Star scout too soon?

[funscout 11]

I know of a boy who finished Cub Scouts at the end of February, so the soonest he could have joined a troop would have been March 1st. I just saw him, four and a half months later, with the Star rank patch on his shirt! That means he had to have finished Scout, Tenderfoot, 2nd Class and 1st Class in just 2 weeks, in order to meet the "4 months as 1st Class" requirement for Star. Dad was upset that our troop wouldn't count Webelos activities towards Boy Scout rank, so they didn't join our troop. I'm guessing that's how he is justifying the quick rank earning.

 

One Tenderfoot requirement takes 30 days: Show improvement on specified exercises. Second Class requires participation in at least 5 different troop/patrol activities (other than regular meetings), 2 of which must be camp-outs.

 

This kid is attending 2 troops, but even so, I don't see how he could have participated in 10 different activities (1st class requirement) in less than a month. The leaders from our troop just shook their heads when they saw him. It doesn't do any good to talk to the Dad because he justifies things in his mind and won't listen to others. (This is the same kid who took rifle shooting merit badge 2 years earlier than anyone else in the Council was allowed to do.)

 

Ah, I needed to vent! Nothing can be done about this, but I feel better now!

[GernBlansten 10]

Too soon. Something ain't right. But who am I to complain?

My son rocketed through his first year. Scout within weeks of crossover. After summer camp, he got his Tenderfoot and Second Class at the same COH at the end of summer. By early spring the second year, he got his First class. He was elected to OA that spring and did his ordeal at the next summer camp. He got his Star the fall of his second year. He worked on merit badges over the winter, did his service and POR and just advanced to Life. He just turned 13 too. I didn't push him. REALLY. His mother pushed him on his badges, but I just sat back and watched him work the advancement. Now, we have attended nearly every troop camp out/event/fundraiser/whatever. That helps. It also helps that he took a full load of merit badges at the three summer camps he attended. He has been patrol leader, quartermaster, bugler and is now ASPL. I'd say the scouting bug has bitten him.

 

I guess he is just trying to out do my brother (his uncle) who got his Eagle at 13.5. Believe it or not, he did it all on his own. OA, Brotherhood, Bugle Corps (back in the 60s when it was a scouting group) My parents never pushed him. Obviously, because they never pushed me past Tenderfoot. My highest rank.

[evmori 11]

How old is this boy? Why is he attending two Troops? He is cutting corners somewhere. I'd bet this is parent driven!

 

Ed Mori

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[funscout 11]

Gern, there are several boys in our troop who are on the fast track like your son. I think that's great because they are self-motivated, but they are doing the requirements the way they are supposed to be done. In this case, though, it's an 11 year old boy who has been a Boy Scout for only 4-1/2 months.

 

Ed, supposedly Dad and son are still trying to decide which troop to join. Son must have joined one of them or he couldn't be earning rank at all. Yeah, something is fishy, isn't it?

 

Since this boy was in my Pack, and was still earning Webelos awards right up to our last Pack Meeting, I know he couldn't have joined a troop earlier than any of our other 2nd year Webelos. My guess is that Dad is either simply buying the rank patches himself or else our Council isn't catching the fact that his son is earning rank faster than is possible, according to the requirements.

 

Not exactly a stellar example of the scouting ideals!

[SR540Beaver 116]

Reminds me of a 13 year old "Life" Scout we had at Jambo who didn't know how to open a package of bacon or how to cook it either. We kept wondering how he got to his rank with absolutely NO discernable skills to speak of. The bacon thing is just one of many, many stories I could tell about this boy who was on the fast track for Eagle. In fact, we had a 14 year old boy at Jambo who WAS an Eagle who had only slightly more skills than the Life Scout.

[EagleInKY 14]

Sounds like dad is driving things the way he wants them done. Probably found a SM he can manipulate. The trick will be when they fill out the Eagle Paperwork next month. But seriously, the Eagle paperwork will catch timing discrepencies. My guess is that they will then get them straightened out.

[GernBlansten 10]

Could it be that this scout was just wearing a uniform with the Star patch on it and never received the rank? You know, a hand-me-down shirt? Or got it mixed up with another scout during a campout?

[acco40 95]

My oldest son earned his AOL in February (2001) as a ten year old and joined a troop later that month. He went to every campout, fundraiser, service, etc. for the first year. He earned first class before his first year (not really that hard) and Life at the age of 12 years and 4 months. He was a Star when I became Scoutmaster and I got a few stares when he was a 12 year old Life Scout (you know his dad is the Scoutmaster after all, heh heh). Well, it didn't bother me because if anything, I made it harder, not easier for him to advance.

