Scouts and Merit Badges

[Buffalo Skipper]

Simple questions (yea right!):

 

1) What is the process by which a scout works on a merit badge? Generally speaking, what are the steps, from start to finish?

 

2) Is this process different for scouts who want to attend a merit badge clinic of some sort? If so, how?

 

3)Where is this information located for the benefit of the scout and the leaders?

[OldGreyEagle]

http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/18-125.pdf

 

check page 4

[EagleBeaver]

I go by these pages:

http://www.scouting.org/training/adult/supplemental/meritbadgecounselorinstructorsguide.aspx

http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/BoyScouts/GuideforMeritBadgeCounselors.aspx

 

Generally...

Scout has interest.

Scout gets counselor contact info from scoutmaster.

Scout contacts counselor.

Scout goes to first meeting with counselor and buddy.

Scout does work.

Scout shows his completed work to counselor.

Counselor signs off blue card.

Counselor gets part of blue card, scout gets part of blue card, unit gets part of blue card.

Unit records the completion, gets patch, presents to scout.

Repeat 20 more times...

 

MB clinic/university/day/show/expo events remove a lot from that process.

 

Scout On

http://ScoutChallenge.com

[Buffalo Skipper]

mn_scout, you wrote: "MB clinic/university/day/show/expo events remove a lot from that process."

 

I agree wholly, but rather than discussing the merits or pitfalls of clinics, I would ask, how do you apply the MB process to this situation?

 

Secondly, there both of you replied with the MB counselor information sheets. This is not usually a document at the fingertips of your average (or your above average) scout. Where does the the scout learn about this process.

 

[dg98adams]

I chair our councils Northern Tier Merit Badge Trail Drive and here's my take on how I manage the drives portion of the same process. Additions marked with **.

 

Scout has interest.

Scout gets counselor contact info from scoutmaster.

** Scouts choose MB's/(MBC is fixed) from offered session/schedule

 

Scout contacts counselor.

Scout goes to first meeting with counselor and buddy.

** Scout attends 3 sessions (2 weeks apart) with ~10-15 other Scouts

**MBC's collect that sessions Blue Cards.

 

Scout does work.

Scout shows his completed work to counselor.

** all work is still done on individual basis, full participation in discussion where it says "discuss with..." is required or no credit is extended - I ask the MBC to keep track)

 

Counselor signs off blue card.

** if completed

 

Counselor gets part of blue card,

** if completed

 

** the unit leader gets a print out of all that unit individual Merit Badge requirements (completed or not) for every session of every Scout in the unit that attended. And Scouts get back all cards (or 2 parts of a 3 part completed card).

** a record of the entire event is saved for future reports if needed (and has been).

 

..scout gets part of blue card, unit gets part of blue card.

** if completed otherwise Scout gets entire card.

Unit records the completion, gets patch, presents to scout.

Repeat 20 more times...(This message has been edited by dg98adams)

[SSScout]

I like mn_scout's answer.

Beyond that, the key is a registered, knowledgeable Merit Badge Counselor.

 

A Merit Badge Counselor SHOULD be an expert in the subject; at the very least, more knowledgeable than the Scout earning the badge. A professional in the field, or an experienced hobbyist is preferred. There is a training for the post available, see your local District Executive or Commissioner for info . AND...

there is info on line, if you dig for it. See http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/BoyScouts/GuideforMeritBadgeCounselors.aspx

Very often, the local Troop will have a cadre of registered MBCs available for the more poular ones or Eagle required ones. For the more exotic ones, you will have to do one of three things: 1) call around to other Troops, check out the local clubs or businesses involved. Someone may know someone who knows someone... If you are fortunate, your District or Council will have a list of MBCs to consider and contact. The boy SHOULD do the contacting, if he wants to earn the MB. 2) Recruit an appropriate professional or hobbyist (? Dentistry? talk to your dentist. Geology? Check with your local Rock hound club or college. "etc.") or 3) sign up yourself and get knowledgeable . Speak to your Troop's Committee Chair, he/she may have the form and knowledge of how to register..

If your boy wants to earn the XYZ MB, and you can't find an already registered MBC, sign up yourself, and then offer your services to the District at large. Put a notice in your local District newsletter and I guarantee you will find some more Scouts interested in the XYZ MB. Call around to appropriate offices and companies and agencies, arrange the tours and sessions, and then get your Scouts together in your rec room or out on your deck or down in the Fourbucks coffee shop to discuss the requirements. Surprise! They have to meet some requirements. Some of them will be eager to meet your standards of performance, others will be surprised that you actually ask them to study the subject, and learn something about XYZing. I did this with the Farm Mechanics MB, had a class of 6 boys, three saturdays, a visit to the state's largest farm implement dealer, some local farms, and voila, a MB! And the families all got their lawn mowers lubricated and serviced for the season, and some tools sharpened and repaired.

