying the country needs informed voters. Not really supporting either side. Just that we need informed voters.

Just be careful. One of the ugly sides of troops competing for scouts is that the us-versus-them attitude causes many troops to knock other troops. They may not be as different as they think or want to represent.

Merging councils is not the cause of membership drops. It's a way to reduce infrastructure cost to survive membership drops. Plus, things have changed. Technology has improved making it easier to serve a larger group. As such, not merging wastes money on infrastructure that could be better spent directly impacting the scout.

District and council mergers are more than inevitable. It's a good idea. Major changes have happened in the last 20 years. Most of the key things councils and districts did before are much much much easier to do today. Roundtable mtgs are mostly now optional as technology solves most training, communication, calendaring and other details. Most paperwork is now online and automatic. Online advancement, rechartering, membership reports, event sign-up, merit badge counselor renewal. I think it's a good idea because there is a critical mass of staff, events and resources to make a great council. I am so extremely impressed with my local council, but they need a full staff. 1 exec. 5 or more directors. Many lower staffers. I'd bet we have 1 to 1000 youth full-time staffer ratio. A good set of camps. I doubt we'd be as good a council if we were only 5000 youth. If councils don't want to merge, maybe they should merge resources or departments ? IT departments ? Registrars? Advertising, communications, advancement, etc ? IMHO, BSA has too many councils. I'm not sure which should not be there or how to re-do it. But there are 272 councils. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_local_councils_of_the_Boy_Scouts_of_America Perhaps a general rule should be established. Councils should have more than 20,000 youth members ? Districts should have ??? units and/or ??? youth members ?

I agree in that I think the best MB experiences are when the scout and counselor go beyond the requirements and both show an interest in the topic. BUT ... from what I've seen for years now ... most merit badges are earned in a group situation. IMHO, it's sad. Even when troops complain about merit badge fairs, the troops replacement is troop merit badge groups. It's less about the fair and more about troop control and pacing.

Be careful. You will see scouters argue that "Once Earned it is Earned, it is earned" allows them to revoke ones that were not earned. They see it as correcting a situation. ... but ... that's not their place. If a counselor signed off on it, it's done ... with-in the bounds of extreme fraud. By that I mean, the scout who gets a signed blue card but the counselor and no one else put the title of the merit badge on it. So he writes the name of the badge he needs. But that's a different situation. ... but I have seen adults look for an excuse to slow scouts down. Watch out for adults that want to slow scouts down. Scouts advance at their speed. And, if you slow them down to match others, they often start looking for other places to spend their time and their scout career comes to an end. I've seen it. It's sad. RECOMMENDATION - Have heart to hearts privately with the scoutmaster and other leaders. Develop MUTUAL understanding. It is in the interest of your son. Don't clear the path for him. But it is important to recognize which battles are his and which are not. His battles are his advancement and it's requirements. His battles may or may not be fixing the attitude of the adult leaders. Perhaps you should coach him or make suggestions how he can deal with it. Perhaps the adult leaders are so off base or entrenched that they would not be fair with him. IMHO, it's always a judgement call. If you inject yourself too much, you can damage his experience and the benefits he can get. If you don't, then the adults may bleed any excitement and interest in scouting. Good luck !!!!

I've seen multiple scout leaders ruin their car transmission because scout trailers are notorious for being heavy beasts. Plus, depending on the trailer you have a big air dam that affects things too. I agree with someone else here. Take the trailer to a truck stop or elsewhere and get it weighed with the standard stuff in it. The three scout trailers I have used require more than what you need to pull a boat or small trailer. They are heavy beasts. AND ... just because your vehicle says it can pull something does not mean your transmission won't pay the price. ... in another words ... I would never pull a scout trailer with anything lower than a full sized pickup.

You could be right, but packs are already heading this way as most packs I know try to make the events family friendly. In fact, that is one of the main advantages of Cub Scouts is that it can be a family thing. The biggest problem I see is that the registered sibling is the focus for training, skills development and most importantly recognition. The other siblings get less. Worse is if the other sibling is a boy, then that boy will already have seen the program and it will not be new and fresh when he does it. I am much less worried about Cub Scouts being co-ed or social justice. I don't mind that at all, either direction. I am much much more concerned that Cub Scouts and scouting in general is trying to fix so many things haphazardly that it's really becoming broken. Lowering the age so that families burn out before Boy Scouts which is the great program. Exposing the program to siblings which removes excitement for the next sibling. Parents must attend den meetings causing families to run away. I really think we need to simplify and get back to the basics that created a great program.

I would not mind semi-annual COHs. Seems like quarterly COHs often have not much to recognize and often seem like a COH to have a COH. I like the idea of having a supply chest of ranks and MBs so that scouts can be uniformed correctly. Have the COH recognize the progress, but have the scouts uniformed correctly.