do your MBCs deliver the promise?

[Lisabob]

I've been thinking a lot about how our troop, district, and council views the MB program these days. Our boys are getting ready for summer camp and this year they are attending a camp that appears to be quite serious about doing things "right." ie, they tell us that they don't herd boys through MB classes and sign off on stuff just because Junior was present. They have serious limits on the size of their MB classes. They have pre-requisites for many MBs and (they say) won't allow boys to join the mb class unless they have documentation from a registered MB counselor (like a partial blue card) that the pre-reqs have been completed before camp. After our experience with what must be the worst possible MB mill situation ever at a different camp last summer, this is a welcome change in approach.

 

So we've been working on getting boys set up w/ MBCs to prep for camp. And I have found two things that dismay me. First, most people don't want the boys to have to go out of our troop to find counselors. And second, our district and council MBC list are rather lacking once you get past the 20 or so most commonly sought after MBs.

 

Now we have a large troop with lots of adults and there are many MBs we can legitimately cover as counselors. Also, our council limits MBCs to 5 MBs (which I'm ok with) so there is no chance of a boy doing all his Eagle MBs with one or two people. But still, I view the MB program as a way to grow outside of the troop, work with true experts and practitioners with deep knowledge of the field, and also as a way to get the wider community involved in/aware of the good things scouts do. This sort of closed-door mentality promotes none of those objectives.

 

There is, for example, a guy in our area who makes arrows for the US olympic archery team. Wow. He's even registered as a MBC for archery and by all accounts he does a good job. Hardly anyone goes to him though, because someone else in the troop is willing to counsel the same badge and the SM and advancement chair routinely direct boys to the guy from our troop instead. Now the guy from our troop isn't bad, but he doesn't have that same sort of background either. It's just that we "needed" someone for the boys to finish up summer camp partials with, so he signed up.

 

With regard to astronomy - there's a guy on the council MBC list who teaches astronomy at a major university in the area. He's internationally renowned, has access to the university observatory, and is a super-nice guy who works well with kids to boot. He has told me that no one seeks him out; they all do it "in house" with their troop. Nothing necessarily wrong with that, but for the kid who has a passion for astronomy, think of what he could have learned and the potentially life-long connection he could have made, if the SM or advancement chair had given him this guy's contact info.

 

And again, once you get past the "basics" the troop, district, and council MBC list is thin. Every troop stretching to cover all of the Eagle-required plus a majority of the other popular camp MBs (so they can finish partials) leads to a clustering of MBCs.

 

So ok, enough complaining. I'm not on our district advancement committee (I have enough meetings to attend, thank you). But I'm thinking of starting a sort of MBC sign-up drive to get more people signed up for the less common badges. I don't know that I can do a lot about troops' attitudes (outside my son's troop) but I can at least make sure that next time some enterprising kid wants to do, say, archeology, that there will at least be someone to call.

 

Because that's the other thing I've seen - SMs tell the kid, sorry, there's no MBC for that, you'll have to pick another MB instead. Too bad, that MB could have been the start of something great for that boy.

 

How do you view the whole MB experience? Do you try to cover as many MBs as possible in your troop? Do you actively seek out outsiders to serve as MBCs? Am I missing a part of the picture here? Would you like to see your troop/district/council change the way they do MBC recruitment? The way you currently do things (however that is), do you believe you are "delivering the promise" or is it more along the lines of "covering the bases?"

 

 

[John-in-KC]

Lisa,

 

Our Troop had an internal rule: We would not let a Scout earn all his MBs in house. With malice aforethought, we deliberately refused to accept MBC credentials for a couple of Eagle Required MBs.

 

If the SM doesn't sign the blue card at the beginning of the process, the process doesn't go forward.

 

As I look at my own sons' record, he did Family Life, Personal Fitness, and First Aid completely out of the Troop. Indian Lore, while done at Scout Camp, was essentially a 1:1 time with that particular Counselor at a special lodge. Space Exploration came as a consequence of attending a non-Scouting summer camp focused on space. Several of the adult staff were Scouters and certified within their Council. Sons' SM called and asked the right questions, then sent him West with a Blue Card.

 

As my son approaches college, his ability to inter-relate with new adults is a skill I'm delighted he has. In my opinion, any Troop which keeps the merit badges in-house is absolutely short-changing their Scouts.

 

BTW, your last comment, Lisa:

Because that's the other thing I've seen - SMs tell the kid, sorry, there's no MBC for that, you'll have to pick another MB instead. Too bad, that MB could have been the start of something great for that boy.

 

... is absolute anathema to me. The words that come to my mind about that SM are neither friendly, courteous, nor kind.

 

[ASM915]

Lisa,

 

Our District limits the MBC's to 3 MB's, except if someone councils for an uncommon MB, then maybe 4. They want the boys out there meeting and interacting with different adults.

 

Our Troop so far, will only cover Camping, Backpacking, Hiking and Cooking MB's introop. Sometimes it gets interesting when a knowledgeable Scout goes toe to toe with a Troop leader on a particular requirement when the leader is only use to doing something a certain way or is tunnel visioned.

Ie. Had one scout that used military issue BDU's for his clothing list for summer and winter camping. He was told that "You can't use those. You be to hot. You be to cold. Come back when the list is correct." MBC wouldn't listen to the reason why the BDU's were on the list because he had never used them. The next week the scout walked in with a folder full of Internet articles explaining carbon filament use in military issue clothing and how it acts to keep you warm or cool depending on the climate. Needless to say, the Troop MBC had to back down.

