MattR

Welcome to the forum, @Joris. It's always nice to see a scout here. Extra credit for being from outside the US! What I see in that picture is a scout that likely just got back from a backpacking trip, complete with spoon in pocket and plenty of dirt. But that's me, I've been there before so I know what scouts do. At the same time, my father was born in Krefeld and immigrated to the US in 1939. As a child in the 60's I remember the bad feelings my dad had about Germany. In the late 80's there was a push in Germany to reconnect with Jews that had left before the Holocaust and my dad was inv

We can't. Ads are put on your page views based on your viewing history as well as whatever "related content" the search engine finds. The above ad contains a reference to "Boy Scout" and this is a forum related to Boy Scouts. Granted, it's ironic, but there's not much we can do. I suppose you could put your own ads on this forum (contact scouter-terry).

My council doesn't mention the virus on its website. However, if you read the state and county sites it's hard to imagine how they can operate a camp. Well, it would all be fine except for doing any events or eating. My guess is my council is desperate and have been doing a lot of rationalization. Seems to me there's an opportunity here for scouting. Ten people can do something together. That's a patrol and two adults. Think of the possibilities. This could be the most fun summer ever.

Guess when I first learned where one way signs are located.

I read the text. All I can think of is I feel sorry for Roger. He only signed up for bankruptcy and now this. He did mention big changes coming. I really hope he has a great vision.

I hope the SM's with the stereotypical SM gut stay home. That's just one more underlying condition. BTW, what will they do if they find someone with a high temperature? By that point they've already been spreading the virus for 2 days.

@Eagledad, those are some interesting views. Not bad, just different. I always thought the aims were the what and the methods were the how. So, there's no point in having what and how be the same thing. Unfortunately, I think the BSA thinks the aims are what the scouters are told and the methods are what the parents and scouts are told. The result is that there's a lot of not-on-the-same-page syndrome. Namely, the scouts don't understand the goals so there should be no surprise that many don't get it. I absolutely don't think advancement should be a goal of the program. Most problems I se

Just my 2 cents but scouting would be greatly served if these kids were the target audience of the post covruptcy BSA.

Welcome to the forum, @BBQ. My council recently sent out email saying they would only open if allowed. Then they added that if they're allowed the refund policy still stands (i.e., no refund). So, if a scout has a family member that's diabetic, for example, and doesn't want to take a risk bringing home the virus then they take the loss I guess. So yes, money is clouding my council's view just like it always has. But, I seriously doubt scout camps are going to be allowed to open in most states. That's just my 2 cents, but we have plateaued on cases only because we've plateaued on tests.

I don't understand your logic. Camp is not the same as quarantine. Not everyone will get the virus within the first day or so. With 250 people, one infected person and a 33% increase daily, after 14 days only about 50 people will be infected. Roughly 2/3 of those will have been infected within the last 4 days and they will all be going home while infected.

Hi everyone, I just split this off from the chapter 11 thread, per @InquisitiveScouter's suggestion. Maybe we could talk about ways to improve the focus of advancement to support the aims of scouting rather than be the aims of scouting.

Note to all: I split off the discussion about merit badges to

The underlying issue seems, to me at least, that "learning a skill" is ithe end goal. Rather than that, "using the skill" would encourage more participation, less school, and fix all the other things we don't like about merit badges. I suppose this applies to all advancement. Anyway, taking a merit badge should be the first step in doing something scoutish and not a goal in itself. I'd much rather see a patrol say "let's make a giant 8 person bike - let's take welding MB" then the usual "I gotta sign up for something at mbu and cit nation is required so I'll do that one." Making learning skill

Well, that didn't last very long. I just got email announcing the changes. That does suck. However, so does strong wind on a campout. Good scouts can still figure out how to have fun in bad weather. There are two other methods not really mentioned (well, I think they're methods): fun and service. How to make scouting fun or how to give service in a zoom world is a big challenge and, I think, a goal that will create much more growth than simplifying requirements. A bunch of families in my neighborhood put together a game for the kids to play the day before Easter rather than an egg hunt

It seems to me that the new leadership we were hoping for is nowhere to be seen. Disappointing but not surprising.

That's great.

If we could use hunting style tents with heaters in them during the winter and had some way to poop in the woods without having to dig cat holes, especially when the ground is frozen, then we would not need any council camps and would have a much stronger program. While we do have campouts in below zero weather in normal tents, it gets old after four months in a row. I can see how to solve the pooping problem. Getting a warm shelter is impossible with the tent restrictions.

That was very nice, thank you posting it.

Someone needs to keep diluting the fun in the requirements? Prevent us from abusing squirt guns? I think the idea of competition would be good. That would require some flexibility in the program. I'm just not sure the 20 super councils is the way to do that. The only reason some councils are doing well is because they're in large metro areas with plenty of companies that can still donate lots of money. That's a model that doesn't work past the town those companies are in. 20 super councils corresponds to roughly 14 current councils per super council. The biggest cost of councils is p

I seriously doubt if summer camps, high adventure or just any scouting are happening this summer. It's just my opinion but here's my reasoning. All of the models, if correct, are only talking about getting things under control. None of them are talking about eradicating the disease. Herd immunity doesn't kick in until something well past 50% of a population becomes immune. Right now, immunity means getting the virus. Assuming that 10 times the number of people have it than have been identified with a test, we're still only at 10x330k, or roughly 3 million out of the 320 million that live in th

Welcome to the forum!

Right now, retirement housing in my town won't allow any gathering. If the virus gets into the building then a lot of people die.

@Mitch586, to me this sounds like an opportunity. This is what I'd do. Call the scout along with the parents. Compliment him on his drive. Explain that right now we can't have campouts. Talk about how a scout is courteous, helpful and obedient, especially during a pandemic, and that there will be plenty of time in the future for campouts. Now is the time to adapt one's goals. All the adults are doing this so I'm sure he can as well. Then throw out some ideas. MB's. Planning campout ideas. Figuring out how to play card games online with his patrol, or checkers or chess, ...

That is lipstick on a pig. Question: in the stimulus just passed, who decides whether a company on the ropes is worth saving?

I've been watching those models and they have been swinging all over the place because we're so early in the epidemic (!). I found another model that shows both okay cases (people stick with the recommendations) and bad (people get lazy, angry, whatever). Here it is for Ohio: https://covidactnow.org/state/OH. The bad cases tend to peak mid April and tail off early to mid May and the okay cases peak mid May and don't fall below the point where there are enough beds in hospitals until June. They're all really bad for the hospitals.