clemlaw

>>>>>So hay how about that new knot! (Lol)

>>>>>IMHO - the BSA's directive towards specific recruiting of hispantics is flat out racist and runs counter to what the BSA stands for.

>>>>>We need to offer a product the hispanic community wants.

I'm not familiar enough with it to know how well it works, but our council has a non-geographic district specifically targeted to the Hispanic community: http://elsol.nsbsa.org/ (There are similar districts for the Asian and African-American communities.) If I were in charge, that's not necessarily the way I would do things. But I'm not in charge. And again, I don't really have any personal knowledge about how well it's working. I do know of one Asian troop in our Council that is fabulously successful, and has really made a huge difference for a lot of kids. I suspect

I've also wondered about those ads. I could be wrong, but I assumed their intended message is, "if this whole Scouting thing isn't having the desired effect on Junior, send him to us and we'll take care of him." But again, I could be wrong.

>>>>I understand where you're coming from with thinking that these issues won't hold back individuals from joining. That's the absolute truth.

---but shouldn't our focus be on teaching those people ENGLISH to live in an english speaking country--- The mission of the BSA has never been to teach adults anything. The mission of Cub Scouts is to provide fun activities for kids. Kids are sponges, and they will soak it up in whatever language it's presented, as long as it is fun. But to get those kids in the door, we need to communicate to the parents that we're going to provide a worthwhile activity, that we're going to provide a safe activity, and that their kids are going to have fun. If we need to find someone who spea

It sounds like you're taking a good approach. I'm by no means an expert, but my wife is Mexican, so I guess my son is one of those kids you want to recruit. First of all, I'm not familiar with the program your council has (mine has something similar, though), but I have my doubts about the wisdom of having some kind of special program that targets one particular group. Maybe I'm wrong, and every single Hispanic kid loves soccer, and Anglo kids hate soccer. But I suspect that the kids, whether their families stepped off the Mayflower, whether they're from Mexico, or whether they're fr

The more I think about this, there is only one logical conclusion. The entire Pack needs to be disbanded! As everyone has dutifully quoted, the rules demand that the beads be awarded. But the rules do not state that the Den Leader must be the person to hand them out. So we have this Den Leader who isn't doing the job, but apparently, nobody else in the Pack is stepping up to the plate to help out and do this job. They're apparently aware of this refusal, yet they do nothing about it! I bet they also allow smoking, drinking, swearing, and stealing at the Pack meetings. Pe

They obviously already approached him. If they hadn't approached him, he couldn't have refused. Since he is refusing, all they can do is remove him or threaten to remove him. If I'm wrong, what else can they do?

-----There probably isn't a troop around with the kind of program where scouts practice every skill in the Boy Scout Handbook.---- But I think if the troop has a good program, they should be doing things to practice most of them. They've changed a little bit since my time in Scouts, but not too much. As I look through them, I would say that most of them are things that Scouts will do routinely, if they're engaged in a halfway decent program. If a Scout forgot how to tie a taut line hitch, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Maybe he did use a bungee cord to put up his tent. So I

IMHO, if it's even an issue about whether or not a Scout will "pass" his BOR, then there's a big problem with the program. Yes, I suppose that even in the best program, one or two Scouts might show up occasionally having forgotten how to tie a bowline. But if large numbers of scouts have forgotten basic skills, then the BOR should indeed give out a failing grade. But the program, and not the Scout, has obviously earned it. If a troop is worried about "re-testing", then I think they're looking in the wrong place. There shouldn't be any "testing" in the first place, for the va

If some cartoonist draws a set of cartoons about various faith traditions and knocks on the door of BL and tries to sell them, they might actually be pretty good, and BL might buy them. On the other hand, if someone at the top makes a decision that BL needs to have cartoons about various faith traditions, then the resulting comic is guaranteed to be something that will bore the readers to tears. Complaining about it might possibly result in someone at the top making a decision, but I doubt if it will result in any additional interesting content. Incidentally, I found it interest

Anyone can get a square knot. I'm still trying to figure out what I have to do to get a granny knot!

>>>>>>A Den Leader should follow the Cub Scout program as closely as possible as given

>>>>>When I took Atomic Energy, it WAS a district-wide thing

>>>>>>I guess my biggest problem is that I have doubts that his parents would even try to make an attempt at trying to schedule this event as a family activity. The boy seems genuinely interested in the program but his parents lack the same enthusiasm.

I have another horrible confession to make. I'm sure it's partially my fuzzy memory after almost 40 years. But I don't remember any of my Boards of Review for Tenderfoot through Life! I have a vague recollection of my Eagle Board of Review, but I don't remember it as being anything particularly traumatic or even memorable. I know I must have had them, but it apparently wasn't as big a deal back in the day. It certainly wasn't an inquisition. If anything, it was probably more of a pat on the back for getting everything done. And I only have one recollection of anyone failing a Bo

There's one thing that I'm very curious about. Can most Merit Badge counsellors rightfully say that they are an "expert" on the subject that they are counselling? Maybe I'm wrong (I hope I'm wrong), but I get the distinct impression that these days, a lot of MB's are counseled by parents in the troop who are able to do the requirements, and they are therefore qualified to be a counselor. But if this is being done, then this is shortchanging the scouts of an opportunity to meet with and interact with people who are experts. For example, there's a Dentistry MB, right? The

BSA73, I'm also a new TDL, but I've only been away from Scouting for about 30 years. The issue hasn't come up yet, but the Older Person/Museum visit was one of our first meetings, and we had a couple of new Tigers since then. I figure that even though it's supposed to be a Den activity, it's within the spirit of the rule to just have them do it as a family. We're also having problems arranging the TV/Radio station visit. I've found a few local stations that are willing to give tours, but so far, they're only available during the workday, when we're not. If we can't line anyt

>>>>>I read that paragraph from that parent and no where in it do I see mention that the parent corrected the problem.

Ah, I feel much better. That must have been the "merit badge" that his "boy scout" was working on. As Emily Litella would say, "never mind". (This message has been edited by clemlaw)

Just to make sure, I looked through the Communications MB requirements, and I didn't see anything about a crystal set. And I can't think of any other MB where it's a requirement. So that gives me hope that perhaps his son is a Cub Scout, and instead of a "merit badge", it was actually some elective or something. If that's the case, other than being a little bit mixed up on the terminology, everything is well.

Well, yes. My first reaction was to blame the whole BSA, so at least I narrowed it down a little bit more. But you're right--it might not be the troop's fault. But yes, it might be one parent who hasn't figured out the program. Like I mentioned, perhaps the most troubling part was the fact that the guy felt comfortable telling this story in public.

In the other thread, allangr1024 wrote: >>>>So we tend to have inexperienced and untrained MBC's who are brought in to troop meetings to teach the badge, and the scouts do not learn the stuff well. As someone has said, it is too much like school. >My son needed to build a crystal diode radio for the Communications Merit Badge in the Boy Scouts. I searched the internet to find a good price and this was it. The instructions were fairly easy to understand and my son built it himself without supervision. But he was unable to get it working. I took a look at it and found that th