Navybone

As part of Citizenship in the Community MB, Scouts are asked to attend a community meeting and then discuss an issue with the counselor. Maybe these scouts have taken the lessons of citizenship to heart and see an issue that they feel strongly about. Is the issue here that they are in uniform or the issue they have raised? To be honest, I think it is great that they are calling out the county commissioners for not following their own rules and requirements. This is exactly what the engaged citizen should do.

Yep. I would hope that the mentality is that you just don't cancel for bad weather but look at how to minimize any risk due to the weather. Sure, maybe that is move the camp out to the back of the church or what ever, but is there is process to assess and then develop mitigation efforts. And you have to be willing to cancel if you cannot mitigate the risk.

For the books, they barely survive a year, so I cannot imagine one last four years at the cub scout ages

In an effort to keep scouts involved and give them some outlet during the first 12 months of COVID (when we were locked down), we used Zoom and Google Classroom. It is OK, but since the scouts were on it all day for school, they were less than excited. I made them keep their cameras on, for sure. ask questions, don't just talk, use programs like moodle (I think that was the name) to make it fun. I would make quizzes on the knowledge they needed to show, and they would compete to see who got the answer first or right the most often. But, it does not replace in person discussions at all.

It depends on what the person doing the teasing is trying to do, what is the intent? How is it received? It is a thin line that all too often is crossed.

What I would really like to know is how he was able to get into this position. As Texan asked, was he a registered leader? Had he been vetted or checked in anyway? Completed the YP training, etc. I trust that the legal system will take care of this guy, and I hope that National would put every effort to be aggressive in ensuring that the maximum penalties are pursued - if only to show that they are serious about youth protection. But I also really want to know where the system failed. The first line of failure here has to be how he was able to get into this position to participate in the camp. Was it at the camp level or at the troop level?

A nuanced comment on your assessment on teaching leadership, based on my experience (MBA and senior military leader) - leadership is learned by doing (being in a position of leadership) and having a mentor or guide to help develop the individuals leadership skills. My concern and experience with naturally learning is that poor leadership skills that create results can be the the wrong lessons learned. What I mean by this are use of yelling, fear, intimidation, threats, etc. and learning that those type of toxic leadership methods can be successful to get objectives met.

Feedback from my Son's troop summer camp, based on scout and adult leaders comment (I could not go, unfortunately) , echo your sentiments exactly. I do find the drop in cub scouting in our area, as a results of the pandemic and dearth of adult leadership, to be a significant concern.

ear plugs? I also find the first night is rarely a good night, but the next nights are always great sleep. Really dislike one night camp outs.

Yes, one hundred time yes. And I would argue that there is no serious correlation between knots and leadership or ability. Some units nominate people, some do not.

My original comment was in response to another comment about the message that the scout sees when a uniform is or is not correct. I picked weight becasue it is an easy visual, as is looking at a uniform. And regarding first impressions, I agree, same as how some might feel about the number of knots.

I do not see anything about hair, piercings, or tattoos in the handbook. I am all about inclusion. But if the discussion is about what the message to the scouts, we have to be serious about what really see.

What message indeed. But if you step back and look at the individual wearing the uniform. If the leader is grossly overweight, but has three knots, is that any better or worse than leader who follows the Scout oath to keep himself physically strong but is wearing 15? What is the more important message that the scout should be getting from the leader? And what is the message that the is really being sent to the scout. Performance, leadership, living up to the Scout oath and law should always trump a minor uniform infraction.

what is the issue?

The fault is that Scouts BSA is trying to thread the line with “family camping” while trying to have a regular scout experience. It only puts every leader in a no win position. Ugg.

I gues the issue here is family camping - how does that change things. If not at all, then why have it? I did not see family camping mentioned specifically on the BSA webpage.

If the counselor uses google meets as part of classroom, then it is a simple video chat to explain, etc.

I think there has been some spirited discussion, but I do not think anyone has called or implied anyone is racist.

I saw all that. But I have not seen anything since then to suggest the MB is a joint BLM BSA badge or that BLM was involved in its development

Depends - I had not seen that they used BLM as the basis of the badge. The BLM provide information for the requirements or the instruction booklet? Does what they provided expand beyond understanding and recognizing racism? I don’t know. I am not a fan of everything BLM stands for, but I do know that the accepting people, regardless of skin color, race, sexuality, sociology-economic status, education, etc, is basic human kindness and professionalism when one is an adult in the work force. There is nothing political about that. And I have seen youth come into the work force totally unprepared to start working with other unlike them.

So your issue is with BLM, got it. But again, BLM does not equal diversity and the concepts behind it. Even if BLM did not exist, there would still be a need to discuss diversity in this world. BLM did not create the word or the idea of excluding people due to race, sex, sexual persuasion, socio-economic status, etc.

This is an example of what I was trying to address: Let’s say your faith does not support the concept of homosexuality and finds it immoral. Homosexuality exists and is not illegal. The scouts will experience someone who is homosexual, if they have not already. The point I am trying to make is that these scouts will find themselves with a challenge, how do they reconcile this as they grow older? What will they do if they end up working with a homosexual? Sent from my iPad

Diversity does not equal Black Lives Matter. One can discuss diversity, equity, and inclusion without discussing black lives matter. The definition I used is from the dictionary. my point is that diversity and the idea that people of different races, religion, socio-economic backgrounds, etc, have value and should be included is not in of itself political.

I would only add that when discussing something that is legal, that while you can consider it immoral, it does not mean you can ostracize or otherwise exclude someone who does not agree with your assessment of that something being immoral.

“the practice or quality of including or involving people from a range of different social and ethnic backgrounds and of different genders, sexual orientations, etc.” this is political? Really, that is what you think? If you do, then this is a waste of time even trying to discuss it.