Units not attending MB clinics

[Buffalo Skipper]

This is a specific question for leaders in units who do not attend MB clinics.

 

How do you deal with this in your troop? Do you just not announce/advertise the event? What do you do if a scout comes up to you and asks to attend? How does this all go over with parents and committee members, and how do you work through those issues?

 

I am not trying to be rude or to single anyone out, I am really just looking for information.

[jr56]

We announce them to our PLC, and the boys. It is their decision if they want to attend.

[Frank17]

We also leave it up to the individual scouts. In our area we have:

 

1. Our own Troop sponsored MB University, in-place of the monthly trip (no cost)

2. Private organization MB classes, generally $25-40 each

3. College MB days, by the local university, generally $50 for the weekend

4. Council sponsored advancement camp, $350 for the week

 

We only really push the first one of these, as it is no cost, and is run by our own Troop. For the others, we notify the scouts of the opportunities, but they must sign-up on their own and attend on their own (or in small groups they organize). If a scout asks about MB opportunities, we give them the list but they do it on their own. No complaints from parents.

[Twocubdad]

An important part of the merit badge program is for Scouts to experience working with an adult counselor; reaching out to an adult they may not know, setting and keeping appointments, working with that adult to learn a skill or subject in which the adult has a level of expertise, working to complete the requirements and, hopefully, learning something beyond what is narrowly outlined in the requirements and developing a relationship with an adult with whom they share a common interest.

 

So-called merit badge universities subvert those elements of the program. Scouts register, usually through the troop, show up and are marched through the requirements. There is usually little individual attention and often requirements are met in by groups rather than individually.

 

In our troop, we don't promote local MBUs and simply don't issue blue cards for them. When we explain our reasoning to parents, they are usually supportive. Of course some aren't. Only once have we had a parent who strongly disagreed with the troop's position. But if this is a deal breaker, there are other troops....

[Lisabob]

My son's former troop tried this two ways.

 

1. We announced the event and offered transportation & to coordinate registration.

 

After a very poor experience, the troop moved to

 

2. We announced the event. Once. Anyone who wanted to go could, but the troop didn't go out of their way to make it happen.

 

A couple of families still attended but most did not.

 

Don't know what (if anything) my son's current troop will do when the annual MBU comes up again. To my mind, it is not worth announcing at all.

[qwazse]

The boys who like 'em promote 'em.

 

The boys who don't seem to advance just as quickly.

[moosetracker]

Easy! Our district does not offer a district wide MB-anything.. Neither does our Council (except for summer camp).. Neither did our last district, though one of the troops we were in, in our old district did do their own MeritBadge thing.. 4 Saturdays in March, the kids choose I think 2 or 3 badges and worked on them a little bit each Saturday (With alot of homework.. At least I remember his astonomy one being alot of homework because the meeting time was not when the stars were out, of during a time for tracking the sun pattern over some period of time..).. He was only in that troop through one of these programs, but the groups were small, like 3 or 4 kids, so alot of individual attention.

[packsaddle]

We spread the word and leave it up to the individual boys as to whether they attend or not. We attended one as a troop but it was not a good experience. But they do sometimes offer badges that are hard to earn any other way.

[Mrw1]

We run a three day merit badge university in the troop, for the troop. This is no cost and using the same counselors the boys would see otherwise.

 

It is spread over three months so boys can start three month record badges, be checked on mid way through and complete on the last day. We also offered First Aid for the younger set. It gives them some structure to work in, but it they do not attend all three meetings AND do all thier requirements, they will not earn the badge at the end.Nothing is signed just for showing up!

 

Our district also runs a one day Midway that we announce to the kids and at which we encourage attendance. They are on their own for showing up. It is made clear to the boys on the registration litereature that they can finish something they have started, start something new, or get a check-up on something they are in progress with here, but they should not excpet to complete a badge just for showing up.

