Kudu

GernBlansten writes: "Our troop does cool stuff and the boys seem to enjoy it. The coolest stuff is adult organized. Its not what I would like to see, but if we left it up to the youth, they simply wouldn't put it together. Trust me, we tried. We've mentored, we've guided, cajoled, coached, taught. But it never gets done, the older scouts just don't get it or don't care. How many missed deadlines, lost weekends, bad trips until you take the reins back." Don't beat yourself up. Before Baden-Powell adopted the term "Boy Scouts" he tentatively called it "Boy Patrols." The primary activities of B-P's game are Patrol Meetings and Patrol Hikes, not Troop Meetings and Troop campouts. Since the invention of "Leadership Development" in 1972 we no longer train Patrol Leaders how to do that. Indoor Troop meetings and outdoor Troop camping activities are a different matter. B-P's Patrol Leaders in Council sketch out the general outline of what they want to do, but they usually delegate these details to the Scouters. That is why the old books of creative ideas for Troop activities (especially the ones from England) are designed for adults not Patrol Leaders! A "typical transcript" of a Court of Honor (Patrol Leaders in Council) discussing each other's Patrol activities and then delegating the Troop events to the Scouters can be found at: http://inquiry.net/patrol/court_honor/coh_session.htm So what is within reason with a Troop of disengaged youth? Separate the Patrol campsites by 300 feet some day and watch to see if any natural leaders emerge on the edges. Kudu

GernBlansten writes: "Maybe we need that special SPL who really is a leader and driven. He isn't in our unit, at least we haven't identified him yet." Old-school Patrol Leaders and SPLs are very rare to begin with, and are not always easy to identify. I was never very good at raising tropical fish either. They are too fussy. Years ago I heard that koi are very tame and live for many years, so I bought a few tiny ones the size of goldfish. Sure enough in no time at all I trained them to eat out of my hand. It was really cool, pet fish that actually allowed you to pet them as they ate! Everything was fine until late one October when a neighbor let me rescue a few more baby koi from his small fountain. As soon as these "wild" outdoor koi joined my indoor pets none of them would eat out of my hand anymore! Talk about peer pressure! A really gifted old-school Patrol Leader or SPL has the same unpredictable effect on a Troop. Once he is recognized by the adults the entire culture changes. I have no idea what these invisible dynamics are any more than I ever understood my fish, but I have noticed a few characteristics common to old-school Patrol Leaders or SPLs. By "old-school" I mean a Patrol Leader who (without much training) can actually organize Patrol Meetings, Patrol Hikes, and Patrol Campouts. By "old-school" I mean an SPL who can file the Tour Permit, collect the permission slips and money for campouts, organize the adult drivers, act as a registered BSA Life Guard, as well as doing the job description stuff like make sure that the Patrol Leaders do their jobs, and be an understanding older brother who knows the troubles of every Scout in the Troop (no matter how irksome). The idea that some boys are natural leaders became politically incorrect in 1972 when "The Scout Way" was dropped as the first Method of Scouting and the invention of the "Leadership Development" Method was added. For obvious reasons some adults no longer recognize natural boy leaders (you won't find any Baden-Powell quotes about hooligan Patrol Leaders in Wood Badge literature) and for reasons unknown to me natural leaders are not always elected by their peers. But once their authority is recognized by adults the koi factor kicks in. Off the top of my head I can think of eight characteristics that are always present in highly gifted old-school Patrol Leaders and SPLs. I'm sure there are eight more. 1. Camping: His number one priority. 2. Good with His Fists: The koi factor makes it unnecessary to prove in a Scout setting. 3. Above Average IQ: Adult-level verbal skills (not to be confused with experience). This may get him into trouble at school, sometimes with great regularity :-/ 4. Good Heart: Donates time to public service because it is the right thing to do (this is the opposite of service project advancement requirements). Can motivate other Scouts to do the same. 5. Love of "Scouty" stuff: Pride in his Scout Shirt, for instance. 6. Nobody's Fool: Self-respect (this trumps Scouty stuff and blind obedience to adult nitwits). 7. Hero/Anti-Hero: Every sixth-grader knows his name, be he emo or high school football hero. Takes great pleasure in younger Scouts looking up to him and strives to live up to their expectations. 8. Actually Likes Leadership Training: I once watched a tiny ten-year-old Patrol Scribe (the younger brother of an old-school Patrol Leader) take formal detailed notes of an entire JLT weekend despite older Scouts laughing at him. Kudu

