A Tale of Two Troops (spin off from Guide to Advancement)

[Beavah 205]

Yah, bnelon44, I agree that da review step should not be turned into the testing step. At the same time, in workin' with a lot of troops yeh find that most troops aren't yet perfect. Sometimes, troops have gotten lax, and they've recognized it and start to address it. The natural thing for 'em to do is begin by makin' SM Conferences or BORs stricter, because those folks have to project the change in vision, eh? Then, supported by that new vision yeh work at Troop Leader Training, and then as a new round of boys comes up havin' become used to higher standards, that shifts back to the boys in instruction and testing. In other words yeh have to adapt approaches a bit to where a troop is at and what the needs are at the time.

 

But I also think that you and others are redefining "re-testing" in ways that are never imagined by Green Bar Bill and any of the BSA materials. No retesting means that a BOR shouldn't make a lad cook a meal or take a 5-mile hike with the board. It doesn't mean that the board shouldn't ask any skills-related questions, or that a board's only role is to make sure the paperwork is complete. The BSA program has always been that the BOR is to ensure that the boy has earned the rank and demonstrated the attitudes and skills in real life, eh? If a boy's skills or attitudes were discovered to be weak they were to give him guidance and send him back to work harder, learn more, and be re-tested before coming back to the board of review to be considered again for advancement.

 

The error is to believe that a guidance statement like "The Board of Review is not a re-test" means the same thing as "The Board of Review's only role is to rubber-stamp advancement based on signatures in a book." That's not the way Scoutin' works.

 

A Scout saying that you keep the fresh eggs in the ice chest would satisfy the requirement.

 

LOL! Yah, that's too funny, eh? So a lad can say that all food, includin' dry pasta and oatmeal packets, must be put in a cooler and that would fulfill da requirement?

 

Nonsense. Bein' proficient in the requirement means understandin' that cans of tuna do not need to be refrigerated, but hamburger does. That's not expert knowledge. That's basic knowledge.

 

In the same way raw eggs in the shell don't need to be refrigerated but egg products must be. Milk requires refrigeration, but cheese does not. Again, not expert knowledge, basic knowledge that any 7-year-old can understand. At least for those of us in rural areas who still understand that milk comes from a cow, not from a carton. Boys in patrols who go farther than the parking lot need to understand this stuff to be successful.

 

Just stick it in the refrigerator in the RV is not Scouting, eh?

 

Beavah

(This message has been edited by Beavah)