DrBeado

Well well well.... I have only been perusing this site for a few weeks, but it seems that every thread I read I find Bob White and yaworski arguing the opposite sides of the issue. It looks like you two CAN agree some some issues after all. Maybe its the start of something new.....

I think lots of partials may be the sign of a good program. Much better than my boy's experience (I was in the audience). The actual presentation was good, and my son had a good time. But a couple minute explanation of Ohm's law to 11 and 12 year olds is NOT "learn Ohm's law and how to apply it" (or something to that effect). Also, everybody who tried to build their circuit got credit for building it, whether or not they actually completed it. I think every scout there got the completed badge, whether or not they really understood anything. The temptation is strong to let things slide, b

Merit Badge Universities (MBUs) seem to be all the craze in our area (about 3 a year within easy driving distance). I have always been uncomfortable with them for a variety of reasons, but I just got my "Merit Badge Counselor letter" and wonder how MBUs can be reconciled with the directions counselors are given in the letter. It states "...you can coach more than one at a time, but only one Scout at a time can satisfy you that he can meet the requirements." A bit earlier it also says "When one Scout in a group answers a question it can't possibly be prove that all the others in the group al

OK, you have changed the situation I outlined. I said they wanted to take all the troops, including new scouts, not 14 year olds who were experienced campers. And you propose maybe a dozen steps, all of which have to work properly. I ABSOLUTELY AGREE that ideally everything can be worked out without preventing the scouts from doing something and without any votes taken. But just one hold-up in that scenario you propose and we have a conflict. The committee MUST have the final say in a situation involving safety, AND if they cannot come to consensus, the only obvious way to resolve the

I have to disagree with you, Bob White. The scenario I described in #2 on my posting is a situation that IS the committee's decision. As I understand the Committee Handbook (I don't have it in front of me, so I cannot quote you a passage), the troop committee oversees the troop activities IN PARTICULAR as it relates to safety issues. Taking inexperienced campers on a week-long backpacking trip into Yellowstone in January is NOT a safe practice. If the committee allowed this event to occur and a scout froze to death, the fall-out would be tremendous. The committee DOES have the right to

I have just read the past 5 pages of this thread (as a new ASM in a brand new troop, and one who will not get to SM training until next month, this seemed like an appropriate subject to read about). After reading all of this it seems to be a no-brainer. 1. Let the Scouts make as many decisions a possible. 2. Where there is a committee decision that has to be made (i.e., Will we really let the whole troop take a week-long cross-country ski trip in the Yellowstone backcountry in January, or are safety issues involved?), discuss it and try to come to concensus. 3. But if a co

Surely someone on this forum can explain this. I just noticed it again. The logo appeared to the left of one of the threads, and then was gone 10 minutes later when I viewed the thread again. Also, the same thing happened to a particular posting in a thread (except the logo appeared to the right this time). Anybody know?

I am relatively new to this forum. I notice that every once in a while the "Greenbar Bill" logo appears next to a post or topic (or elsewhere on the forum?). Can anybody explain why it appears? I think I remember it even happening to either a thread or post of mine (I am not going back to verify that). Thanks.

Time to move this over to the "issues and politics" forum. We have gotten so far afield from the original question. I sense that we can debate this forever and not change anyones minds. This has gone from being a debate over how to deal with the practical issue of what to deal with you come upon a "men only" troop to a series of rants about our pre-existing biases (and I mean both sides of the issue). Enough. Nobody is going to change their minds on this issue.

So I guess we will have to agree to disagree on this issue. I think it DOES send a message that it is OK to discriminate against someone because they are female, even if inadvertantly. We have enough trouble in this world because of these attitudes without reinforcing them in any way.

I told myself that I was not going to post to this thread anymore, but the following recent comment made me change my mind. "However, if the issue is - the boys want it to be a males only cluband again, I emphasize if it's the BOYS IDEA, then I think its acceptable." Are you saying that it is OK to send the message to the boys that it is acceptable to exclude women? This is the same attitude that leads to country clubs and the like that exclude women (and thus exclude them from a location where many business decisions are made over meals, golf, etc.). This attitude leads to the "good

I have another comment not related to the replies so far. If you want to get people to read your threads, you need to think more carefully about your title. I do not have anything to do with the Chicago Council, so it is only happenstance that I opened this thread (most of us have time limitations, and do not read every thread on the forum). For all I knew, you were just looking for another troop to collaborate in a local service project. Try something like "Camp Owasippe is being closed down. Help!" or something else to get people's attention. I have watched some threads take off a

A while back Twocubdad quoted scout policy as: All aspects of the Scouting program are open to observation by parents and leaders. If this is true, how can even a CO prevent moms from going on the campout? Someone stated that the CO could request that dads instead of moms should go. But where does that leave all the single-parent families? It seems to me that a troop may be able to legally set up a "no female leaders on campouts" policy, but I cannot see how they can prevent a mom going as a parent but not a leader. We have been going around and around for 6 pages on this is

Hey guys! With all the expertice that is out there, surely there are more opinions than 5 replies for this thread. How about some examples for Stressbaby? How does YOUR troop decide how much knowledge a scout has to demonstrate before signing him off in the book?

Update and further clarification: First, the meeting went great. We had 8 boys, about as many parents, and 3 college students (and former Eagle Scouts) that are going to help us out. We had to prop our flag between two chairs because we don't have a stand yet, but the boys ran the opening ceremony well. The theme was cooking as we have a campout in a little over a week. We lit charcoal on a trashcan lid in the parking lot and the SM directed the boys to make a dump cake in a dutch oven (it was delicious). After the opening ceremonies, the adults held our first committee meeting wh