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I really do think that Lisabob's post speaks volumes as to what is truly wrong with these Eagle Camp/MB mills. They are aimed at parents wanting to have their kid get the Eagle ASAP, and appeal to kids who really do not want to put any real effort into getting the Eagle. These are the same parents and kids who give little to nothing to the troop in the process, and as Lisabob said disappear from scouting as soon as they get the award. This fast food approach to scouting as a whole in my mind is one of the most serious reasons scouting is in the decline that it is today. The sad part is that this could all be corrected fairly easily with a CSE and National staff with a vision to restore the former glory of the program. However money and numbers is all that really matters to them.

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From 1972 to 2011 the beauty of BSA millionaires using the race card to justify their indoor Scouting programs has been that white people can be shamed into remaining silent as millions of Scouts leave the BSA.

 

My "extreme camping" recruiting presentation appealed to Hispanic boys in the same percentages (or higher) as white boys. Contrary to the CSE's convictions, none of these Hispanic Scouts ever expressed an interest in staying home with their grandmothers and baby sisters.

 

"Trail to Eagle Camp"? Baden-Powell's Scouting was based on the observation that all boys share the same disdain for the school-based learning that these "required" Merit Badges represent.

 

Yours at 300 feet,

 

Kudu

 

"Trail Away from Summer School Eagle Camp" Recruiting Presentation:

 

http://inquiry.net/adult/recruiting.htm

 

(This message has been edited by kudu)

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Unfortunately I do see a reason why some MBs are required, even the blasted paper pushing ones. Schools are not doing their jobs of educating our kids in civics, hence the need for the Citizenships. Sorry I cannot cite the exact stats, but if you google it, I'm sure you'll find the recent study on how poorly our students are doing in history and civics.

 

In reference to Hispanics and camping, the one that was in my den left because we don't go camping enough. And we had 3 campouts in a 6 or 7 week period.

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Eagle92 writes:

 

Schools are not doing their jobs of educating our kids in civics, hence the need for the Citizenships.

 

The answer to that is always: "Why not Little League?"

 

If only we could convince sports leagues to switch from offering the things that boys love to do, to the BSA model of required schoolwork (which Baden-Powell warned us against)! Then boys would hate sports as much as they hate Scouting and we could compete on a level playing field, so to speak.

 

And we wonder why they leave.

 

Yours at 300 feet,

 

Kudu

http://kudu.net

(This message has been edited by kudu)

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Perhaps The Chief Scout Executive can get together with the SAT and AP people and lobby the Congress to allow those say, 14 years and older to sign up for student loans for Eagle Scout Prep, SAT Prep and Ap tutoring and such.

 

Of course, no bankruptcy out when the loans come due....

 

 

 

Seattle Pioneer

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KUDU

 

I am not sure why you are currently raising and waving this huge race flag......

 

I have scouts, not enough, but I have scouts. Boys at 11 or 12 years old are looking for adventure, I don't care what color or ethnicity they are, we are blessed with all the colors of the rainbow, makes for fantastic blue and gold potluck.

 

 

I would like to hear your background, very specifically, on why you believe you are a self proclaimed expert on scouting and they hispanic community.

 

I have 6 years with a very ethnically diverse CO in the inner city, have experience with a number of different ethnicity's. Am I an experts, no way. I don't throw around Made up statistics and half truths. I speak from my personal experience or can cite my source.

 

You can speculate why boys are not interested in scouting......Of the boys I lost this year most of them were to Lazy parents, lost of jobs and relocation, divorce, a couple to sports and one to he isn't interested.

 

kudu....I believe as you do in the boys, patrol method and scouting's importance. your making up statistics and unsupported accusations damages your credibility and I believe damages what you love.

 

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Basementdweller, it is the CSE who makes race an issue by asserting that Hispanic 12 year-olds should not sleep in tents away from their families.

 

A "Trail to Eagle" Soccer Camp would be as bad for Scouting as Citizenship Merit Badges.

 

I have already provided the relevant URLs. You will have to read them yourself.

 

You do understand the meaning of "In a perfect world," don't you?

 

As in: In a perfect world our Chief Scout Executive would assert that Hispanic families prefer that their children learn citizenship by organizing their own Patrol Outings :)

 

Yours at 300 feet,

 

Kudu

 

Some recruiting stats (my Troop was at times 20% Hispanic):

 

http://inquiry.net/adult/recruiting_boy_scouts_public_schools.htm

(This message has been edited by kudu)

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Base,

 

The way I see it, KUDU is relaying, restating, whatever you want to call it, a stereotype that our CSE has stated, which isn't true.

 

The CSE did in fact say Hispanics don't want to camp. We all know that the Soccer and Scouting was a flop form all the anecdotal discussions, and the fact that national isn't really pushing it's program like they did with teh Garfield and Cub Scouts in the late 90s early 2000's where one council experimented, and then national promoted it heavily.

 

In my expereince, Hispanic youth are like the everyone else, THEY WANT THE OUTING IN SCOUTING (bold for emphasis, and a little cub scout-like, good natured shouting ;)

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I have attended or inspected about twenty council camps since 1983. As a rule, they allow group testing of MB candidates to meet the requirements where the candidate is to individually show he has acquired specified knowledge. That is, a question is asked to all the candidates. One Scout answers correctly. The others nod their heads, and all get credit for passing. This is contrary to BSA policy but is a well known practice.

 

Another, less common but not unusual practice is to simply hand out the MB whether or not the candidate has passed all of the requirements by any method of passing -- or has passed any of the requirements. Thus, we had a Scout "earn" pioneering who literally could not tie a single knot required for that MB. Nor had he done the required "project."

 

I have also seen a good many counselors who were unqualified by any reasonable standard. (Scoutcraft Area Director 2001: "We are now going to talk about Heat Stroke and Heat Exhaustion. They are the same thing and are treated the same. Who knows the treatment?" This was the same young man who discovered that not putting the wedges into new axes can producing exciting consequences.)

 

The one area of notable exception is field sports. For some reason they play it square.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Actually there are still distributorships still. My town has one, and in my hometown we had 1 in addition to the national store I worked at. I actually used the local distributor for some purchases, non BSA of course, and was "voluntold" by my DE to help out with one of their SCOUT NITE promos. Thakfully the boss didn't find out. Although I was in my district committee uniform, one or two folks recognized me foerm the national shop.

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We still have a distributor in my area. It is in a sporting goods store. When my son started in Cub Scouts, there was another one, in a mens'/boys' clothing store, but they stopped carrying Scouting stuff, probably almost 10 years ago. Most of the families in my troop get their Scout uniforms and handbooks at the sporting goods store because it is much closer than either of the council shops. (Not sure if they are actually national shops or not.) I can't say the "customer service" experience at the sporting goods store is really great; there is nobody really staffing the "Scouting section", which is stuck in amongst everything else with no sign or anything, and you have to know what you need when you go in there because I don't think anyone in the store really knows. But it is there.

 

I am not quite sure how this came up in the "Trail to Eagle Camp" section though. :)

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