FScouter

What the heck is a "disconnect"? Every time one of the hated merchandise items sells, there is a distinct connection between the one that makes the purchase and the seller. Ever since the days of the caveman merchandisers have sought to have a variety of goods available for sale to satisfy and "connect" with all different kinds of people. It does seem to work. Why is that a bad thing for BSA?

"But what's the expense of conceptualizing, creating, manufacturing and stocking all these gee-gaws and doo-dads?" Everything sold has those expenses, not just coins or party favors or non-outdoor items. One sets a sell price to cover the direct costs, and the indirect costs, and generate a profit. Why would anyone think the coins or doodads or whatever are being sold at a loss?

All the income goes into the pot and all the expenses are paid out of the pot. If you take away all the income generated through merchandise sales, either by discontinuing certain products, or by reducing prices to match costs, thus generating no "profit", that lost income will will have to be replaced through something else, or the pot will slowly empty. This isn't rocket science.

It's surprising to see the negativity displayed here towards such an innocuous effort to generate funds. Perhaps a mandatory annual registration fee of $100 would be better.

The question is not about EDGE. It has been opined numersous times that EDGE is not the way to go, and several want to simply use their own methods. Other than the Beavah's long dissertation and others' general statements about how the method they use depends on the kid and the topic or this and that, we have not heard about any teaching methods actually used. So OGE's question remains - "How do you teach youth to teach other youth?"

"EDGE may work to teach a simple knot once. But its surprising to be asked to devote so many resources, at a nation-wide level, to a training method whose effectiveness cannot be substantiated." I'll go along with whoever it was that said there's a lot of pooh-poohing about EDGE, not just in this thread but in the others as well. Most of the comments seem to lead into "we just want to do our own thang" or something like that. So to ask again what OGE asked at the top, if a good method is not EDGE and if it's not a un-understandable model put forth by Beaveah the university professo

This discussion topic started years ago, long before Mazzuca became chief Scout executive. Uniforms were being made overseas long before he was CSE. Your recurring negative comments and misrepresentations about the CSE and national are so frequent as to have become meaningless and makes one question whether anything you say about him is true. By the way, when did we get to be on a first name basis? Introduce yourself...

You ought to know by now that there may be a tiny grain of truth in what Baden says about Bob Mazzuca, but essentially it's all lies to discredit the man.

A little more cognitive dissonance - if you don't do outdoor stuff and you know you should, blame "national", thus it's out of your control "not my fault", and dissonance is thus reduced. There's a million and one excuses for not being outdoors; take your pick or make up a new one.

If boys are not camping or adventuring, it's not because of anything "national" or the CSE has done or not done. "Program" happens in your local troop. Just DO IT!

The kilt topic comes up regularly every few months. I have no "problem" so to speak if someone wears one. I do object though when one implies or states that a kilt is "acceptable" or allowed, or is in some way endorsed or encouraged or tolerated by BSA. Kilt lovers, wear you kilt, just leave BSA out of it.

The link you provided is a paper written by a member of The Clan MacLaren Society. It's just a personal opinion. Give us something from the Insignia Guide or BSA about kilts. Anyone can and will wear other stuff with the BSA uniform, but it's only a personal thing. BSA does not endorse kilts or other additions/subtractions from the uniform other than what BSA has published. To Kahuna, it's not that there is objections to kilts or Scottish history or tradtions. The objection is when someone says that it is OK to mix one with the BSA uniform or that BSA or Woodbadge endorses it.

A kilt is not part of the BSA uniform, Woodbadge neckerchief tartan, Scottish history, and personal likes notwithstanding.

Yeah I see all the "arguments" against the EDGE model as pretty much a lot of hot air. We hear a lot a complaints here on the forums about kids, even Eagle Scouts that can't tie a simple knot and don't know the first thing about first aid. Lots of crying about watering down requirements and merit badge giveaways. Not a whole lot of learning going on.... Not a lot of good teaching going on either. But DAMN if BSA tries to develop a method, present it in an easy to deliver manner, actually help boys and adults TEACH a few things. And such a cacophony of objection that arises! We want "loc

Snake oil is a method to intentionally deceive others for personal gain. Most of us are not expert or well-versed on the most effective methods for teaching skills to another. Some folks just can't do that and do a horrible job. Dismissing a good method in favor of the old seat-of-the-pants-figure-it-out-on-the-fly method doensn't make any sense at all.

I think it would be rude and inconsiderate to even ask a boy if it was "OK" to present other awards at his Eagle court of honor.

If your unit is moving away from an outdoor focus, and if your Scouts have little interest in Scoutcraft and camping and such it surely doesn't have anything to do with the chief Scout executive. The Scouting program resides in the unit, not in Texas. If your unit is not getting outdoors, look to the unit adult leaders, not the national council.

I'm not pushin' bylaws on everyone, eh? No? Sure sounds like you are. The Beavahs couple of old guy buddies [that] just do whatever they want dont pay much attention to words somebody wrote on a piece of 100% rag paper and anointed as the official bylaws. And when the treasurer offs with the money the cops dont stop to check your bylaws stealing the Boy Scout troops money is already illegal there are laws against that sort of thing, (which by the way didnt stop the theft any more than bylaws did.) To use a silly clich, where the rubber meets the road, bylaws dont mean squat

The Beavah made to perfect example of why unit bylaws are a waste of time. Bylaws or not, no unit is going to pay a barrel of money for a trailer unless everyone is in agreement. When push comes to shove those that will block something will do so even if the bylaws say then "can't", and in the opposite case those that want to shove something down the group's throat will find a way to do so, bylaws notwithstanding.

And, honestly, often when yeh see units without bylaws or votes it's because a couple of old guy buddies just do what they want. Two old guys that do whatever they want are going to do so whether there are bylaws in place or not. And when they do whatever they want with bylaws to the contrary, it just makes a farce of bylaws. The point is, bylaws dont fix anything and the two old guys do whatever they want anyway.

Article IX, Section 13, paragraph iii: Adults are not allowed to put a hand on a Scout. Furthermore, adults must not have a poor attitude. There you go - problems solved. Attitudes will now be good and no one will grip a Scout - it's in the bylaws.

If you have "controversial" issues such that there is argument as to whether a "vote" was legal or not, due to lack of "quorum", then you have people problems that will not be solved through bylaws. The purpose of bylaws is for one person to "legally" ram their idea down someone else's throat.

I think it has more to do with educating a person so he doesn't sound like a newby. "Webelos 2" leads to a question like asking the Scout Shop lady "My son is a Webelo and just graduated from 1 to 2 and I want to buy his Webelo 2 patch." The designation seems to indicate some kind of distinction between one and the other. I'm not aware of any difference at all except one kid has been in it longer than another. Why is that important? With some folks any mention about the correct term or usage is taken as some kind of "attack" or as was mentioned "ganging up". By the way, what d

Sure, anyone should go ahead and have their own vestigal organ removed, even work to persuade others to do the same. And if they choose not to do so, then what? Let them keep it?

It is interesting to note that the most vehement comments we see in this forum about uniforming come from those in opposition to the uniform.