skeptic

The only reason noting home school is that he does not have to accountable for his educational level, or compete directly with other students. Most home schooled kids seem to be pretty bright, but they do often feel more privileged than those in public, or even private schools. It was not a slam at home schooling per se; just another part of the picture. Why is he home schooled? Because the parents did not like his results and interactions in the public school. I find it interesting though that my question has only been responded to by a few, while everyone else seems focused on the b

It would truly be an eye opener if somehow the "none of the above" or "none of the below" option was made available. We might see some eyes opened. Not sure if I would actually vote that way though, as we could end up with nobody; yet that might force a change. Just spitting in the wind anyway, as that will not happen.

Scoutmaster of another district unit who has boys who know this one. They have started asking pointed questions, and am not sure if my current approach of basically self pride is doing the job. In many years, this is most extreme one I have seen; hardly saw any until about 10 to 12 years ago.

We have an 11 year old, home schooled, in our district that is already into his third troop in a year. He came into scouts at the absolute minimum age, possibly even fudged it a bit, since his father was the webloe leader and cubmaster. While in cubs he "earned" every award available at every level, even though few other cubs in his unit earned many of them. Okay, maybe he just worked harder. He was wearing a First Class patch within two months of entering a troop, but he had not had a board even for 2nd yet. His father just bought the patch and said he completed everything, so he sho

You mean we have some of the infamous "47%" in Scouting? Oh my! Our troop never gives help to a family that does not participate in fund raising, especially since most of the funds go to scout accounts directly. Have had a few that never went to camp in the summer because of this, and even a couple parents that questioned why they were denied help when others were not. Pointing out to them that they made no effort to participate in fund raising only brought huffs and puffs and excuses. Camperships through the council only cover a max of 50%, and the troop has to come up with the rest.

Well, one good thing can be said (NOT); if we keep this up we will certainly soon not have to worry about being the world wide "example" as to how to run a democracy. Some of this stuff is reminding me of things we have read about in newly voting populations in other countries. I vote by mail; what do they perhaps want to do to make that more difficult, since I am non-partisan? They changed my physical voting place a few years back, but they publish the address in the voting material we receive, even though we are both permanent by mail. Is California actually doing it right?

Let's show our age again; "It's a Foooooord!"

Why can't everyone be "independent" and simply vote whomever is perceived as the best option, rather than the best party. Rose colored glasses are pretty, even if they they do obscure reality. It is time for "Mr. Smith" to magically succeed in his candidacy.

So, here we have another segment in the "let's make sure BSA stays in the negative spotlight" series. But of course there is not any planning in the publication timing, just a coincidence that the previous uproar had receded. While not being on the "media is biased to the left" platform, I am beginning to wonder about their bias in regard to BSA. Why are they not going for public record disclosure from ALL legal or police filings from this period that were never prosecuted or quietly pleaded out? How about reviewing public school records of reports to principals or district personnel? How

There are quite a few council histories, and a few regional ones out there, some well done, and others not, but still interesting on a local level. Would have to do a lot of digging to find them all. A new one is just out for the Dallas area written by one of the current National level historians, David Scott. He has posted info on it on FB. In our council, I am the pseudo historian, but have few others really involved with it, though they like me to bring historical stuff to annual meetings and Eagle banquets. We do not have much in the council archives directly, other than patches a

Actually, Bill Gates was a Life Scout, and his father is an Eagle.

When I first started getting recognized by peers in the program, rather than training, I tended to feel embarrassed for some reason, as I felt somehow it took away from the kids. It took me a long time to understand that peer recognition "is" important, as making contributing individuals feel appreciated is likely to encourage longer service, as well as a hard to describe form of respect from the youth, as well as newer adults. The key is to understand that recognition is not why you are there, and strive to not make that the focus of your service. It is important to do all we can to s

http://www.nesa.org/outstanding_eagle.html Thoughts please; let's try and be nice, and make rational judgment rather than simply knee jerk comments based on animosity or something. Our council has given a local adult award for a long time very similar to this. It is presented at the annual Eagle Dinner and the recipient is honored as the "head of the class" for that year. Suspect other councils have similar awards. Ours of course is one per year, period, whereas this one can multiply based on number of Eagles in a council the previous calendar year.