"Sermons in stones?" Yes, there are sermons in the observation of Nature, say, in bird life, the formation of every feather identical with that of the same species ten thousand miles away, the migration, the nesting, the coloring of the egg, the growth of the young, the mothering, the feeding, the flying power-all done without the aid of man, but under the law of the Creator; these are the best of sermons for boys. The flowers in their orders, and plants of every kind, their buds and bark, the animals and their habits and species. Then the stars in the Heavens, with their appointed places and ordered moves in space, give to everyone the first conception of Infinity and of the vast scheme of his Creator where man is of so small account. All these have a fascination for boys, which appeals in an absorbing degree to their inquisitiveness and powers of observation, and leads them directly to recognize the hand of God in this world of wonders, if only someone introduces them to it. The wonder to me of all wonders is how some teachers have neglected this easy and unfailing means of education and have struggled to impose Biblical instruction as the first step towards getting a restless, full-spirited boy to think of higher things. http://inquiry.net/traditional/b-p/scoutmastership/service.htm

Don't discount peer-pressure. One single Scout can completely reverse Troop culture but it takes some independent thinking for an adult to spot a true leader, and likewise he often does not win a Troop election. Our current SPL is the best I have seen a decade, but he was only ASPL after he lost the popularity contest to another Scout (who fortunately resigned, so they switched positions). He is also the kind of leader that Baden-Powell might call a "hooligan:" He wears blue jeans to meetings and he gets into trouble at school. But he has tripled monthly campout attendance, inspired advancement and some nice high-adventure trips, and increased PLC meetings (at first not allowing adults to attend). Oh, he is a strong advocate of NYLT. Imagine that! Kudu

See if you know someone with a good quality Moulage Kit. Some of them are designed to be worn under torn clothing and are equipped with little spigots that squirt blood. Our Scouts like the one with the guts hanging out, and the bleeding stump that simulates a leg ripped off at the knee. See: http://tinyurl.com/3bo29c I would not recommend buying one however, the plastic in my high-end kit began to deteriorate after a few years. Kudu

skeptic writes: "This was a major part of the leadership role for the PLC, and truly added to their development and feelings of being in charge." Yes, this is closer to how Baden-Powell designed Scouting, isn't it? He leaves Tenderfoot completely up to the Patrol Leader, of course. Then Second and First Class candidates usually meet with the Scoutmaster to make sure that they understand the Scout Oath & Law "according to their age." No moral judgment of a boy's "Spirit" or "ethical choices" here: Just making sure that he understands our ideals. The Patrol Leaders in Council then meet with these 2nd & 1st Class Scouts to make sure that they are working out in their new Patrols. In some associations Patrol Leaders are required to retest Second Class and First Class candidates on the skills of the previous award. Talk about Politically Incorrect, huh? In practical terms this usually means that they prove their current proficiency by helping the Patrol Leaders with Scoutcraft training. In fact this is a subject of great controversy in Baden-Powell's method: A Scout is expected to help "move the Troop along" (help others to advance) before working on his own advancement. So after First Class the equivalent to a "Board of Review" is a meeting of the Patrol Leaders in Council (called a "Court of Honor") to determine on a case-by-case basis if a Scout is currently moving the Troop along before they issue what we call a blue card (permission to meet with a Proficiency Badge examiner). The Scout is not present unless he is there to argue against a previous determination of the Court. Kudu

For those who are not up to speed on ginger discrimination: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginger_Kids

Donert, would you please be more specific?

