Weak and Poor Eagle scouts....Whats the fix???

[Basementdweller 608]

When ever I hear of weak Eagle scouts people generally refer too....

 

1. no outdoor skills

2. Poor manners

3. Lack of respect

4. No leadership skills

5. Self Promoting

6. Selfish

 

 

 

[DeanRx 69]

The fix is SM and ASM and BOR personnel with the integrity and back-up of their unit committee to not just rubber stamp advancement! The SM conference and BOR should take care of this.

 

The main issue I see is two-fold:

 

1) Scouts talk all the time about who is "easy" and who is "hard" with regards to the SM/ASM's on Sm confrences and especially about BoR members. I heard it at my son's last Patrol meeting and they just joined! Getting the lowdown from their PL and APL on who to ask for on their SM conference for TF because some ASMs are easier than others. Some hold a very hard standard and others just rubber stamp them. Adult leaders need to be CONSISTENT in their expectations at each rank level. Adults need to meet and AGREE to some standardization of what the SM conf and BoR should encompass for each level.

 

2) This needs to begin with Tenderfoot Class on up! Seems that in some instances, lesser or lower ranks get an easy pass at the BoR, but then the EAGLE gets the serious, hard look because it is the EAGLE rank. Well, the adults unwittingly just changed the rules on the unknowing scout and parents. This needs to not happen.

 

To me, weak Eagles and especially the issue of parents bemoaning a committee rejection of an Eagle project / etc... is a symptom of the unit leadership NOT holding the line on advancement standards of the earlier ranks.

 

If you rubber stamp the TF, and rubber stamp 2nd/1st class, then why not rubber stamp star and life... then you gotta do the same for eagle, right?

 

Some of the program changes that make is easy for a scout to not gain a great deal of outdoor skills and still pass rank do make it hard to not have some "dumbing down" of the requirement(s), but the adults running the program must still hold the scout to account.

 

Another issue I see - PORs for ranks that vary greatly in their level of responsibilty / leadership level. Example, one can be a scribe, a webmaster, a bugler, even the quartermaster and it counts as a POR. While challenging and a job that needs to be done, NONE of those is akin to LEADING a group of your peers as an APL, PL, ASPL, SPL, or even as a Den Chief to a bunch of cubbies. A scout could be a scribe, then the quartermaster, then the webmaster, then the chaplains aid... never really has to be responsible for anyone else besides himself. Then he's supposed to LEAD others in the completion of his Eagle project ?!?!?! He has no leadership expirience up to that point!

 

That's not what I'd really call leadership development, but it can happen that way unless the adult leaders (SM and ASMs) don't allow it.

[JMHawkins 15]

When ever I hear of weak Eagle scouts people generally refer too....

 

In my case, it's:

 

-Lack of self confidence.

-Limited independence.

-Underdeveloped sense of personal responsibilty.