 

Now fast forward to now and guess what, he is approaching his sixteenth birthday and dad is trying to get him to seriously begin his Eagle leadership service project. The prime motivation for him now is that his younger brother (by 19 months) has now earned more Eagle required merit badges than he has! Boys this age need some type of motivation (self, sibling, parent, peer, teacher, Scouter, etc.).

 

Yes, I am saddened by those that don't follow the program closely enough and cut corners either by ignorance or worse, on purpose. We came back from summer camp and I noticed about four or five merit badges were "earned" that I was not to happy about. One Scout earned Environmental Science and he told me (and his dad confirmed) he did zero prerequisites prior to summer camp. I'd like to know how built and maintained an ecosystem for seven days duiring six days of summer camp. Another boy "earned" his canoeing merit badge and he wasn't a swimmer and didn't attend the class!

 

But you know what, Scouts isn't a competition and I don't let these things bother me as much as I did in the past.

[SR540Beaver 116]

acco,

 

E-Science had a major overhaul or requirements and the ecosystem is no longer required. My son earned it at summer camp this year without doing any prerequisites. We have a committee member who is an E-science teacher that goes to summer camp each year and works with the boys on getting all their observations done and recorded. He always supervised the ecosystem in a bottle prior to camp in years past. He was surprised to learn of the changes.

 

Check it out at http://usscouts.org/mb/changes/mb007-06.html.

[GernBlansten 10]

E-Sci changed eh? Well that's news to my son who took it at summer camp this year. His only requirement he had to complete was the eco-bottle (4). Funny how the summer camp ran with the old requirements isn't it. Now the $20 question...Does he need to redo the merit badge with the new requirements, complete the old merit badge requirement (4) or just get his badge as it stands?

[EagleInKY 14]

Germ - It's not up to you, it's up to the MBC. He needs to get a new MBC now that camp is over. If the MBC is notified that he was working under the wrong requirements, he should be able to look up the correct ones and see if the MB is complete. It's possible that there may be new requirements that he has not done.

 

Acco - When I see blue cards come in from camp that were obviously not earned, I talk to the scouts. We talk about the points of the scout law (trustworthy, obedient, etc.) and then talk about whether a MB was really earned. Scouts will then normally admit that they didn't earn the MB and change the status to partial. It's a good lesson for them.

[funscout 11]

Gern, unless this kid has more than one uniform shirt, this is the same shirt that I saw him get at his Arrow of Light ceremony at the end of February. It was a brand new shirt (and bought big for him, so I know it would still fit) so it didn't have any patches on it.

 

Good point, though, that unless I know for SURE that it really was his original shirt, I can't know if it's HIS Star Rank patch or not. Given the history I know with this family, I'd be willing to bet he is being pushed through the ranks. As a cub, this boy kept working on Wolf arrow points even though he was a 3rd grader and in a Bear den. I told the Dad that was not right, but he insisted, because he wanted his son to be able to wear every possible arrow point on his uniform. I decided it was not worth the effort to continue arguing, because he wouldn't change his mind.

 

Really I just wanted to vent. This family, while irritating to me, does not really affect my family. It was interesting to hear that others have run across "corner cutters" as well. It's too bad the parents don't realize the disservice they are doing to their kids.

[LongHaul 10]

funscout,

Any chance that when this boy "gets" Eagle for Christmas he and his family will just disappear? Going by the Wolf arrow point story I wonder how many Eagle Plams this kid will apply for.

LongHaul

[evmori 11]

Wonder what 4 Eagle required & 2 other MB's this Scout earned for his Star rank?

 

Ed Mori

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[John-in-KC 311]

OK.

 

Physical fitness requirement for TF is a 30 day window. Unless the Scout BORs TR, 2C, and 1C in one night, there is a LOT happening in that one month.

 

Additionally requirement 3 for 1C is 10 troop/patrol activities (other than meetings) since joining. How many troops have 10 campouts, hikes, swims, ad infinitum in a 30 day period.

 

Finally, 1C to Star takes 4 months TENURE all by itself.

 

We never have all the info here, but I would not be surprised if some of the advancement was being "pencil-whipped" and the boy is being shortchanged by parents and/or (but hopefully not) leaders.

 

This is not good.

 

Actually, FS, if you think there is legitimate reasons to question trustworthiness, you can inform your CC you intend to have a quiet talk with the District Advancement Chair!

 

FS, thanks for sharing; understand your frustration (This message has been edited by John-in-KC)