New Merit Badges - Again

[le Voyageur 72]

Agree that the signalling merit badge should be brought back, as well as a return to those old First Class requirements of learning either Morse Code or Semiphore (morse code is the better as it can be used at night). The caveat is, is that technology often fails when you need it the most, having a plan B for those occasions is all about being prepared. A Classic Series sounds like a great ideal. Lets bring back not only Signalling, but also Stalking (teaches tracking), Pathfinding, and I'm sure that there are others.

I also feel that we need a minimum age limit for certain merit badges, it is pure misery to have one's merit badge class at summer camp go downhill because of younger scouts mixing with the older ones (besides, I think that 11 years should be working on lower rank requirements instead of struggling with Camping, Backpacking, and Hiking).

Lots of great ideals here, good food for thought...

[slontwovvy 10]

I agree with Ie Voyageur. As a camp counselor, it is frustrating to have to teach at two levels--the younger Scouts and the older Scouts. I have seen many too many 11 or 12-year old Scouts taking EVS, Lifesaving and Shotgun. They often distract the session, and don't have the maturity to handle it. Sadder still is the fact that many Scoutmasters have no problems with this.

[sctmom 11]

Not only does technology fail at times, but if you learn to do something manually you understand it better. The boys should also be able to tell if the answer from the GPS system looks reasonable.

 

[Mike Long 10]

Technology has ALWAYS failed me when I needed it most. Fundmental skills always come through.

 

I do like the stalking badge idea but we might ought to rename it.

 

"Johnny what did you do at Scouts tonight?"

 

"It was cool Mom! I learned how to be a stalker!"

[jmcquillan 10]

This all kind of reminds me of the days when hand-held calculators first appeared. School teachers tried (in vain) to exclude them from the classroom knowing that if Johnny learned how to add 2+2 by hand, he'd understand exactly why 2+2=4, and not just because the calculator told him it did. Same with signals. Same with quite a lot of the things we expose boys to in Scouting, no?

[sctmom 11]

Not to mention, show some of the boys a little about signalling...the response is often "wow, that's cool." It's the draw of knowing a "secret code"....who didn't want the secret decoder ring?

Also, flag signalling is used in car racing.

 

[LauraT7 13]

The boy scout merit badges are confusing - and are way too varied in their pattern of requirements - I mean, Basketry takes making up 2 simple kits, and Lifesaving takes up 4 pages in the requirement book!

 

I'm not saying they don't need all that to be lifesavers - but that they should be broken down into more manageable pieces and for things like the swimming and lifesaving, made into a series, dependant on one another, and in a manner that they can be completed in a reasonable time period.

 

We had boys at camp last summer that worked every day on their swimming and lifesaving, to the exclusion of all else, and still were unable to complete the badges in the week, and left camp with partials. They will probably have to wait til the following year to complete them, as our area does not have badge counselors who are willing, and able to finish up with them, or a place to do so.

 

And so many of the badges ARE geared toward the older boys - i like the idea of different levels on the same subject for different ages and abilities.

 

We have a couple of scouts in our troop that while not noticably handicapped, nevertheless have disabilities that will probably keep them from ever reaching the higher ranks, and many of the badges as well, because one or two requirements in each one require almost professional level work or abilities.