dkurtenbach

1. Get thread the same color as the border of the patch. 2. For each stitch, come up from the inside of the shirt through the back of the border of the badge. 3. Once through the badge border, pull the thread through; to complete the stitch, insert the needle into the shirt outside the badge border right next to where the needle came up through the border. When you tighten the stitch, the thread should be parallel to the border thread and disappear into it, rather than cutting across it. 4. When inserting the needle back into the shirt (step 3), insert the point slightly under the e

Twocubdad wrote: "I fear that BSA is already expanding beyond the means of most units to deliver on the programs they are selling . . . If we're going to sell these Mountain Dew experiences, BSA is going to have to rethink it's model for delivering them. Expecting a troop of 12 boys and three adults to have this level of expertise is unrealistic." I agree that a cool high adventure program is beyond the capabilities of many individual units. But for Scouts in such units, I think the model for such a program already exists. Each year, my council has lots of slots for provisional crews f

Better than in 1962? Using computer technology and electronic communication. But that doesn't mean that BSA is doing it well now. As for what BSA is doing right, I'd agree that promoting high adventure and outdoorsmanship is one. It wasn't many years ago that I was very concerned that BSA was turning away from outdoorsmanship. I'd also add: retaining the Scout Oath and Law unchanged.

Many discussions have lots to say about things BSA is doing wrong or not doing at all. Just for a change of pace, what is BSA doing right? Dan Kurtenbach Fairfax, VA

The concept of Roundtable is fundamentally flawed: "Unit Scouters, we want you to come in here once a month so that we can give you training and information that we think you should have (whether or not _you_ want it or need it or already have it)." I think that is why a good Roundtable is a rare thing. For a lot of people, it is like the dentist summoning you for a checkup then spending most of the time going over how to brush and floss. Dan Kurtenbach Fairfax, VA

Whether what you had to say belonged in this thread or not, your comments really caused me to think and re-think about my views, and I appreciate that very much. Thanks a lot! Dan Kurtenbach Fairfax, VA

Yep, in the system I am describing, membership in the "community" is not treated as a right that is so precious that members can abuse it over and over again and only have to do a few pushups. Rather, membership is the benefit of a contract that the member makes -- in exchange for the ability to participate in Scouting, he agrees to live by a certain code; indeed, he swears an oath on his honor. If he doesn't hold up his end of the bargain, he's out. Whether he stays out and how long he stays out is up to him, because all he has to do is re-commit himself to live by the code, to make up for

Nonsense? Hardly. Let me reiterate: "The individual circumstances of the breach, thoughtfully considered, will usually lead the adult in charge to a reasonable determination. Can the boy stay at the meeting or activity (likely to be quickly recalled to play again once he decides to follow the rules)? Or does he need to go home -- to be welcomed back to the troop at such time as he shows that he (himself -- without a parent keeping him on a leash) will follow the rules (and makes good any damage he may have caused)?" In other words, the period between a lad being called for breaking

For the most part, we aren't counselors, social workers, clergy, or other kids' parents. We're just volunteer leaders, here to do the best we can for the boys who are here to play the game of Scouting. The game of Scouting has rules -- we call it "Law." When someone breaks the rules of the game he is no longer welcome to play. The individual circumstances of the breach, thoughtfully considered, will usually lead the adult in charge to a reasonable determination. Can the boy stay at the meeting or activity (likely to be quickly recalled to play again once he decides to follow the rul

Shortridge, great post. I wholeheartedly agree. Dan Kurtenbach Fairfax, VA

Shortridge wrote: "I look at the programs my daughter is involved in - dance classes and youth theatre - and think of how they pitched themselves. Rather than selling the benefits, these programs - growing very rapidly - sell the fun. Few children in them are going to end up professional dancers or actors, and that's freely acknowledged. Yet many end up continuing from a young age into their teenage years because dancing and acting are enjoyable. Parents - and kids - are sold on the immediate fun, not on the future benefit of what dance and theatre will do to build their character." I wo

Sasha wrote: "I'm working on pack and troop recruitment right now with my DE to make it more exciting and more representative of what scouting really is. I looked at beascout.org this am and saw the pictures of boys doing things we never do. And I asked myself, 'why?'" I think the notion of "what Scouting really is" (as opposed to "what Scouting should be") is debatable, but perhaps in another thread. Assuming that you are talking about more adventuresome outdoor activities, I would suggest: 1. The first priority for many troops is to have campouts where T-2-1 rank requirements

BSA24 wrote: "Filling out a project write up and having it rejected multiple times is not fun with a purpose. Even having a guide to advancement is not fun with a purpose. "Advancement in the Boy Scout program has become this dominating force of sea lawyering that isn't fun. "How is any of this arguing about advancement guides fun? How is being grilled in a BOR fun?" ------------------ The most disheartening trend I've seen in Boy Scouting over the last 15 years is the ever-increasing emphasis on earning awards for their own sake -- including Eagle Scout. That is, the g

There is a radio commercial I've been hearing the last couple of weeks, talking about stuff that accumulates in your house, stuff that you have to step over, stuff that has been there so long you don't even see it anymore. You've got junk! And they can haul it away. BSA has junk. We have to remember that our program is run by amateur volunteers, many of them coming in with no Scouting background at all and no idea of what Scouts do -- they just want to help and do something good for their kids. And I think BSA gives us an organization, administrative burdens, and even a program th