"The boy was at an outing this past weekend and slipped off with some spray paint, painted the snow and was caught attempting to light it." This is a minor violation of "A Scout is thrifty." Advancement should be a measure of a Scout's mastery of Scoutcraft. The whole point of "Scouting as a Game" is that a Scout's eventual living of the Scout Law in his daily life is a byproduct of camping hard and well. He completed all of the requirements for Tenderfoot including "Scout Spirit" and your Scoutmaster Conference. If you try to yank what he has rightfully earned away from him now, you certainly commit a far more serious breach of Scout Spirit than anything he has done. Back in the olden days when I took Wood Badge, the purpose of a Board of Review was to evaluate not the Scout but the program (your performance in other words). So the business of the Board should be to understand why you signed him off. The only logical conclusion here is that you are a bad judge of character :-/ If I was your Committee Chairman I would make you spray-paint Scout Law in the snow until your Scouts can light it. Kudu

Ken writes: "Even so, I do hope the BSA publishes some guidance for Scouters to help us out. We certainly want to teach them "correctly"." In the meantime Beavah's "Official Answers" are going on our Troop's bulletin board. Kudu

"His Mom even admitted to me that she doesn't always read or even open emails about Scout stuff. She said to me 'oh, if I see it's an email about Scouts I just put it aside to read later.' Sure is a good way to miss out on important info." That is probably more common than we like to believe. I try to compress the central message of my Scouting Emails into the Subject heading: "SLED CAMP Feb 15: $20 Due Monday" It helps if you know the Scouts' Email addresses. Kudu

"It is called Trademark Infringment and it is against the law, all over the world, even in Germany." No, in Germany you can not trademark a Scouting term that was already in use all over the world (including your own country) before your association was established. "Boy Scouts of America," "Star," "Life," & "Eagle," and similar BSA inventions are all legitimate trademarks (in a Scouting context) which are then extended for life by the BSA's Congressional Charter. The YouthScouts case challenges the generic word "Scout" and if they are successful it will provide precedent to challenge "Be Prepared," "Tenderfoot," "Second Class," "First Class," "Venturer," the generic fleur de lis, and all of the other terms and symbols that were already in use in the United States in a Scouting context prior to the BSA. That makes for a lot of free Troop T-Shirt material :-) If you have the patience to browse pdf files, the evidence files in the YouthScouts link above provide a wealth of historical information about BSA trademarks. Kudu

Slouchhat writes: "Is that really what is going on over there?" I have seen three cease and desist letters myself so I assume that every American alternative Scouting group with an Internet presence (such as SpiralScouts) receives the same letter. The BSA also sends them to foreign associations with the same name as their American counterparts (the Baden-Powell Scouts Association in England, for instance). I have seen groups start out with Gold Winger's "let BSA sue us" bravado, but when the letter actually arrives most affluent families with the skills, means, and social connections to establish organizations (in my experience always moderate Republicans), reexamine their personal liability beyond the protections that corporations are designed to provide, and quietly drop out. Rather than playing defence "YouthScouts" took the initiative to sue the BSA over the trademark on the word "Scout." This allowed them to pick their venue (San Francisco rather than Irving Texas). The BSA's strategy in these cases is to drag the process out until the plaintiff's children age out of the program and the parents loose interest. The YouthScouts' case continues (seemingly forever), see: http://youthscouts.org/news.html In the 1990s the WFIS-NA decided to establish Scouting associations that did not use the term "Scout," so as to avoid in the United States their stunning defeat in Canada (their only minor victory was that Scouts Canada was unsuccessful in forbidding them to use the words "Baden-Powell"). The BSA's assertion that they own the generic fleur de lis (without an Eagle or shield) which is a more universal international symbol than words like "Scout" or "Pfadfinder," heads that off. Kudu

"Ok, let me rephrase FScouters comment" Two moderators polishing each other's ad hominem attacks: How special! "it does make you wonder why such comementers stay members of the BSA." This "the BSA is Scouting" Wood Badge Logic is a result of the government picking for the winner of a Scouting monopoly an association that hands out Eagle Badges to indoor boys who have never walked into the woods with a backpack. The BSA defends this Scouting-lite arrangement with considerable legal firepower. One aspect of the BSA's newly awakened vigor might be related to the current trademark litigation over the the word "Scout." The BSA's "cease and desist" form letters sent to alternative Scouting associations now include a claim of exclusive rights to the generic fleur de lis! So if they lose the exclusive right to "Scouting" they will no doubt continue to claim rights to other non-proprietary words and symbols common to Scouting around the world. Kudu