 

Same Scout with Native regalia and camping techniques. He uses actual furs for regalia and on occasion for bedding. Everyone thinks he's nuts when he appears dressed in furs and it in the 80's. Again, the fur is hollow and acts as a radiator drawing heat away in the summer and preserving it in the winter. It can be raining. Everyone else's tents will get wet, but if you camp with him, even with no tent, just pines for shelter, your dry.

 

He's only had trouble with two MBC's. The Troop MBC which rectified itself and the MBC asks for his advice now on occasion and one Eagle badge MBC.

 

Our Troop makes the Scouts go to different MBC's.

 

What I would like to see on our MBC list put out by our District is the MBC qualifications to do the MB, Professional in the field, not a Professional but years of experience in particular MB area, a hobbyist, or just an interest in the subject matter. That way we would be able to determine which MBC might be best for a particular Scout.

 

As for a SM saying "Can't do that badge, no councilor. Find another MB to work on."

String him up by his toes at the Pioneering MB site at next summercamp. If an adult, either parent or other leader, hears the SM say this to a Scout, they should tell the SM to get off his lazy @#$@$, call Council and find out who does do the MB in question. Yes the Scout may have a 20 or 40 mile one way trip on their hands, but if they really want to do it, the SM is suppose to be there to help and support them, not blow it off.

 

[EagleInKY]

"And I have found two things that dismay me. First, most people don't want the boys to have to go out of our troop to find counselors. And second, our district and council MBC list are rather lacking once you get past the 20 or so most commonly sought after MBs. "

 

Lisa, I can't agree with you more. And, I'd say, it sounds like your district/council is better than mine in regards to this topic.

 

1) We have no district list.

2) Our DAC has told us to build our own list (in the troop)

3) There is no need for approval if the MBC is already a registered leader.

 

Consequently, most of our boys MB experiences are either at camp or with someone in the troop. The side-effect of this is that it is nearly impossible to get a boy to want to go outside of the troop for any MBC.

 

I've resigned myself to make it work as well as I can. Like you, I already have enough irons in the fire for now.

[aloha_you_all@yahoo.com]

Wow, You are doing great in comparison to our troop:

 

One boy could not even get his blue card signed to start the process by his SM!

 

It seems as though the SM and the Troop Committee Chair (husband and wife) wants to keep it in-house. When in fact they are not listed on the MBC list put out by Council. Not to mention they are very inconsistent and therefor the boys lack motivation (this is a another story).

 

I have recently applied to become a MBC for the simple reason stated above and the fact that it was son who they denied. I have only signed up for three even though our council allows max 30 per MBC. I feel as though the boys need the experience and exposure to meet with other leaders in the community and not receive all their badges with one adult or even all with the troop. I did also sign up for one that no other MBC offered in my district for diversity since everyone goes for the eagle required.

 

I am terribly frustrated with and how our troop handles the MB program.

 

A scout is ........patient and kind! Oh wait patience is not one of the points. HA

 

A good ole' owl too,

[Venividi]

Interesting thread. As MBC, I have only occasionally been contacted by a scout over a period of 9 years.

 

Once for gardening. Seems not many people in this area have gardens.

Once for first aid. When a scout from our troop came back from Summer camp without a record of MB work completed there. Scouts prefer to get the MB at summer camp because it is easier.

A couple of times for snow sports - though I know many more kids that like snowboarding.

Never for animal science - though this is the edge of suburbia and adjacent to farmland, there is very little livestock in the area, so this is understandable.

 

Received two calls from parents who asked if I would sign off on snow sports MB for their son because they recently been on a ski trip.

Received a call from a troop committee chair asking if I would teach a first aid MB class at their troop meetings. (I responded that I would be happy to provide first aid instruction at a troop meeting, if asked by an SPL, and that interested scouts could then contact me directly for MB, but that I was not interested in doing MB classes at a troop level. Not surprisingly, I never received that invitation).

[ASM915]

I don't know if all Councils practice this, or of ot os just one of our Councils quirks.

According to our DAC, the ASM or a Committee Member also can sign a blue card. The only time we've done this is when the SM wasn't available at a meeting and the Scout needed a card before the next meeting, or when we were in transition between SM's where we weren't sure what the former SM was doing. He just short of stopped showing up with no notice. He was busy with worh, etc, and we ASM and CM's handled the troop until he finally came out that he no longer wanted to be SM.

 

The point being, Aloha, if the SM refuses to sign the card, it might not be nice, but you can try to get one of the ASM or CM's to sign it instead, especially if the SM is trying to prevent scouts from going outside of the troop, as a power thing.

 

Lisa, same thing when the SM refues to give the kid a name and sign the card. If you have to, go around him and file a complaint with the CO.

 

There is always a work-around.

[Lisabob]

ASM, do you mean "sign a blue card" as in, give the kid permission to start working on a MB? Or do you mean it as in, sign off on MB requirements even though they're not a registered MBC for that badge? The first is considered acceptable around here (with the SM's approval usually); the latter is not.

 

As for work arounds? Oh sure, they exist. But you know it is so easy for a kid to get discouraged and believe it when the SM says things like that. And once they accept the SM's line, it is harder to ask them to challenge the SM on it and be insistent. I've heard from plenty of SMs who do that too - not referring specifically to ours. And there are a lot of the 120 or so MBs that our district and even our council don't have MBCs for. So in reality it might mean either helping a kid locate and register a new adult as an MBC, or going out of council (assuming a nearby council has an MBC for the badge in question). I've done both of those, but a lot of people just don't want to be bothered.

 

Right now I'm trying to help a scout identify someone to be an MBC for cinematography, for example. No way in the world I'm going to tell this kid he "can't" do it!

[ASM915]

Lisa,

 

Sorry about that. Signing the card inplace of the SM, allowing the Scout to start coursework.

 

I don't think National would be to thrilled about us forging documents. LOL

 

Eric