Hal_Crawford

Pack: I wonder, do you teach any survey courses. When I was teaching college I found that the incidence of problems with attendance cheating and plagiarism were inversely proportional to the first digit in the course number. The more advanced the course the more dedicated the students. With Intro to Theatre on the other hand I had a lot of students who thought it would be one of the easier of the options for the Humanities requirement. It probably was but it still required attendance, attention, reading and writing. Sorry guys, its college. I did learn a shocking lesson. Even in a

It appears that there is only one solution left. The ONLY things that the student can bring into the exam room are: Two #2 pencils and their underwear. Hal

Brent, Dan: Your both right. http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/mood_of_america/right_direction_or_wrong_track US headed in the right direction: 35%. Data is current. Context: Up 2% from last week. Up 8% since the inauguration. Yep, context is everything. Hal

Just curious. If these incidents were never reported in the press, how do you know about things that happened some three thousand miles from where you live? I am sure that the protester who's sign implied a threat to the Bush received the same investigation that I hope the guy with the gun did. This is not about conservative and liberal, this is about protecting the POTUS no matter who he is. My dad was a lifelong Republican (OK he did vote for Roosevelt once but it was his first election and he regretted it later) and an Army officer. The only time I ever saw him cry was Nove

" I'm sure guidance will be given, I just hope they've though that out." I doubt that it will be and I doubt that they have. I think that Scoutmasters will have to sort this out on their own. It's probably going to be an SM's judgment call anyway. I think the paradox wound be to have the requirement say "show evidence that you have left no trace". I tried that one out on a couple our scouts. They all were accepting it until one said "wait a minute! If you've left no trace then there's no evidence". Bingo! I would hope that every SM should put out the word starting here

I am sure that it got the guy a thorough top to bottom investigation of every facet of his life by the Secret Service and/or FBI. They really don't like things that sound even remotely like a threat to the POTUS. As it should be, IMHO.

"Flag flies 24/7 at the White House, on a naval vessel and on the Moon." ...And almost every used car lot in the USA.

Shortridge: For age limit on COPE look at the table of age appropriateness in the Appendix. There is a note in the younger Boy Scout column that says (in typical BSA vague) "A few Low-Course and High-Course Activities". At our council's COPE courses that is interpreted as High elements are for 14 and over but low elements are open to all Boy Scouts. Our troop recently camped at a church camp that operated a (COPE like)Ropes course. There was one high element that consisted of walking on wire rope bridges from a cliff to a platform on a tree. From there it was an awesome zip-line B

Here's an idea. It would require a partnership with ARC to make it economically feasible Make CPR certification required for First Class and all aquatics merit badges. The course could be offered at summer camp and through the councils or districts. Scout does a challenge re-certification each year at camp or through council/district. Scout must certify in standard First Aid to get First Aid MB (good for three years). Scout must certify in Wilderness First Aid for Eagle (hopefully before SFA expires). Now that is Being Prepared.

"If someone can give me a valid reason and how it would be SOOOOOO much better, then I will be interested in. " I guess its like the health care debate, it depends on your perspective. If you have a great health care plan you might be on one side but if you are uninsured you might be on the other side. (PLEASE-THIS IS NOT A HIJACK-JUST A COMPARISON) I think that Boy Scouts was probably a better experience for my son because it was boys only. Like SctDad I think there are a lot of lads who really thrive in a girl free environment, especially in the first years of scouting. On th

I just tried to find the Scoutmaster Handbook at Scoutstuff.org and the training section at Scouting.org. It has vanished. Are they coming out with a new edition? I was looking to see if my copy (2002) is the current one. Hal

Our summer camp does a mass CPR check two nights after flags. Each scout taking one or more aquatics badges does one demonstration. Any scout with a current CPR certification is signed off without having demonstration. If I had my druthers every scout would be CPR certified every year and be current on at least standard first aid (prreferably WFA for older scouts). Its an ideal but it would be challenging to implement. There is another thread about a scout who who used CPR to save a six year old drowning victim. Perhaps he had that skill due to the repetition from aquatics me

Amen.

