fred8033

I often wonder if this has to do with the terms we use. Scoutmaster implies "master" as in-charge. Committee chair infers "overseeing". But the scoutmaster is more a coach or even a friendly mentor. He is only "master" when safety is the issue. Committee chair implies focal point OVER the SM and scouts. But in reality, the CC is more a logistics focal point. He's not in charge of any scout, the SM or any ASM.

LOL ... We've had to do that before. Scouts were very aggressive in their plans. I was impressed with their vision. I just didn't want to be the guy driving. ... but they did find the needed leaders.

Well ... In my view ... You have a get-out-of-jail-free-card when BSA can't document it's own rules. If one says ok and the other says no, use the one that says ok. It's up to BSA to get their own rules consistent. Personally, I question why BSA still publishes the golden-color age-appropriate. It should be in GTSS period. One source. Contradictions are often created by having two sources.

Removed.

As much as I admire the uniform, it's pricey and more about image than function. Price approaches $150 for full uniform and at least $65 for just the shirt with appropriate patches. (world crest, position, council patch, unit numbers, trained patch, OA patch, etc). Canvas pants are too heavy, easily damage and don't breath as needed for hot humid summer camp. Forces you to unzip leggings to cool down. My older nylon Oscar De Larenta pants never tore, never wore out and were good for a hot humid summer camp. IMHO, BSA blew it by not having their own "reasonably" priced

You are dead on right. An 11 year old is not the audience for the theory of learning. Rank and MB requirements should not say EDGE. Instead, say "Teach a scout" or "Show a new scout". As scouts mature and age, then NYLT can reveal that BSA's preferred teaching method is EDGE and here's how it works. Learning is a continuum. (leadership, teaching, etc). At the earlier levels, learning starts with doing. This matches Baden-Powell saying that advancement is the natural result of being active. So, learning EDGE should be a natural result of helping each others. At those earlier lev

I agree with your comments. Recruitment. Agreed. It would be good to help units do better recruitment. But I'm not sure if bad recruitment is a cause or a result. Out dated district programs. I hugely agree. The district structure is reminiscent of a 1970s pre-online support program. I'm not really sure districts are well suited to support units anymore. Program delivery problem. I hugely agree on this. I've seen many many scouting offerings that are not good and often less than acceptable. District events. Training. Advancement. It's way too hit-and-miss with l

I don't see fewer distinct and council volunteers. I see volunteers everywhere in scouting. There are other driving reasons for mergers and larger councils / districts. Membership losses. The pure number of scouts is half what it was 15 years ago. Our district merged ten years ago or so and membership is still smaller than it was in 2004. The numbers just are not there anymore. Online resources. Units just don't need as much direct support due to online resources. Training is mostly online and not requiring the large basic training events. Schedules, calendars, communicatio

30-48 was good when the packs had Wolf, Bear, Webelos and Webelos II (8 to 12 per rank, four ranks ). A pack of 30-48 spread over six ranks (adding Lions and Tigers) years has too many holes (5 to 8 cubs per rank). That makes specific ranks very thin on membership. That will promote higher drop out rates and probably holes at at specific ranks or soon-to-be holes at those ranks. I'd argue with the addition of Lion and Tiger (6 school grades), straight math says a healthy pack is now 48 to 76 cubs (8 to 12 per rank, six years). I actually believe you also need to factor in at

Cool. I've loved trips like that. The key is you still have to provide qualified supervision.

Unit leaders need to use judgement when implementing scouting events, but we should NOT imply that the rules are not the rules. When GTSS says on page two "Youth sharing tents must be no more than two years apart in age", then we have a duty to implement that.

Phones are tools. My experience watching other troops that enforce "no phones" is that scouts hide or lie. Worse, scouts learn that being a leader is about "enforcement", not about setting an example and being-in-front.

If a person is not willing to follow the GTSS, then that person should not be a scout leader and should not supervise scouts. Period. As part of becoming a leader, we explicitly sign that we will follow these rules. It's a promise and an expectation. Floats ... What is "unsupported" ? When water is involved, absolutely follow G2SS, Safe Swim Defense and Safety Afloat. Anything less puts scouts in danger and puts your troop and yourself at risk. That means qualified supervision. Backpacking ... GTSS Section 3 Camping starts with an age chart that says for "Wilderness and Back

What is an activity? In our troop, it is anything other than the scheduled troop / patrol meetings. It has to be in some form of scouting context. It can even be the patrol hanging out in a scout's basement on a Friday night. Is service an activity? Yes. I'd ask it this way --> What is your objective with the requirement? IMHO, it's to promote the positive. We want scouts involved. We absolutely want the scouts involved with service projects. So why wouldn't you let the scout count it as an activity. The opposite would be scouts avoiding service projects because of the ne

