MB fair question

[Lisabob]

OK I've seen some discussion of these MB fairs (generally not positive) but they're new to me so please allow me to ask a couple of basic questions. A local university is hosting a MB fair in a few weeks. They've got a laundry list of badges offered, some of which seem both pretty interesting and difficult to find MB counselors for. They have also made clear that there are pre-reqs that won't be covered at this event for some of the mbs.

 

I can see where going to one of these and "doing" a whole bunch of badges in one day is a bad idea. But what about just signing up for one? I'm a little unclear about how these things typically operate - does one shuffle from "class" to "class" in 45 minute segments (or something similar)with limited opportunity for questions and discussion? Or could a scout "hang out" with a mb counselor, thus having an opportunity to engage in meaningful exchange?

 

What about attending one of these as a way to complete mb partials? Here I'm thinking specifically of some of the craft ones like basketry and leatherwork where the scout might not have had time to finish his projects last year at camp and just needs to finish one or two small items.

 

Mind you, I'm not talking about compelling anyone to attend or making the arrangements for them, etc.. I'm talking about presenting the opportunity to the scouts and offering a little guidance ("for those of you who are not quite done with the basketry mb, here's a good opportunity..." - that kind of thing).

 

Ok bring it on - good idea? bad idea? caveats?

 

Lisa'bob

[Eagle447]

Merit Badge Madness as we call it ........is like going to school for the day........MANY pre reqs must be done prior to the event........ Classes are usually an hour apiece with some double sessions or triple sessions( depends on the MB like First Aid.It is an opportunity for some scouts to finish some merit badges........the blue card must be presented at time of registration with the pre reqs signed off

 

Other scouts use the event to start a merit badge knowing that they can finish it with a troop counselor.. All in All Our troop enjoys them......................

[SR540Beaver]

Obviously Eagle447 has a different experience than what I've seen. Around here, all of the MB Fairs I've seen are one day affairs. The MB's offered are either full day or half day classes. So, depending on what MB(s) a boy is working on, he can either do one MB or two at the most. Almost every MB I've seen offered had pre-reqs as not everything can be accomplished in the class. Another option is to do the requirements after the MB.

 

My opinion is that MB fairs are here to stay whether people like them or not. When I was a kid, we had three TV channels and you had to actually change the channel on the TV be walking up to it and turning a knob. The world has changed. PC's, the internet, iPods, cell phones, competitive sports, etc. While we would all like to see our boys get a name and number from the SM and call an MBC to set up an appointment to do an MB indepth with a buddy, that has kind of gone the way of corded phones and knobs on TV's. MB fairs and summer camp are where 99% of boys work on their MB's now.

[ASM416]

In my council we have "Merit Badge Days" This is a day where one merit badge is offered. Usually badges were it is hard to find councilors, Aviation, Nuclear Energy, etc.

 

My Volunteer Fire Company once hosted a Fire Safety merit badge day. The Fire Chief and the councils PR manager (both eagle scouts) arranged it. I was asked to assist with it the day before. When I arrived I discovered that there was no preparation at all. There were no prerequisites listed on the fliers. On top of that there was no MB councilor! No one knew this when I was "invited", but I am a Fire Safety MB councilor. So by the seat of my pants I put on the best program I could at the last min. I think we did a pretty good job, and since some of the scouts did do the prerequisites, many did finish the badge.

 

I still feel that it was a substandard program and am not a fan of group merit badge sessions. I will not assist with one again and I will try to discourage my scouts from participating.

 

Tim

[Lynda J]

We just finished our Merit Badge College this past weekend.

 

It is two weekends, two weeks apart. The scout can select 3 badges to work on. There is home work given out to be done between the two sessions. Classes start at 12:30 and go until 5:30. I have taught a class for the past three years. Did First Aid this year. The Badge was set up for a 4 hr session each day. There were 47 boys in the class with about 6 instructors. We split the badge up and each of us covered one section. The boys did a 2hr session covering the basics them splip out into smaller groups and rotated for things like splints, wounds, first aid kits, cpr, carries. Covered a lot of information. Made the boys practice. It was a good session.

 

There are always good and bad on anything like this. Kevin had a Cit of the Nation counselor this year that he said didn't know anything about the badge. Set in his chair. Read the first couple of pages of the work book them told the boys to do the homework. This guy probably won't teach next year. But for the most part our MBC is a good one. We had almost 1200 boys attend. Had almost 500 counselors and helpers. I don't know how many badges were covered. I do know that my boys had a ball. Some didn't complete all their badges but are about 80%.