Given the statements found under "Our Spiritual Philosophy" and "What We Believe" on the religiousscience.org Website, you might want to rethink the wisdom of a Religious Award. Most Religious Awards (including the Unitarian-Universalist medals) are just church school. Scouting was invented by a man named Baden-Powell (B-P), who questioned the effectiveness of church school because it is mere instruction which (like Citizenship Merit Badges) has little to no appeal to boys. B-P conceived of Scouting as providing an alternative to church school "instruction": Namely education which can only be achieved through real-world experience. The Scouting spiritual experience is two-fold: inward and outward. He called the inward spiritual experience gained through Scouting "The Religion of the Deep Woods." This insight is gained through the study of Scoutcraft. Scoutcraft Awards are worn on the right side of the Traditional Scout Uniform. When speaking on religious training in England, he called the outward spiritual experience gained through Scouting "Practical Christianity." This insight common to all religions is gained through Public Service. Public Service Awards are worn on the left side of the Traditional Scout Uniform. We now equate "Duty to God" with Religious Awards (and Citizenship with Citizenship Merit Badges) because deep down in our hearts we don't really believe that we can achieve the Aims of Scouting through Scoutcraft and helping other people at all times. Rather than creating more classroom content (instruction), perhaps your time would be better spent organizing Church of Religious Science or Center for Spiritual Living Scouting Units and getting the boys of your faith out in the woods (education). Kudu The conclusion come to is that the actions of a very large proportion of our men are, at present, very little guided by religion. This may be attributed to a great extent to the fact that again instruction instead of education has been employed in the religious training of the boy, and that in some instances the teaching is undertaken by people who have no real experience or proper training for the work. The consequence has been that the best boys in the Bible-class or Sunday School have grasped the idea, but in many cases they have, by perfection in the letter, missed the spirit of the teaching and have become zealots with a restricted outlook, while the majority have never really been enthused and have, as soon as they have left the class or school, lapsed into indifference and irreligion, and there has been no hand to retain them at the critical and important time of their lives, i.e., sixteen to twenty-four. The disappointing results in religious training have been recognized by the authorities, and the more thorough training now inaugurated for teachers in Sunday Schools and the like promises a very different result for religious education in the future. http://inquiry.net/traditional/b-p/scoutmastership/service.htm

GernBlansten writes: Wow beav, I think you found a golden nugget. I see nothing in the current requirements for advancement that have that magic ingredient to make a scout crave it. Nothing ties all the stuff they learn into an adventurous journey. Actually Baden-Powell's version of Scouting does exactly that: It ties all the stuff they learn for each Award into an adventurous journey undertaken without adults or older Scouts. It is called a "Scout Journey" or a "Scout Expedition." Imagine that! Second Class: Go on an eight-mile daytime journey with at least three other Tenderfoot Scouts. Your Patrol Leader will set your route, and a specific objective will be given. Make an oral report from notes to your Patrol Leader immediately upon your return. Your Scoutmaster must know your hiking route, and must approve your plan in advance. If additional Scouts are taking the test, each will report independently. First Class: The First Class Journey: Go on foot, with three other Scouts, on a 24-hour journey of at least 15 miles. - Make all the necessary advance preparations, and organize the packing of food and gear. - In the course of the journey, you must cook your own meals, at least one of which must include meat or a protein substitute. - Find a campsite and camp for the night. - You must carry out any instructions given by the examiner as to things to be observed on route. - Make a log of your journey sufficient to show you have carried out those instructions, and submit it within one week of your return. Scout Cord (Star): Explorer Proficiency Badge: 1. Arrange and carry out an expedition for yourself and at least 2 other Scouts, of not less that 2 days and 1 night duration to a place you are not familiar with. All equipment to be carried in backpacks and to include food. Each backpack to weigh not more than 30 lbs. Bushman's Cord (Life): Venturer Proficiency Badge: 1. Complete an adventure journey as a member of a Patrol in which you shall play a leading part. The journey, which may be short in length, must include at least 5 incidents such as rescues from fire or heights, compass work, Signalling over distance. Water incidents to be included for Sea Scout Troops. 4. Make a journey of at least 20 miles. on foot or by boat, with not more than 2 other Scouts. Route must be one with which the Scout is not familiar and should, if possible, include stiff country. Sleep out, using only the gear carried in a rucksack. Maximum weight 31 lbs which must include food. The Examiner may set the candidate 1 or 2 tasks, which require a specific report but no general log of the journey is required. Queen's Scout (Eagle): Senior Explorer Proficiency Badge: 1. Pass or have the Hiker Proficiency Badge: (2. Take part in 3 hikes, during each of which gear is carried and you sleep out, distance of 2 hikes to be at least 10 miles each. The distance for the third hike to be not less than 30 miles, with 2 nights camping out. Detailed logs of very high standard to be handed in after each hike). 2. Take part in an expedition with not less and not more than 5 other Scouts. The expedition may be on foot, boat, or on horseback. - The expedition must be planned to last at least 4 days, and at least 3 nights must be spent in tents. All necessary equipment and food must be taken and all meals prepared by members of the party. - All Scouts in the party will take an equal part in the planning arrangements before and during the expedition, but it is not necessary that all participants should be under test. - A detailed log of the expedition must be kept be each member of the party, having previously agreed between themselves a different emphasis for each log - eg. weather, geography, history, architecture, archaeology, botany, ornithology. - The route and special log subjects must have the prior approval of the examiner. - An expedition on foot will cover at least 50 miles in wild country. The 3 nights will be spent at different campsites. - An expedition by water will cover at least 50 miles and the log will cover such points as the state of the river, conditions of banks, obstructions to navigation etc. - An expedition on Horseback will cover at least 120 miles in wild country, camping at 3 different camp sites. - An expedition, whether on foot or otherwise, must be a test of determination, courage, physical endurance and a high degree of co-operation among those taking part. Kudu