Help the Scouts to gain a sense of accomplishment, a pride of skill and knowledge.

MB Days/Colleges/o-ramas/clinics have their place, if done right and with the right expectations (Personal Fitness in one day? I don't think so...) With some advance planning and preparation, they can help Scouts earn MBs they might not otherwise earn. I knew a MBday whose organizers insisted on specific advance preparation, and the boys were well served. Some of the MBCs used the day as just one of several meetings.

MBs are just one more oppotunity that Scouting has that the rest of the world doesn't. I know some home schollers that use MBs as part of their curricullum, using the MBbook as a text, and the earning as proof of mastering the subject. The home school advisor we use does that. Astronomy? Nature? Forestry? All worth some allowed academic credit. Maybe not college, but middle school science...

 

Good Scouting to you.

[Buffalo Skipper]

Here is part of the skinny on why I am asking this. I had a scout attend a recent event at our scout camp put on by the OA lodge. It is a combination campout, MB clinic and leadership training program. Our troop was not attending, as we had a unit conflict. Our SPL wanted to attend and went as a "contingent" scout with another troop. I was aware of this, but based on my conversation with the SPL, I understood he was staffing and working with the leadership training.

 

At this week's meeting, he drops off a piece of paper showing him as a contingent scout with another troop. He left before I had a chance to talk to him about it. It looks very much like this:

 

(First part, ID information for troop/contingent--omitted)

 

Youth Participant Results

...Personal info...

Morning Training Session: Architecture & Landscape Architecture Merit Badge

Morning Training Session Results: Completed All Requirements

Afternoon Training Session: Architecture & Landscape Architecture Merit Badge

Afternoon Training Session Results: Completed All Requirements

[end]

 

No counselor information. No listed requirements.

 

I never discussed any MBs with him, and this info is, by my ovservation, incomplete.

 

I will be meeting tonight with the OA Advisor in charge of the event, so I will question him about the meaning of the form.

 

I would like to hear your feedback on my original questions, with this situation in mind.

[John-in-KC]

Sigh.

 

If the person who signed the MB card is a registered MB Counselor for the MB, you're in a spot. You're going to have to have a long heart to heart SM conference with your SPL about loyalty, otherwise, he's in his rights to insist on recognition of the badge.

 

The Scoutmaster is the guardian of the aims and methods.

[shortridge]

The Scout finds out about the process by asking his PL, SPL or SM. Simple.

 

Since your SPL didn't ask you in advance - you thought he was staffing the event - he didn't follow the procedures.

 

I also don't think you have to give him the badge without additional details - such as, who was the counselor, and was he or she registered?

[Lisabob]

In this situation I don't think a formulaic list of steps in the MB process is really what you need (and besides, you already know the process and, I bet, so does your SPL).

 

What you need is a conversation with the young man about good communication.

 

If the boy had come to you prior to the event and said "I'm planning to go and I want to work on the architecture and landscaping MBs" you probably wouldn't have forbid it, would you? You might have talked with him about making sure he's getting a quality experience, and about what paperwork you need to verify the completed badges (ie, blue cards). You might have warned him about the typical shortcomings of this sort of MB program and asked to see who the MB counselors would be. You might have looked at the requirements together with the boy to see whether it is even possible to complete them over a weekend (maybe it is, I don't know & didn't look)

 

So really, the issue isn't merely that he went & worked on MBs - it is that he didn't communicate his intentions very effectively before-hand, and he hasn't provided you with a clear picture of what he did to earn these, after the fact, either. A paper like you describe wouldn't fly as a replacement for a "blue card" in very many places, I wouldn't think.

 

You can still have the conversation with the boy about whether he completed the requirements as listed, and whether he feels he is ready to receive these badges. But the larger picture is, especially as SPL, he should understand how important it is for everybody to be on the same page about what's happening and what people's intentions and expectations are, and how to properly follow-up on something to close the loop.

 

And by the way, maybe he went to the event thinking he was only going to be staffing, and decided once he got there to also do the MBs (maybe "everybody was doing them"). That's another angle to the conversation.

[shortridge]

Upon review, Architecture cannot be earned at a Scout camp event.

 

Requirement 1 has a "Do the following" item: "Tour your community and list the different types of buildings you see. Try to identify buildings that can be associated with a specific period of history or style of architecture. Make a sketch of the building you most admire."

 

As far as I know, "cheap 1960s-era temporary-buildings-that-have-become-permanent with peeling brown paint" found at many Scout camps is not a specific style of architecture.

