TAHAWK

"Biggest problem in our council today with membership is that we have effectively don't have a proactive strategy." Too true.

We had a unit with 25 Scouts and failed Scouters and no functioning committee. At the initiative of district leadership, the unit was not rechartered by agreement with the CO, which had suffered lots of property damage in their church from out-of-control Scouts. 85% of the Scouts were channeled to successful units. Two made Eagle. A third was elected permanent PL of his NYLT class. A fourth was elected SPL of the Klondike Derby by his fellow SPLs. So there was youth material there - just inadequate Scouters. Not a one of the four had taken any Scouter training whatsoever. The DE

Check out the butt of the axe carried by "The Ideal Scout." The story is that the sculptor was told to be sure it had a "fawn's foot."

Unless you get say 30, there is no course, and no extra beads for Staff. Resolution - follow the rules. No "participant" who has not completed basic training for his/her position.

Given the goal of the first Course, knowing and being able to teach outdoor skills through First Class, I never "got" the invitation part. BSA wanted some Scouters less competent in teaching outdoor skills? On the other paw, having brand new, totally untrained learners, as I personally experienced, take a course that assumes and "builds on" certain base knowledge that they lack, also seems odd. But, gotta' "Fill the Course."

One of the troops that I help has, for several years, had troop meetings and patrol meetings on alternative Mondays.

Part of my job as a Senior Attorney, General Attorney, and Council at Bell and its successor entities involved ensuring compliance with the consent decree by which the System ceased to exist. I was, for a time, the Corporate Secretary for the Bell entity in Ohio, The Ohio Bell Telephone Company, and officially reviewed hundreds of pages of the documents involved in the breakup and signed and sealed the company's acknowledgements of receipt. I then helped draft "how to" memos to management to help them comply. The anti-trust case had gone on since 1974 and had been before three successi

Cardboard oven pizza, cookies, cheesy tortilla chips!

As some probably know, big difference between first course ( - 1971) and second course 1972-2000) First course was knowing and teaching Scout skills through First Class. Week-long only. Learners tented in patrol sites. All meals cooked as patrols. Second course was built around eleven "leadership skills," sandwiched between sessions on scout Skills. Weekend courses introduced. Learners tented in patrol sites. All meals cooked as patrols. Some announced that the change was "the end of Scouting." A district-level one day course (J.L.O.W.) was an introduction for leaders

Which "old" WB course, Eagledad? There have been four different courses. Really five, if one takes into account the BSA rewrite of the fourth course syllabus (originally by Blanchard and Associates).

This is a question of state law. "Who can survivors of child sexual abuse file a claim against? Under the [new York] CVA, survivors can now file a claim against private and public institutions that may have also been involved in the abuse (this includes negligence of the institution). This is because the CVA removed “the notice of claim” requirement under the old law which usually applies before someone can bring a claim against a public institution. Survivors can file claims against these institutions during the new one (1)-year extension period for claims that had already ex

Going back how many millenia? 😉

if the adults are not trained properly, the "natural" thing they tend to do is be "helpful." " Here, let me help. You will burn that pancake [taking the flipper in hand]." Hence the counsel of my first Sm: "No one ever died of a burned flapjack." The primary job of a Scoutmaster, beyond insuring safety, is training the leaders to lead their patrols and troop. But if, the adults don't know where they are supposed to be going, the odds of getting lost are rather high. So the BSA deemphasis on adult training , including of lack of knowledge about the Scouting program themselves, i

... because some adults lose track of the "fun" part when running the program that they plan and lead. Kids may not want to grind away at a merit badge every single meeting at some advancement mill. You won't see many kids turning out for baseball who dislike baseball. unless dad is trying to live vicariously through his child. (which does happen - like the dad who never got Eagle, but his kid WILL!!) Kids mainly join Scouting to have fun with friends, not to "benefit from" an educational program to make them good citizens. The later sounds like school, which has become near year-round