Shortridge: "piffle"?? Just how "old" are you; that was one of my maternal grandmother's favorite expressions, and she was born in 1890.

What would meet you halfway would be restoring T-1st BOR to the PLC with adult supervision, as it was once upon a time. We would see much stronger candidates coming to the higher levels then in most cases, as peers tend to be blunt and normally pretty fair; but they also are less likely to let a scout just slide through, especially in regard to group interactions. Add to this the expectation that any skill marked off might be reviewed, including those from lower ranks, and you will be much closer to meeting the higher standard desired. And, yes, I also feel OA should go back to some t

Partners in Service By Bill Sloan For more than seven decades, The Salvation Army and the BSA have worked together to make Scouting available to low-income youth. The Salvation Army At a Glance Former Rivals Are Now Solid Scouting Partners Mention The Salvation Arm and a familiar image comes to mind of a holiday bell-ringer standing outside a busy store collecting donations for the needy. We may also envision soup kitchens, community centers, disaster relief operations, and trucks bearing the group's red insignia that pick up donated household items for resale. However, some

http://connecticut.cbslocal.com/2012/08/30/national-atheist-party-cancels-convention-due-to-lack-of-funding/ This is interesting.

Well, I guess you really need to get zeroes in place when looking at these things. Am pretty sure this story http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112680093/human-skull-migration-082212/ was the one I read, but maybe in the L.A. Times. As I often have done, I then have poked around at related things and came to a connected discovery of what they were calling "modern humans" that discussed them beginning from a range of 40,0000 to 80,000 years ago. But you have to get that extra zero on there to make sense. Too little understanding of something can really confuse you. Still do wond

I will try and track it down. Always a possibility I misunderstood, or just remember mistakenly. The main point was when did the human species start keeping records of their lives and happening within them? The article I believe was in the L.A. Times, so I will see if I can find it.

In regard to the age of the earth and so on, I found myself thinking recently that some of the misconceptions for the short period of existence would likely relate to when our own species actually showed up with ability to learn and expand knowledge. Recently some archaeologists found some bones and a skull that they think may be one of the first actual homo sapiens; they estimated it to be between five and six thousand years old. Not very far back. Just a thought for some reason. I am not pushing it as reality, just pondering.

Well, I contacted National by replying to their survey email directly. I got a response this morning apologizing and telling me I had been put into the youth, (is that a compliment?), and she has removed me. She also asked me if I wanted to be in the Leader survey list. In response to that, I indicated yes, as I hope there will be more interactions between the real membership and National through these kinds of programs. Went further to not a few of the concerns recently posted here and through the Scouts-L list about the new medical form. Already got a response back, including her

It is asking me to take a survey for scouts, not adults. When I went to the actual survey, after ascertaining it was not likely Malware, it asked a few questions about levels of participation, cubs and scouts, my age range; then it told me the survey was for scouts only. When they approached me for these things, I had to identify my scouting level. They should have known I was an adult, and would not qualify. So why did I get it?

Received an email as noted below. Please understand that I did sign up for surveys and so on, but I gave them my membership info as well. So what is wrong with this survey? Now, having checked to make sure it was not a scam, or something, I went to the link. After the first page, what do you think happened? "Hello xxx, To continue to improve the Boy Scouts program, we invite Scouts to complete the following survey. The survey includes descriptions of proposed merit badges under consideration. As a Scout, your feedback will help us determine which ideas should be

NJ, we ask ourselves that regularly, especially since they are as useless as the federal reps. It is going to be interesting this fall when the "you know what" hits the fan if the governor's tax proposal is voted down again. Of course, even when something is passed by referendum, it is immediately sent to the courts where more often than not, it seems, the omniscient judge(s) throw it out. But the weather is great most of the time, and doesn't everybody like a bit of "shake and bake"? It helps that I am old, was raised by lessons from the depression that I took to heart. You know, th

Base'; so non OA scouts can put something there that fits, showing they are members of the Tote -n-chit lodge. Learned my lesson a long time ago about even suggesting an error to any scout other than my own unit. Was made to understand in no uncertain terms it was none of my business, and he (the leader, at least in camp said that is where it goes). Oh well; grit teeth and as noted persevere with what is important.