"Serving in a position of responsibly to the satisfaction of my Scoutmaster was a requirement 47 years ago so saying it is intended to serve the new leadership focused training is ridiculous." 1960? My copy of the Advancement Requirements for Eagle that year reads: "While a Life Scout for a period of at least six months show to the satisfaction of your leaders that you--Work actively as a leader in meetings, outdoor activities, and service projects of your unit." There is no definition of "leader," or "leaders" for that matter. Star requires only to be "active" and "dependable" and Life requires a Scout to "accept and carry out responsibilities...." Specific POR requirements only slightly precede Leadership Development. These legalistic specifications of what positions must be held for Advancement coincide roughly with William Hillcourt's retirement and the subsequent decline of the Patrol Method. "Considering the PL as holding a position of responsibility exactly the same as the Scribe is holding a position of responsibility in NO way affects or effects the training each is given." Sure it does. The BSA Patrol Leader Training course was canceled in 1972 when "Boy Leadership" was moved away from the Patrol Method and introduced as an "equal" new Method called "Leadership Development." "Are you saying that in your unit the PL is the only leader that is job specific trained?" My unit? We don't have general elections so individuals can be trained individually by the person before them, or the SPL, or me. We have a good Quartermaster now (usually the position before Patrol Leader). First I let him watch me use a checklist to pack the Troop's gear for a campout, then the next month I watched him use the checklist. Now he can pick a different assistant every campout (if he wants) who will be exempt from washing dishes. People learn by watching, then doing, then teaching. Sometimes I use the old Patrol Leader course, but this year we will do a leadership theory campout. I don't believe in that stuff myself but my SPL is a big supporter of NYLT so I will let him run it. I think the main function of formal training is to boost confidence and make the Junior Leaders feel special. Mostly it gives me an excuse to show them the movie Master and Commander. "If this is a boy-led PATROL METHOD organization how am I as SM supposed to control who the PATROL elects as their PL?" You probably do that to some degree already: Some Troops require a Scout be a minimum Rank for instance. "How does requiring each scout to perform in a POR stop an individual scout from being elected PL?" I don't understand your question. The idea that elections should be Troop-wide and force all Patrol Leaders to face re-election seems to have coincided with the introduction of "Leadership Development." Before then the SPL was selected by the Patrol Leaders and Patrols acted more independently. "Saying that the patrol should be under the strongest leader seems to imply that someone other than the patrol members identify and empower this person." When a Patrol needs a new leader I generally follow Baden-Powell's model and discuss it with the PLC. Then I usually ask the most dependable Scout to run for election. If a real idiot decides to run against him, I follow William Hillcourt's advice and meet with the Patrol to discuss the qualities that make a good Patrol Leader. We don't have any rules about elections. Sometimes a Patrol will switch leaders without telling the rest of the Troop. "Or is it your position that the "strongest leader" is the one that manages to be re-elected?" Re-elected? Why should a Patrol with a gifted Patrol Leader be encouraged to hold regular elections unless the evil of POR Requirements is a factor? Kudu