SSScout mentions the "wow" factor of the one-handed bowline. I have found that some boys who cannot master the rabbit and hole method to save their lives can learn the one-handed version in five minutes. I'm told that it is a difference visual and tactile learners. It might also be the wow factor and bragging rights make the scout actually want to learn the knot. Hal

It goes back further than this generation. I had a older colleague (and this is back in the 80s) tell me that grade inflation traced back to the 2-S draft deferments during the Vietnam war. "Professor, if I don't get a B in this course I'll lose my deferment" was the common plea. Most professors where not particularly in favor of the war in the first place and did not want to feel responsible for that boy coming home in a box. Hence "B" which means "Above Average" became the average grade. As a college student I was fortunate that my parents were not aware of this shift and thought

"GSBSA" Is that a typo or a Freudian slip? Note: Girls in the UK have been earning Queen's Scout (equivalent of Eagle) for decades. Girl Guides still exist and apparently some girls choose to be members of both organizations. According to Wikipedia, "The first person to hold the Queens Guide award and the Queens Scout Award was Susan Parker of 1st Brantham Panthers VSU in 1978". That's impressive! Also in the UK, Scouts age out at or about 14. To become a Queen's Scout one must belong to Explorers (14-18) or the Scout Network (18-25). Strangely, Explorers in the UK used

"Certainly CPR as an issue of drowning (boating related accident) is relevant, but "rescue breathing" is no longer officially taught for CPR--it is compressions only now. " I re-certified in May through ARC and they had not gone to compressions only at that point. Has this changed since May? Hal

"Someone even had the guts to complain to the Dean that I had switched the test! What fun!" I love it! I would like to have seen the look on the Dean's face. When I was a grad TA I had a student (I taught a section of an 101 course) who had a real problem coming to class. After about 10 or 12 absences I dropped him with a failing grade (WF). Mommy complained to the Department Head and the Dean of Students. The Department Head later told me that while I had done everything right the grade was changed to a W so there was no impact to the student's GPA. I asked if I could change

A few weeks ago our SM handed me my son's partial for Waterskiing MB. My son is 22. Admittedly, his only opportunity to waterski was at camp and in two years there was one skill that he just could not master. He had a good time trying though. Hal

It's new along with LNT Trainer.

Great story Eamonn. I would go with the devil on this one as well. This thread leads me to wonder. Why is it that we teach democracy and citizenship to our scouts but as an organization we model banana republics? We have the ruling juntas and the coups being planned in closed door meetings. What a fine example! Hal

"The lack of training of adults is probably reflected in the lower levels of outdoor skills amongst the Scouts. The biggest problem for candidates to meet the "fires" requirement for Wilderness Survival MB is that the candidates simply are not skilled is starting fires - any fire." YES! This is a BFO-a Blinding Flash of the Obvious. Yet for some reason it is missed by those who establish the training continuum. I can't speak for other geographic regions but in our council a huge percentage of scouters work for the government, the military or any of the many government contractors. We

"Sounds like a topic for committee discussion. " No. They should probably not discuss this. No one is better at making bad policy for youth than a room full of parents. My experience has been that whenever issues like this go to the troop committee they respond by writing a policy. It usually involves everybody signing something. I am not sure how many acres of forest have been cleared for Committee mandated behavior agreements but I bet we could hold the Jamboree there. I am not saying that you should keep them completely out of it. Here is what you do: Have the PLC discuss t

"The only way that I think letting CO's determine the gay issue is to allow them to be more stringent as well as less. So that a CO could say no gays and only certain religious views." I don't actually have a problem with that. In fact they probably have that authority now. As far as I know there is nothing from keeping the unit from dropping leaders and scouts without reason and they certainly can limit who they allow to join their unit. I live a few doors from an LDS church and while I am welcome to attend the district RTs in their church I doubt they would want me for a leader. M

"I think that if I had the opportunity to share a campfire with you, Dan, pack, and most others, that we would have a great time and be in much harmony as long as we stayed away from these few divisive issues that we do not control. " I agree. Somebody recently posted something that my grandmother used to say, in polite company you don't talk about politics or religion. Taking those two off the table I suspect we would all be more alike than different. One of the reasons I feel the way I do about the membership issues is that I think it has drawn a lot of focus away from the progra