[OldGreyEagle]

Merit Badge Fairs, are they any good? Thats a fair question...

 

After the thread on doing merit badges at meetings and the resulting posts, one does have to ponder the question, why do we have merit badge fairs. Most of what many of us see as the main lessons of the merit badge program is eliminated, the counselor is presented to the scout on a silver if not golden platter. All of the legwork is done for the scout, he just shows up and works on the requirements. I always thought the pre work to the merit badge was one of the main components of the merit badge.

 

Then again, if thats the thought on merif badge fairs, what about merit badges at sumner camp? How different is that?

[resqman]

I always thought that PART of the merit badge was to introduce the boy to new topics for a greater understanding.

 

I took a Merit Badge clinic as a boy 30 yrs ago. Railroading MB. It was hosted at the university in town. We built model trains and took a 3 hr train ride on a wood burning engine pulled train. I had no interest in trains at the time. But I was introduced to trains and railroading. I learned something.

 

As part of my Explorer Post, we decided that we wanted to learn more about radio communications. We had a local ham operator meet with us for 3 hrs a night for a few weeks. We learned morse code and more about radio communications. We were able to put that knowledge to use within our Post operations. Again I did not have a strong interest in the topic but I learned something.

 

Additionally we had animal vets teach Animal Science and Vetenarin Science as merit badge clincs. Most of us would never had chosen or worked these badges as suburban kids. Our Post theme was First Aid and we felt it would somehow be more medical training.

 

I also attended a mb clinic for Electronics. Computers were just starting to become a big item. It was a day filled with information I felt at the time was boring. I got a merit badge. I spent 25 years as a Computer Technician.

 

Did attending these clincs cheapen the knowledge and exposure to topics I probably would not have investigated on my own? I don't believe so. Did they remove the find a mb counseler, arrange a meeting, arrange transport, meet with counseler, do requirements, meet again for checkoff, etc. Yes, it simplied the process and removed some of the arranging the mudane details of appointments and travel.

 

I believe that not all of the badges should be earned via MB clincs. Badges that might otherwise not be commonly selected by many of the troop may be a good way to introduce new fields of interest. Particularly if you can get an "expert" in a certain field to run a clinic for a weekend that otherwise might not be willing to be a MB counsler.

[SueM]

In our council, MB Universities are a 2 day event, generally with the first one in November and day 2 in January. This gives the boys plenty of time to get the other requirements completed.

 

I sometimes get upset at the District camporee events where the DE basically tell the boys they'll earn the MB if they attend and participate in all the events...but when you look at the events, there's no way that all the requirements are met. I think we're getting a bit better at that though..we're doing a Wilderness Survival one next weekend and the only requirement that won't be "required" to be done is the sleeping in a shelter...although boys are certainly free to do that if they choose on Saturday night as this is the perfect spot for them to do so. We're going to have overnight lows in the 20's though so I'm not sure if many will opt to do that.

[scoutingagain]

Our District runs a merit badge university that covers 3 weekends and operates similar to the way the other multi-day fairs have been described. Scouts can sign up for up to three MBs.

 

I agree with the Beav. Between summer camp and the merit badge fairs, days, universities etc. 99.99% of the MBs earned by scouts are done so outside of what the MB program was intended. The entire process has been perverted so that, as OGE pointed out, much of the effort required to earn the MBs has been taken out of the scouts' hands and offered to them on the preverbial silver platter.

 

For all the hard discussion that's been had about the importance of the Uniform method, or individual units that tweak the program, the existence of these fairs, etc. seem to be regarded as a minor issue. Yet as pointed out, they have fundamentally changed the way MBs are earned in many councils and districts. And the irony is that many of these events are directly sponsored by the districts and councils themselves. They are a pet peeve of mine, yet seem to be so entrenched I see little that can be done.

 

Frankly if the choice was to have 2-3 scouts working on an MB with a counselor at a Troop meeting versus 20-30 scouts sitting in a class being lectured to, to earn an MB, I'd vote for working on MBs at meetings.

 

Yes, our MB University is just that, scheduled classes, with reading and homework assignments, projects due etc. It's school for crying out loud and so far from what scouting is supposed to be it drives me nuts sometimes.

 

And yes, since our district's event takes place over 3 weekends, many units DON'T DO an outdoor activity that month. So we've taken away an OUTING and put the kids in SCHOOL for three additional days. Sometimes I wake up screaming just thinking about it.

 

 

Sorry, you can continue discuss whatever it was.