acco40 writes: "Are you in disagreement with the Star/Life/Eagle POR requirements or have a beef with the concept of PORs?" Both. POR requirements are based on the idea that the older Patrol Method should serve the newer Leadership Development Method by providing it with convenient leadership training laboratories. The more traditional approach is to use the Patrol Method under the strongest leader to facilitate more challenging "boy-led" Outdoor Adventure. The "concept of PORs" is based on using the term "POR" rather than "Patrol Leader." When we think of things in terms of Advancement Requirements, it makes discontinuing position-specific training just for Patrol Leaders seem "more fair to everyone." Thinking in terms of PORs lumps Patrol Leaders in with the indoor Troop Librarians, Historians, Scribes, etc. and then abstracts their training down to the least common denominator. This follows the Wood Badge model in which Boy Scout Leaders are lumped in with Committee Members, Cub Scout Leaders, and other indoor types, and their training is abstracted down to the least common denominator. The concept of PORs is based on a "model" of the "skills" that all "leaders" have in common: "In general, Patrol Leader training should concentrate on leadership skills rather than on Scoutcraft Skills. The Patrol will not rise and fall on the Patrol Leader's ability to cook, follow a map, or do first aid, but it very definitely depends on his leadership skill." acco40 writes: "I feel that having a designated, usually youth elected, POR is a great learning experience for the boys...They are just cutting their teeth on leadership skills and it is accompanied by a lot of growing pains." But for every action there is an opposite and equal reaction. What you gain in the satisfaction of having "everyone be a leader" and celebrating the growing pains of a constant turn-over of newbies cutting their teeth on leadership skills, you lose in providing your Scouts with the experience of more advanced outdoor adventure under their most gifted leader. When is the last time your SPL asked the Patrol Leaders to report to the PLC on the Advancement Requirements they signed off on separate Patrol Hikes organized on their own initiative? We should teach a Patrol Leader how to be a Patrol Leader rather than "how to be a leader." Kudu

emb021 writes: "University of Scouting is not a Nationally mandated training program. It varies greatly from council to council." Moving an already-existing management program over to a Nationally upgraded University of Scouting setting should be a piece of cake for Kenneth Blanchard management experts. It is the equivalent of asking those of us who prefer Scoutcraft and the Patrol Method to move our packs back to Wood Badge. "And again, why deny Cubmasters, Committee Chairs, Venturing Advisors, District Chairs, etc Wood Badge?" And again why call indoor management skills "Wood Badge"? Cubmasters, Committee Chairs, Venturing Advisers, District Chairs should take outdoor Patrol Method Wood Badge to understand that Boy Scouts is an outdoor Patrol program. Why should Committee Chairs and District types remain sheltered from the outdoor program if they intend to work in the Boy Scout division? This is how we get WEBLOS III cafeteria summer camps attended by Wood Badgers who believe that summer camp is a "vacation from the Patrol Method." "B-P did NOT create Wood Badge as 'just for Scoutmasters'. He had WB for Cub Scout leaders, Boy Scout Leaders, Senior Scout/Rover leaders, etc." Baden-Powell's Cub program requires 12 day hikes, 6 night hikes, and 14 nights of camping. The Scoutcraft Skills of Scouts and Senior Scouts are tested with rigorous Scout Journeys. Rovers is for adults who seek Scouting fellowship in adult outdoor Patrols with only short-term leadership associations with younger Scouts. It should be obvious that such rugged outdoor Scout programs require very strong Patrols run by the very strongest Scouts: This is the exact opposite of Leadership Development Wood Badge which requires a weak outdoor Boy Scout program to accommodate a constant turnover of fresh Patrol Leaders recruited to learn abstract "leadership" formulas. "As noted before, does a person who moved from program to program have to retake WB?" Why not? Why dumb training down to the least common denominator? The big mistake here is to call everything "Wood Badge." "The patrol method is still a big part of WB." In the sense that Cub Scouts use the Patrol Method when they attend Den Meetings. This leads to Wood Badgers believing that they use the Patrol Method at summer camp when the Patrol Leaders wake up the boys in their Patrols or when they walk together to the cafeteria. "WB was always meant to be an advanced leadership course, not so much an advanced outdoor course." Yeah, if you just ignore the advanced outdoor content. In real Scouting leadership is a result of outdoor activities. "If there is a need for an advanced outdoor course...develop one." OK, let's call it "Wood Badge for the 22nd Century"! Kudu