BSA, although unable to explain the Patrol Method, while expecting a Scout rank candidate to do so, says it is "essential." So is it OK for a Scouter registered with BSA to simply ignore what BSA says is essential, given a specific "purpose" of leadership development and a "purpose" of citizenship training, if you believe you have a better idea? "UNLESS THE PATROL METHOD IS IN OPERATION, YOU DON'T REALLY HAVE A ... SCOUT TROOP." BSA blog - BRYAN ON SCOUTING - OCTOBER 21, 2020 “'The patrol method is not a way to operate a Boy Scout troop, it is the only way. Unle

If Scouting is not "fun" for youth, it is dead. So who is actually asking the youth what is "fun" to them? BSA didn't ask before the disastrous "Improved Scouting Program." Any youth here? Adult planning is sure to result in program that adults sincerely THINK is "fun." The Patrol Method has the youth decide what they will do in Scouting, subject to considerations of safety and law. Back before BSA misplaced Scouting, it was thought that youth planning, with adults only serving as resources, was more likely to result in "fun" to youth than adult planning. When I was i

The VAST majority of units in this area are chartered to religious entities - well over 80%. The percentage took a big jump up when public schools: a) decided they were legally barred from chartering BSA units; and b) "educators" became overwhelming hostile to BSA as described by BSA. I was last allowed to recruit (pamphlet) on public school property in Cleveland Heights, Ohio in 1987.

Just who advocates a return to the program of ninety-three years ago? A "straw-man argument," I think. A false dichotomy as well. There are many other choices., including the programs of every year from 1928-1969, and something else entirely. What do you propose?

You may be correct. BSA may be beyond redemption. I have never suggested recreating the 1960s program. Like Girl Scouts then, it was heavy on chopping things down, for one thing. My troop as a Scout was regarded as "strange" for minimizing open fires and using WW II "squad stoves" for cooking. Not all change is bad. Not all change is good. As to what I "want," I have been fairly clear. I "want" program that stresses the Patrol Method, Outdoor activities, conservation, and service. If that does not restore relative membership, such a program still seems preferable - to me -

I have reached no opinions on your questions. That is due to a lack of evidence that I have actually reviewed vs. "feelings." People can reach different conclusions on the same data but opinions supported only by "feelings" or faith do not carry much weight with me, except as possible proof of sincerity. Forty years does not seem "recent" to me. Many posting here were not alive in 1980. I recall the reaction to the "No one-on-one" rule at roundtable. As Scouting flourished under a Congressional charter that restricted it to "boys," as Girl Scouting flourished bereft of boys

BSA numbers collapsed in the early 1970's when the typical parent abhorred homosexuality, and have spiraled down for decades. 1970's trial lawyers with homosexual clients, were wise to take special courses on how to deal with overwhelming juror prejudice. If it is foolish to reqard the past as immutable, and it doubtless is, it is equally foolish to regard the present as either inevitable, much less the best of all possible worlds. For better or worse, it merely is what it is. Opinions, of course, differ.

When Wood Badge became primarily about "leadership," I was told it was the end. When female commissioned Scouters arrived, I was told it was the end. When Wood Badge for the 21st Century arrived, I was told it was the end. Those were merely changes, although not all change is for the better, as those familiar with the history of Poland can attest. I see other changes as more critical. Scouting flourished when it was about patrols, outdoors, service, and conservation. My old troop, operated on that basis, flourished until the Scoutmaster retired ten years ago. That Scout

Dear Cynic, how do we know it would not be embraced.? First, one would have to try it. The Patrol Method - Scouting's Essential Method. BSA started deemphasizing the Patrol Method in about 1960 when, after fifty years, it stopped chartering patrols. Planning forms for patrol meeting went away over forty years ago. Patrol Leader stopped being capitalized (unlike Senior Patrol Leader) and the "Unit Leader" became the Scoutmaster. The literature changed to prohibit patrol activities that conflicted with troop activities sometime more than forty years ago. They made Bill, who inv

THERE IS STILL HOPE