Your first comment reflects my experience. If Webelos (... arrow of light scouts ...) complete and earn, they usually cross over. They may or may not stay. The big losses are NOT the month of the Blue and Gold crossover into a troop. It's the previous years. If you start with 20 lions and an "average" den, I'd bet 5 will join Scouts BSA. The rest are lost on the Bataan death march from Lion to earn Arrow Of Light. We had one parent who had three sons. He was very dedicated to his first in cub scouts. But by his fifth year, he really questioned whether he wanted to bring the 2nd

Great points. I noticed that myself. Lots of revisions. And I'm not always sure it's for the better. I still prefer v11 over v12 or v13. We should cut BSA some slack though as they needed to revise the books for the gender updates. But still, it's a little over the top right now. For example, Scoutmaster Handbook was 2010. Then new Troop Leader Guidebook in 2018 and another new one in 2019. Why did they even publish the 2018 ? They knew there was more coming for 2019. It frustrated me. But then again, it frustrates me that we have to pay anything for the troop leader guideboo

I'm not sure if it's needed, but the infrastructure around the G2SS and how it's organized enables easy updating. It could definitely use a "what's changed" and maybe even a subscription allowing announcing changes. But it's a good model for tracking such things.

I'd like to know too. I've been comparing training documents, Kindle versions of guidebooks, web sit content and GTSS content. There are still glaring surprises. For example, I'm searching right now to see if any other BSA document contains this ... "Range of ages (no more than three years between oldest and youngest)." That's written for traditional patrols under the syllabus for scoutmaster specific training. ... Did some author just throw that in? I can't find references in GTSS or other books right now. IMHO, it sounds like a good idea, but I just can't find it. GTSS has a tw

As I said, I suspect it was being re-written and re-organized. I suspected that's why I could not find it. I'm surprised it's a search issue. When I search "Aims and methods" from the top level scouting.org, I only find the Cub Scout aims and methods. The new TroopLeader.Scouting.Org is not found. ... But if you search in TroopLeader.Scouting.Org, then you find the TroopLeader info without finding the results of the top level scouting.org search. ... The sites are isolated somewhat from each other. I've seen the ProgramResources.org site, but I really was not sure if it was BSA's pr

Yeah, BSA's documentation quality is lacking right now. I agree. I think BSA could easily solicit dedicated volunteers and organize them into an effective structure to improve the documentation of the program.

I sadly agree. It's very hard to get a large set of adults on the same page. Where the patrol can be a get learning opportunity, it is often reduced to dividing the scouts into manageable numbers. Just now, I went to scouting.org to look at "aims and methods". Found it for cub scouts. But "Scouts BSA" has nothing. It's gone. Only lists Advancement, Merit Badges and Eagle rank. I suspect lots is being re-written, but it's surprising to me that "aims and methods" of scouting doesn't exist at the national site anymore for their premier program. I would be surprised if aims and me

Exactly. That's my point. And it got worse with the latest leader guide description of patrols. Now we have stronger contradictions within BSA's publications. From what I've seen, BSA would be better off re-organizing how it does publications. IMHO, the 2011 GTA re-write was outstanding. Done very professionally. Many people brought in. Specific words were precisely chosen and the structure was well laid out. In addition, BSA created a follow-on infrastructure to provide further details and provide a feedback loop for updates. From what I see of the BSA leader guides ... at lea

I keep reading because I keep thinking I'm missing something. Especially as I see people say BSA has long done mixed age patrols. I just don't see that. Baden Powell ... "The Patrol is the unit of Scouting always, whether for work or for play, for discipline or for duty." Bill Hillcourt ... One of the main driving influenced and respected BSA leaders Bill HillCourt wrote a series of essays ... in addition to writing much of hte BSA program ... http://www.inquiry.net/patrol/hillcourt/method.htm .... "This gang, this natural unit of boys for boy activities, is the all-importan

I don't accept your premise and I believe mixed age requires similar mentoring from outside. Just now you are mentoring an older PL on being a leader ... because he's the older scout and he's usually the leader because older scouts can can intimidate younger scouts ... and the patrol that is designed to teach rank requirements internally still has scouts going to brown sea programs and splitting off to learn knots and first aid with scouts from other patrols. ... But now also add a power imbalance that naturally occurs when you put a 16/17 year old in the same social group as a 11/12 year ol

Maybe. My interpretation is they learn faster, they learn better and create more memories. Too many leaders jump on mixed age patrols as an excuse for not trusting the scouts after failed mentoring. You can embed the older scout expertise into the patrol, but it comes at horrible consequences. Leadership of peers is not earned or learned. Real patrol elections are subverted (will go to the oldest boy 16 years old versus 11 years old). Decisions often can be done by intimidation or bowling over the younger scouts. Patrol pride is subverted as patrols change over time.