Kudu

"parents never really see the good stuff because it happens out in the woods." "Scouting is a Game with a Purpose: To Update One's Facebook Profile Whilst Advancing a Suntan" (Baden-Powell, Founder of Scouting). "The fun and adventure - what's important to the boys - is delayed." Not if you schedule your recruiting presentations for the day of your meetings, on the week of a campout. So: 10 AM Recruiting Presentation 3-5 PM Call parents of boys who signed "Yes! I Want to Go Camping! 7 PM 15 new members attend "How to Pack for your First Campout" demonstra

"Today, I instruct the boys that they shouldn't be using their iPods on trail because they need to be aware of their surroundings and able to hear trail commands...." As you can see from our YouTube vids, our Scouts are free to use their IPods on the trail. So far they have suffered only a few fatalities. Yours at 300 feet, Kudu http://kudu.net

If only outdoorsmen were as good as office workers at getting fake Baden-Powell quotes to stick: "Leadership skills are like a suntan-Something you get naturally whilst leading your Patrol into the backwoods without Adult Association" (Baden-Powell, Founder of Scouting). or "Replacing Wood Badge with office theory is like getting a suntan under fluorescent lights" (Baden-Powell, Founder of Scouting). or "Troop leadership training is like a suntan--something you get naturally whilst camping your Patrol 100 yards from the others" (Baden-Powell, Founder of Scouting).

SeattlePioneer writes: "Where is our curly horned African antelope when we need him?" Yes, if you must cut the nuts off your unit's Patrol Method, "Adult Association" at mealtimes is your most effective surgical option. Yours at 300 feet, Kudu http://kudu.net

shortridge writes: "OK, so we have a baseline of how things were done back in the day." No. We have a baseline that shows human nature is exactly the same now, here in this very thread, as it was "back in the day." The most violent form of child abuse is still not considered fit for this polite discussion, even though we profess to "care deeply" about child victims. The baseline is Cognitive Dissonance: Like a deer cannot recognize a big red flag, nobody here can recognize graphic child abuse unless it fits a pattern they can recognize from a pamphlet or "Time to Te

lrsap writes: "But there are jobs that need to be done, and if no Scout does them you know what that means." Not really I agree with Bill that not all boxes on an organizational chart need to be filled. If a Scout is a natural Librarian or Historian, then his passion can make a noticeable impact on a Troop. It makes sense to keep him on, rather than rushing him off because another Scout "needs" that POR. But if nobody wants to be Librarian, then so what if all a reluctant Librarian does is sign books in and out for two minutes a week? Who reads anymore, anyway...

"Can folks here with longer memories than mine explain ... Is it like race relations - there has been such a sea change in attitudes that what looked like enlightenment in the 1960s appears almost racist today? " The normalization of child abuse is easy to understand, Shortridge. 1) Read the case histories at: http://childrenshealthcare.org/?page_id=132 2) From a Boy Scout's point of view, read the disclaimer for Personal Fitness Merit Badge: "If meeting any of the requirements for this merit badge is against the Scout's religious convictions, the requirement does not hav

Position of Responsibility ("POR") requirements were imposed on Boy Scouts in 1965 by the followers of Bla Bnthy, just before William "Green Bar Bill" Hillcourt's retirement. They then began the work of deconstructing Wood Badge by replacing Hillcourt's "Patrol Method" (based on outdoor skills) with Bnthy's "Patrol Method" based on White Stag "leadership" theory. Hillcourt's Patrol Leader Training took six (6) months because it taught Patrol Leaders how to take their Patrols on Patrol Hikes and Patrol Overnights to work on advancement without a "Troop Guide" and "Adult Association."

Parents of boy who drowned filed lawsuit against Boy Scouts of America By Roxana Orelana The Salt Lake Tribune A Las Vegas couple is suing the Boy Scouts of America for negligence after their son died in July 2011 while in a summer camp scuba diving program in Bear Lake. Christopher and Sherry Tuvell filed the wrongful-death lawsuit against the national organization this week in U.S. District Court on behalf of their 12-year-old son David Christopher Tuvell. On July 13, 2011, David was participating in Discover Scuba Program, which is offered by and through several ag

Some of my Scouts took Shotgun Merit Badge every year. The Scoutlike thing to do is sign up for the class, so if it fills up they will offer more classes. Yours at 300 feet, Kudu http://kudu.net

If you want something done, ask a busy man.

Why do you need an SPL?

Shortridge, Bear Grylls. Nothing says our next "Green Bar Bill" must be from Denmark.