"What skills are important in today's world and how do you boil that down to a scouty requirement?" Scouting should not pander to passive adult ideas about what "modern" boys want. More than half of the sixth-grade boys in my area want to join Scouts to learn about fire, knives, bears, rattlesnakes, and learning first aid skills to be a hero. New Advancement Requirements: Test First Class skills with a 14 mile First Class Journey. Make it sound scary. Turn summer camp into preparation for progressively more difficult journeys. Ban summer school schedules and cafeteria food. Convert Star through Eagle into a challenging outdoor program. Move the Fake Scouting requirements, including Positions of Responsibility, Scout Spirit, Boards of Review, and the required schoolwork Merit Badges (Citizenship, Communications, Environmental Science, Family Life, Personal Fitness, and Personal Management) to the University of Scouting and give that program an academic-sounding name that looks good on a college application. Kudu

"I know Kudu debates whether we even have the Patrol Method, but a 2d/3d order consequence of removing advancement would be eliminating youth leadership and youth-youth skill training." If Leadership was not required for Advancement it would eliminate the constant turnover which undermines the Patrol Method with its natural youth-youth skill training. The real problem with "Advancement" is that deep down in our hearts we don't really believe that outdoor Scoutcraft skills can teach Citizenship, Character, and Fitness. Boys are designed to learn by doing things. Scouting was designed to be a "doing things" alternative to indoor classroom learning. What remains of the BSA Tenderfoot through First Class ("core") program is not that bad even though it is missing the important observation-interpretation skills (tracking & signaling -- the later should include the BSA's traditional sign language for the deaf requirements) and the most important test of a First Class Scout: The First Class Journey. That being said, the only Fake Scouting requirements in the core program are: Tenderfoot requirement 10 (gym class); 2nd Class requirement 8 (DARE), 1st Class requirement 5 (Constitutional rights), and of course Scout Spirit and Boards of Review. If your Scouts do not like Tenderfoot through First Class then either they don't really like the outdoors, or you are pushing too hard, and/or you have unqualified Scouts in Positions of Responsibility. The real problem with Advancement is that Star through Eagle is mostly Fake Scouting. It lacks any required outdoor Scouting Journeys and replaces them with Positions of Responsibility and the required schoolwork Merit Badges including Citizenship, Communications, Environmental Science, Family Life, Personal Fitness, and Personal Management. We don't believe that Scoutcraft Journeys are the true test of mental and physical Fitness so we replace them with "Personal Fitness" requirements that are easier for sedentary adults to enforce. We don't really believe that Scoutcraft can teach Citizenship, so we enforce the Family Life and Citizenship Merit Badges. We don't really believe that Scoutcraft can teach Character, so we enforce Scout Spirit and Boards of Review. Kudu

"From everything I've read of Baden-Powell, for adults, it's a serious task, to be given the full gravitas due it." That is the problem, isn't it? "Leadership Development" is considered "serious" and the Patrol Method merely a convenient laboratory in which to practice its abstractions. "Leadership Development" is the exact opposite of Baden-Powell's outdoor Patrol System: Its natural predator. Put the indoor schoolroom stuff for indoor leaders where indoor leaders belong: In the schoolroom. The "University" of Scouting is the perfect home for Leadership Development. Kudu