 

We have 43 active boys. We have about 30 in the three meeting program for at least one badge. We had 8 go to the Midway and complete 12 badges. About half of those saw the counselor they had started the badge with in the first place and it was just a more convenient way for them to meet again. The others were badges that the boy had done all the requirements at home and just needed to see a counselor for the sign-off (things like Art for the kid whose father teaches at the Art Institute).

[mikecummings157]

We announce tham and tell the boys to see the Scoutmaster for Blue Cards and sign-up info if interested. A few boys take them from time to time.

[Oak Tree]

Our council and district occasionally hold them, but I just never forward on the information. If someone finds out about it through another channel, they'd be welcome to go, but that hasn't ever happened, I don't think.

 

I get all kinds of things that I don't forward on. Scout night at Pro Team X, or Harlem Globetrotters, or Minor League team Y, or Ice Capades, or whatever. I figure, if it comes to me, it's my choice what to do with it.

 

I'm happy to camp in the rain or snow, but I have no interest in watching monster trucks. I also have no real interest in promoting merit badge universities. Our guys seem to be able to earn Eagle without them, so it's just one more headache I don't need.

[DLister]

Oak Tree - How is withholding information from scouts about available opportunities helping them in any way? There's no reason any of the activities you mentioned have to be turned into troop events, but I think it's a disservice to the scouts if the information about them is dumped in the circular file.

[Buffalo Skipper]

DLister, Welcome to the Forum! You will find a variety of ideas and opinions on this site. Unfortunetley, some of these different opinions and viewpoints can become polarizing. This is one of them. I was trying to present my original question in such a way to avoid a more pointed discussion.

 

There are some here who belive that MB clinics do not provide the scouting experience intended in the MB program. Speaking for Oak Tree and others, the issue is not whether witholding information from the scout is benefical, it is whether or not it is fair to the scout to involve them in a program which may fall short of scouting's standards and expectations.

 

Not trying to step on your toes. Rather than making this a heated debate about the merits or pitfalls of MB clinics/universities/midways/etc, I was trying to find a viewpoint of how troops who do not subscribe to the benefits of these programs can avoid involvement in them. Sorry if I was not clear in my original post. Hope I have not soured your first post. We are always glad to have new participants, and I, for one, welcome with open arms those whose opinions may differ from mine; on more than one occasion they have enlightened me to a different viewpoint.

[SeattlePioneer]

Hello Buffalo Skipper

 

You raise an interesting question of how to avoid buying in to standards a SM might not like.

 

 

As a SM myself from 1982-1987, I didn't place the priority on force feeding advancement as seems quite common these days.

 

We had a monthly campout, and boys learned how to set up camp and cook and such on the campouts. 1st Class Scouts signed off requirements when asked, as did I and Assistant Scoutmasters.

 

Sometimes we had specific skill training if that what the troop wanted to do. And when Scouts got their requirements signed off, they advanced to the next rank at their own speed.

 

That was not "1st class in a year." It might take two or three years for a lot of Scouts.

 

The Scout Merit Badge University was Scout Camp.

 

In my troop, most of the learning was by doing, and at the pace the boy set for himself.

 

 

I recall one boy vividly who was very afraid of water and didn't want to learn to swim. He had all his requirements for 1st Class except swimming for quite some time.

 

At our last troop outing to a swimming pool, I remember him popping up beside me with a big grin on his face. He'd finally been motivated to take swimming lessons and had overcome his fears.

 

We had quite a few boys who learned a lot over time. They were confronted all the time with oppotunities and incentives to learn. When the time was ripe, they often responded to those things.

 

We didn't have a lot of Eagle Scouts. I made a particular effort to encourage boys to get to First Class, but after that, they needed to be fairly self motivated (or motivated by their parents) to achieve higher ranks.

 

 

Maybe I was a BAD SCOUTMASTER!

[Buffalo Skipper]

SeattlePioneer, sounds like I am trying to foster a troop environment like you had way back when. It is a challenge to do this when the expectations of others are so very different.