Our Boy Scout program is a job skills program with an outdoor-lite theme. So a guy like Mike Rowe who tries different jobs like an American Boy Scout tries different Merit Badges, is a perfect match. ANY celebrity will do, however, so long as he is popular enough to convince indoor American boys that schoolwork Merit Badges and florescent lights "leadership" theory is actually really kewl! Baden-Powell's Scouting was based on using Scout skills to navigate through Physical Distance: A series of Journeys and Expeditions of increasing difficulty at every rank, through rugged

SeattlePioneer writes: "We really do need more adventure as part of the program ... Are we letting too much junk get in the way of that, which seems to be the main point of Kudu's objections as I understand them? If so, what junk, and what should be disposed of? Kudu has a list." Yes, Seattle, I do have a list. I had intended to post it to this thread, one point at a time... ...but the whole point of Baden-Powell's Journey and Expedition requirements (followed ---in the BSA-- by Hillcourt's "Real" Patrols) is that they are (as you write) the best experience in Scouting

Horizon writes: "Has anyone tried implementing a Republic? Each Patrol gets one vote for SPL..." Yes, Hillcourt's "Real" Patrol Method was republican during the BSA's height of popularity (late 1920s to 1972). Troop popularity contests were introduced in 1972 when we replaced Hillcourt's PATROL Leader Training with Bla Bnthy's TROOP Leader Training. Yours at 300 feet, Kudu http://kudu.net

As King, I would rank my changes in order of importance: 1. Journeys and Expeditions to Replace Scoutmaster Conferences and Boards of Review. On this issue I part company with even the most radical "Back to Basics" advocates. In the rest of the world, Baden-Powell's Scouting is a game. In common with other popular outdoor games, competency is tested by progress over a Physical Distance: First Class = 14 miles, the equivalent to "Star" = 2 day + 1 night Expedition, "Life" = 20 miles, "Eagle" = 50 miles (200 by horseback). Adult Guide to the Fourteen (14) Mile First Cla

"I know that adults can't influence the vote..." That assumption is the source of your problem. If "Leadership Development" does to BSA Lifeguard what it did to SPL (makes it a Position of "Responsibility" selected by Troop elections) will you hesitate to "influence the vote" when your non-swimmers fling paper plates into the crowd to get elected? "why do you need an SPL? Try going without one for a while. Put the PLs at the head of things, where they should be. See how it works." Barely a half-hour had passed when Eagledad swooped in to discourage you from using Baden-Pow

The Scout participated with his family in an FOS presentation.

BDPT00 writes: "I don't see any logic to a Cub wearing a Wood Badge staff patch...I'm sure somebody will have a dandy reason why it's a good idea." That's easy. Test 1,000 Wood Badge Staffers and 1,000 Cub Scouts, "True or False" on Baden-Powell's minimum standards for Patrol System. The Cub Scouts will do better because their idea of fun is closer to B-P's, than office theory experts for the 21st century. Yours at 300 feet, Kudu

In fairness to the family, you should inform them of the regulations that Trevorum and Jeffrey H have so far failed to mention: If an FOS patch is not worn on the uniform of a registered member of the BSA, it must be stored in an archival medium with "a pH of 8.5, at a temperature no higher than 70F, and a stable relative humidity between a minimum of 30% and a maximum of 50%. Visible light levels must not exceed 165 lux (15 footcandles) ... [otherwise the patch must be] ... destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning." This CSP is an advertisement for Friends of Scouting.

Do I understand this thread correctly? A Scout's parents made a contribution to FOS and gave him the patch, and you want to take it away from him? And we wonder why they leave...

desertrat77: No. Maybe you are thinking that the "chain of command" is SM --> SPL --> PL? In GBB's "Real" Patrol Method, the Patrol Leaders hire and fire the SPL, so the "chain of command" is PL --> SPL. Whenever I hear an adult identify his Troop's most talented leaders to be SPL + ASPL + ASPL, + TG, 9 times out of 10 that adult does not allow his Patrol Leaders to conduct significant Patrol Hikes without "adult association," or even camp 300 feet apart. The point I'm making to Basementdweller is: Put his energy into getting his Troop's outdoorsmen out on the bac

OK, Basementdweller, so let's review: You are now disenchanted with three things that have nothing to do with Scouting as Baden-Powell and Green Bar Bill understood it: 1) SPL: a) Elected by the whole Troop, b) every six months, c) to boss the Patrol Leaders around; and d) appoint ASPLs to, e) boss the other PORs around, and f) boss the Patrol Leaders around in the SPL's absence; and g) appoint Troop Guides to take the Patrol Leaders' primary job away from them, and h) vote with the SPL and his appointed ASPLs to, i) boss the Patrol Leaders around in the PLC. 2) NYLT: Office manageme

qwazse writes: "Or did you do make up the slip on your own after they settled on the calendar and a rough plan?" Yes, the permission slips were based on the PLC's annual planning session in August. I did them on my own: Just standard boiler-plate stuff that only took a couple of minutes to cut and paste from the Troop Website. We did not waste leadership talent on a "full-time" SPL, because we needed our best Natural Leaders for Patrol Hikes, and camping 300 feet apart. Usually the most "senior" (mature) of the Patrol Leaders would attend Committee meetings with me, and maybe