If Cubmasters, Committee Chairs, Venturing Advisors, District Chairs, etc. need a business management formula so badly, then have them earn a "Ph.D." in the University of Scouting. Why call it Wood Badge? And who exactly is suggesting that Wood Badge should be all about Outdoor Skills? Outdoor Skills in Wood Badge are a means to an end just as Outdoor Skills in Boy Scouts are a means to an end. Baden-Powell's one Aim of Scouting is Citizenship. The whole point of camping is to make Scout Law a practical necessity for getting along with each other in a small group called a Patrol (Citizenship! Get it?). The one aim of Wood Badge is to make the Patrol Method a living thing. We teach Scouters a few Outdoor Skills in Wood Badge for exactly the same reason as Scouters teach Outdoor Skills to Boy Scouts: to get outside and learn the Patrol game. Scouting is a game. How many of us really believe that? Kudu

"Brownsea, JLT, NYLT, LMNOP, XYZ, PDQ and other alphabet soup courses are available for Patrol Leadeers and SPL's." And in which of them does the Scoutmaster teach Patrolmanship (exactly how to hold Patrol Meetings, Patrol Hikes, or even a tame form of Patrol Campouts) as opposed to "Leadership Development"? I will be impressed with Wood Badge the day its graduates use the word "Patrol" (singular) more often than they use the word "Troop"! Kudu

Wood Badge should not be Boy Scout specific, it should be Patrol Leader specific! Anyone in Wood Badge (staff or participant) caught using strictly forbidden words such as "Leadership," "Communication," "Planning," "Execution," "Venture," "Cub," "Committee," "District," or any other term covered in the separate "Catered Management for the 21st Century" course must for each offence visit in strict silence all of the Wood Badge Patrol sites to wash their dishes while wearing a sign reading: "Warning: Patrol Method Parasite." Beads are earned one at a time. One Bead for the "Practical Course." The second Bead upon completion of the one and only "Ticket" which for everyone (especially Commissioners and BSA professionals) is to take the Wood Badge Practical Course back to a local Boy Scout Troop (your own if you are a Scouter or Committee Person) and conduct the exact same course (on the Troop level called "Intensive Training in the Green Bar Patrol") with the Troop's Patrol Leaders. Wood Badge Participants who need an impressive letter for their place of employment will have mailed directly to their employers a video file of them making their Patrol Flags, chanting their Patrol Yells, and getting their knees dirty around campfires as they learn the outdoor Scoutcraft skills necessary to successfully complete the course. Wood Badge for the 22nd Century (Practical Course). I) How to run a Patrol Meeting by actually running Patrol Meetings: (a) Simple Opening Ceremony, Call and Yell Contest, Patrol Flag Contest, Instruction Games, Election of Members (the Patrol Leader must already be a holder of the Wood Badge working for his third Bead), Work Session, Handicraft Project, Recreational Games, Simple Closing Ceremony. II) How to run a Patrol Hike by actually running a Patrol Hike (planned in a Patrol Meeting): (a) Assembly; (b) Outbound Journey: 1. Hiking Technique, 2. Activities; © At Destination: Scout Skills, Instruction Games, Rest Period Recreation Games; (d) Return Journey. III) How to run a Patrol Campout by actually running a Patrol Campout (at a Boy Scout Camp): First Day: (a) Assembly; (b) Outbound Journey; © Camp Making; (d) Evening Activities: 1. Supper, 2. Game Period, 3. Camp Fire The two-Bead Patrol Leader finishes by asking the Patrol Leaders in training if they are ready to reaffirm their Patrol Leader's Promise now that they have received the highest form of BSA training: Patrol Leader Training. The Patrol Flag is brought into the campfire circle, and the leaders in training pledge themselves to the Patrol Leader's Promise, reciting the pledge after the Patrol Leader. This is followed immediately by Taps. It is of greatest importance to the success this whole leaders' training that this last period be of great dignity and sincerity. It is the challenge to the new Patrol Leaders and the keynote of their Troops' future work. Second Day: (e) Morning and Noon Activities: 1. Breakfast, 2. Scoutcraft Activities, 3. Noon Meal, 4. Rest Period; (f) Breaking Camp; (g) Return Journey For the the details of how to conduct "Wood Badge for the 22nd Century" without waiting for the old-fashioned 21st century types to catch up, see: http://inquiry.net/patrol/green_bar/index.htm Kudu