For Scouters who were Scouts or Scouters when Cooking was Eagle Required

[NJCubScouter 1389]

shortridge, the Skill Awards were just a different way of organizing the rank requirements for the "lower" ranks (through First Class) and providing more frequent recognition of achievements. Before 1972, like today, each rank had specific requirements in various subject areas. For Second Class, for instance, there was a specific cooking requirement, a specific first aid requirement, probably one about knots, and so on. For First Class, there was a more challenging cooking requirement, a more challenging first aid requirement, lashings, signalling, and so on. (Tenderfoot was basically the joining requirements, as Scout is today.)

 

In the 1972 handbook (which is when Tenderfoot became a "real" rank, with Scout created to represent the joining requirements), the specific list of requirements was eliminated. Twelve skill awards were created, including Camping, Cooking, Citizenship, Conservation and Swimming. For Tenderfoot, you had to earn the Citizenship skill award and any one other, as well as one merit badge. For Second Class you needed a cumulative total of five skill awards and three merit badges, and for First Class you needed a cumulative total of eight skill awards and five merit badges, including First Aid and Citizenship in the Community. The only required skill award was Citizenship, with the result (as some have said) that you could theoretically reach First Class having passed no requirements in camping, cooking or swimming -- and since Camping and Cooking were simultaneously made non-required MB's and Swimming was made optionally required, in theory the same was true for Eagle. You could reach Second Class having learned no first aid, but for First Class you needed the First Aid MB.

 

The requirements for the skill awards themselves were basically just updated versions of what had been required for the ranks, except of course that you did all the requirements for the skill award and got the belt loop, instead of having to do different things in the same subject areas for the different ranks. I do not have the actual requirements handy, but I see for the Camping skill award you had to show knowledge of how to prepare for camping, participate in at least one camping trip where you demonstrated knowledge of packing, pitching a tent, etc., and finally some knot requirements. There were probably some skill awards for which the requirements had not previously been included in the rank requirements, such as Communications and Conservation; these seem to be sort of "junior versions" of the corresponding merit badges. But then I see other requirements, such as some in the Environment skill award (how they decided what went in Conservation and what went in Environment, I'm not sure) that I recognize from the rank requirements of today.

 

Apparently around 1990, they abandoned the skill awards and went back to lists of specific requirements, although of course some of the pre-1972 requirements (such as signalling) never came back.

 

I hope that is what you were asking.