SeattlePioneer wrote: "The program of each unit is unique. How can you mass market a program that is unique to each of hundreds or thousands of different units? "You may be able to create a generalized interest, but you aren't going to be able to have people sign up on a website and then be assigned to a particular unit. "Each unit is too distinctive, I think." ------------------------ I think that BSA suffers from putting out a product that is highly inconsistent from unit to unit. Of course, there is a fear that improving consistency from unit to unit would mean not only

Advancement Committee Policies and Procedures, #33088, 2008 Printing, available online at http://scoutmaster.typepad.com/2008AdvancementGuideBook.pdf Page 23, fourth paragraph: "Educators and counselors agree that the best way to build confidence is through measurement. Self confidence is developed by measuring up to a challenge or a standard. Peer confidence develops when the same measuring system is used for everyone when all must meet the same challenge to receive equal recognition. Confidence in leaders comes about when there is consistency in measuring when leaders use a sin

Make no mistake -- Baden-Powell's "level of effort" standard ("Do Your Best") was long ago abandoned by BSA for the Boy Scouting program. The predecessor to the current Guide to Advancement, "Advancement Committee Policies and Procedures," was very explicit on this point: "Educators and counselors agree that the best way to build confidence is through measurement. Self confidence is developed by measuring up to a challenge or a standard. Peer confidence develops when the same measuring system is used for everyone when all must meet the same challenge to receive equal recognition. Con

2010 census data showed a male population, ages 5-17, of 26 million. We have approximately 2.5 million youth members in Cub Scouting, Boy Scouting, and Varsity Scouting. I have two concerns in particular about current BSA programs. First, BSA has largely abandoned recruitment of Boy Scouts from sources other than Cub Scout packs. Even the recommended Boy Scout program recognizes this -- the New Scout patrol and First Class First Year are built around groups coming into a troop in a narrow time window in a particular time of the year. Ironically, the Boy Scouting program is perfect

I think it does have to be fixed at the national level. Great unit programs attract youth, yes. But great unit programs are temporary and largely dependent on specific individuals and local conditions -- factors that cannot be readily duplicated in other units. No youth joins Scouts to have his character built. As long as National persists in making intangibles like character and leadership the _public_ message and identity of Scouting, we make lots of conservative adults happy but it doesn't help with membership. WE HAVE TO KEEP THOSE PURPOSES, but stop trying to market them to the g

Changes to particular sections of the Guide to Advancement? Sure: Delete them all. Abolish the Guide. Include all interpretative comments right there in the back of the Boy Scout Handbook and in the annual Requirements book, integrated with the rank requirements themselves so that they are up front and obvious for everyone to see. Dan Kurtenbach Fairfax, VA

The "Note" to Second Class requirement 3f doesn't say anything about fire bans. It doesn't say that lighting the fire is not necessary _if there is a fire ban._ In fact, 3f goes out of its way to say "an approved place" and "an approved time," which seem to mean that the firebuilding should take place only when it is okay to build fires, because presumably many of those fires _will_ be lit. So the Note does not make sense as simply a response to fire bans, because the other wording in the requirement deals with that issue. But 3f is perfectly consistent with "tell," "explain," and "des

Second Class Requirement 3f: "In an approved place and at an approved time, demonstrate how to build a fire and set up a lightweight stove. Note: Lighting the fire is not required." BSA says it here clearly and explicitly: Lighting the fire is not required. How can a Scout know that he built the fire correctly if he doesn't have to light it? If you think bnelon44's interpretation of the Advancement requirements is crazy, explain 3f. Looking at 3f, it makes perfect sense that the other rank requirements as written say nothing about proficiency or retention of skills or actually _

It is unlikely that the troop would ever be pressured to move Scouts into a Venturing crew. If I recall correctly, some attempts at that were made very early on after Venturing was created, and they were not welcomed by Boy Scout leaders. Boy Scouting, after all, takes a lad all the way to adulthood at age 18, so (from the Boy Scouting perspective) there is no need for a follow-on program; rather, the need is to continue improving troop programs so that more older boys will age out instead of leaving Scouting. I'm merely suggesting that perhaps BSA has a different perspective. Rather t

I think that BSA's membership and Advancement ideal would be for Boy Scouts to earn Eagle rank by age 14 or 15, at which point they can turn their full attention to the Venturing crew they have transitioned into, and earning Bronze, Gold, Ranger/Quest/Trust, and Silver. A 17.9 year old Eagle Scout in a troop means a lost opportunity -- a youth that is unlikely to become a Venturer at that point, meaning that (a) BSA will be unable to count 3 more youth membership years (since Venturers can continue to age 21), and (b) 3 or 4 prestigious awards going unclaimed. I don't mean that to sound

What I think we have in the Guide to Advancement is a case of the Advancement folks at National trying to give the Advancement method too much credit for the character development that is the product of Scouting. So we get lots of long passages about how Advancement does this and that for boys and what Advancement is supposedly really all about. Unfortunately, the Guide to Advancement doesn't match up with the actual requirements. But really, much of the fog laid down by those passages is really just intended to avoid answering one question: Why are the rank requirements so easy?