[kari_cardi]

This is an interesting discussion. My son just completed his Architecture MB at a MB event. He completed the requirements over three Saturdays. The first requirement to 'tour the community', shortridge, was met by viewing a slide show of a variety of local buildings with a few non-local examples also thrown in. He did make a drawing of his favorite building. Is this satisfactory? It feels a little hinky, honestly. I'm sure he understands the basic differences in the styles they viewed, but I don't think it compares to actually experiencing the same buildings by standing in front of them and inside them. I think we will be doing a field trip soon to supplement his MB class.

[runintherain]

Our troop reviews all merit badge earned anywhere, even summer camp. All the MBC's show up for 2 or 3 Saturdays and have 30 minute blocks of time the scout must register for. The requirements are reviewed by the troop MBC.

 

This has caused quite a division in our troop. Some feel that it is adding to the requirements, by making the kids meet with a second MBC, since the summer camp classes are taught by a MBC.

 

Others feel that the summer camp is not doing an adequate job of ensuring that the requirements are met.

 

My understanding is that it has been taken to Council and that they approved these extra sessions, but I did hear that some want to take it to national now that the Council said it was okay.

 

I know this sounds like I am a politician, but I can really see both sides of the argument.

 

My son attended a Reptile and Amphibian Merit Badge class at a local nature center, but their was no blue card or form given. He just learned a lot and is now meeting with the District Advancement Chair to actually talk about the Merit Badge and show his work and knowledge. I am the only MB Counselor for that MB in our troop and this troop strongly encourages a scout does not get counseled by a parent.

 

Again, some in the troop say there is nothing wrong with it.

[Twocubdad]

It's a shame, sasha, that your son was short changed in that way. What a great experience it would have been to have spend an afternoon with an experienced architect getting out of the car, looking at real buildings, talking about how they fit into the context of the site (or not), how the site affected the architect's design, the historical context of when and how they were built. There could be so much more to this than what's apparent from a photo of the front elevation of a building.

 

Over the holidays I had a Scout who asked to do Genealogy MB with me. He's the first one in 7 or 8 years I've been registered for the badge. I met with him once after a troop meeting to go over the requirements and get him started. A couple Saturday's later, we met at the hut and drove into town to the main branch of the library which has a historical reference section. Of course, we went through the requirements. But I also shared with him some of the research I've done over the last 25 years. I've found some really cool letters my family members wrote home from the Civil War telling their parents about his brother's death. I have a copy of my great-great-great-great-great-grandfather's will (1773) I found in the state archive that the archivist let me hold and read the original document.

 

We spent most of the day working his research. His family is from New Orleans, so doing research in Louisiana was a new experience for me, too. We had a blast. The library had a searchable database of all the US census records and we were able to take the information he had (which was mostly limited to his grandparents and a couple great-grandparents) and leap-frog back from census to census. We were able to find all his great-grand parents and most great-great-grandparents. We found on great-great-grandfather who seemed to have come to New Orleans from Missouri, something no one in his family had ever heard of. We found the parish records from the church where several generations of his mother's family attended and found birth, death and marriage records for that side of the family. One of his grandfathers had been killed in Vietnam and we found his service records which showed he had only been killed after only about six weeks in country by a mortar attack. I had family plans that evening and had to pry him away around 4:00.

 

But yeah, he could have earned the merit badge with 12 other guys in less than half the time and with a whole lot of effort.

 

 

But back to BuffSkip's OP -- you guys seem to be leaving out the part of the process where the Scoutmaster initially signs the blue card before the Scout begins the MB. I know folks disagree, but I believe there is more significance to the SM's signature than just giving him a opportunity to practice his handwriting. Since the Scout didn't start with his Scoutmaster, didn't get a blue card, apparently doesn't have a counselor and didn't come home with a signed card, I don't see that he earned the MB.

 

And maybe my paranoia is showing, but this doesn't sound like a simple mis-communications. Sounds to me like the Scout fed you a line of hooey and intentionally blew off his responsibility as SPL at a troop activity in order to work on a MB.

 

 

[Buffalo Skipper]

Twocubdad, I agree with your last statement. And yes that is concerning. Last night I spoke to the adult who headed the event, and sometime after midnight, he emailed me the name of the counselor, who is, by the way, registered for both badges. I guess I am concerned that each of these badges could be earned in 2 sessions totalling 6 hours.

 

But first and foremost, there was no contact with me for this in advance. I intend to have a SM Conference with this scout this weekend, and I will advise him that effective immediately, he must discuss any MB with me before beginning. His parents will be an obstacle as well, as they are very interfering on the issues.