 

SA

 

 

[Beavah]

Der was this troop I knew in my old district in a different council, back when my best friend had a pet triceratops. This troop went to a different agency every month and did a service project as a troop. During part of the project, they'd have someone from the agency talk about the good things that agency was doin'.

 

They would never sign off for service hours for such "troop" service. If you wanted service hours, you made an appointment with a buddy at one of the agencies you thought was cool, and did your service separately. Service meant "reachin' out yourself." What the troop projects did was provide an introduction to something the boys may not have known about. Naturally, in many cases this kind of "reach out" service became a long term relationship that developed into an Eagle project.

 

So resqman, it would be better if we just offered introductions to fun topics, eh? "Come and do an orientation flight in an airplane" is somethin' that makes for a good "fair." Then, if a boy wants, he can make an appointment to come back with a buddy, and spend some time doin' aviation MB for real. Or a couple o' lawyers could stage a mock trial with scouts as jurors... give 'em a taste o' issues of law. Then, if some of the kids wanted, they could make appointments to do Law MB. All the kids would learn somethin' and have some fun in either case, and the ones who were juiced by that topic could pursue da full MB experience.

 

Dat way SA wouldn't be wakin' up in the middle of the night screaming, eh?

 

 

[vmpost]

I was recently asked to teach at a Merit Badge Fair, and at first I said NO! As I spoke to the organizers about it though, it made more & more sense. We met three different weekends, spaced a couple months apart. NO ONE completed a badge the same day he opened it! The boys looked into the various badges they thought they might like, then visited with counselors & signed up for the ones they wanted. They went through an introduction the first day, then did work on their own. The 2nd weekend, they could show they had completed one, visit with the counselor on what more they needed to do, or sign up for another MB.

 

We live in a VERY rural community, so I liked this because it provided an opportunity for boys to work on MB's outside what our troop has counselors for. Within our troop we cover all the required MB's, and try to have two choices per MB (although it doesn't always work that way). Then we try to have counselors available for as many of the electives as possible. But with a limited community size, we are limited on MB counselors. Neighboring troops have the same problem. So...if we can "share" these counselors and have them available for Scouts in other units (sometimes from 60-100 miles away) it is a big plus! At least they have an opportunity they wouldn't otherwise have.

 

It has become customary for some leaders to take all their MB information to District events so they are available to other Scouts in the District. It occurs much like the "Fair" above...I've had boys from other troops open badges around our campfire, then look me up months later at another District event. Email is a great way to stay in touch with them, too!

[scoutingagain]

VMPost,

 

I like the approach of your MB Fair better than our MB University. I'm curious, at your fair how many couselors are typically there and how many scouts typically participate?

 

SA

[SeattlePioneer]

I'm not agin Merit Badge Universities (Jumboree in our district) in principle. They can be well done or poorly done.

 

I did the Cooking Merit Badge with another adult a year ago. We had a class covering hygiene that I did and the other adult did a good discussion on the food pyramid and such.

 

Scouts sat down and planned out some menues for their upcoming campoing trips. The Scouts all cooked their own lunch from a selection of ingredients that were provided ---a foil dinner.

 

We had a Scouter who is an excellent chef give an excellent discussion of how to get into the restaurant industry, and what kind of training is available.

 

Scouts still had work to do to complete the Merit Badge, but a good deal of it can be presented in a classroom type situation, and the opportunity to have an excellent group discussion with a chef was a great opportunity.

 

I would say this was an excellent start on doing the Cooking Merit Badge in good style.

 

 

 

Seattle Pioneer

[vmpost]

Again...we are very rural here, so...

 

We invite about 10 troops. We have anywhere from 12 - 20 counselors and usually around 40-60 boys. Sometimes more, soemtimes less, depending on the timing, etc. We come from a large geographical area (about 3600 square miles--less than 1/3 the District), but virtually all the leaders and most of the boys know each other before we get there, so we are at least "familiar" with the boys wanting to get an edge on the MB's...usually the ones who actually have some self-drive.

 

As I mentioned in my previous post, since it is so hard to find MB counselors for some of the badges, we do take our material to District events, too, so boys can visit us any time there, too, either to finish up or ask questions.

 

Not ideal, but it's what works for us out here.

[t158sm]

Our council has merit badge fairs just as SR540Beaver explained - one day event with either two half day classes or one full day class. Makes for an easy way to work on some of those less than everyday merit badges. I've taught fingerprinting before for the fair. Seen several others taught like Pulp and Paper, Horsemanship, and Reptile Study. Makes for a great opportunity to meet at least partial requirements on merit badges Scouts wouldn't have otherwise been exposed to.