Basementdweller 608 Posted November 24, 2013 Share Posted November 24, 2013 Some other newspapers have now picked-up this story, neither link below mentions that he was earlier denied Eagle because he was too young. Both articles below mention 1. his goal is to earn Eagle by his 14th birthday this January. 2. he plans to continue in Scouting 3. He is homeschooled 4. Working to earn all MB's "just happened" 5. believes he is 210th scout to earn ALL mb's 6. nothing about parental help http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/me...ry-merit-badge http://newstimes.augusta.com/news/20...ry-merit-badge One interesting statement was the following: "Though (scout) can buy the badges he’s earned, he’d rather wait until mid-December, when they’ll be presented to him at a quarterly Court of Honor ceremony." Wow when did this happen? Ok scout congratulations, you earned these merit badges. Here's your receipt (blue card), go down to the scout store or scoutstuff and buy 'em. Say they are having a sale - buy 3 merit badges and get 20% off on your next merit badge pamphlet. Have to admit, I have felt like tell some helicopter parents this, when our troop's recognition process wasn't fast enough for them. What next out-source COH to local scout store? My $0.02, That is BS, had a parent go directly from a Merit badge day, Merit Badge Super Saturday to be exact and go directly to the scout shop because she knew I would not allow it. The boys fill out the merit badge.com work sheet turn it in for a signature. BTW, not sure whose signature from the troop was on the cards Quality of the experience is zero. The lad left our troop so not our problem but still will be one of the low quality eagles I speak of. Link to post Share on other sites
moosetracker 132 Posted November 24, 2013 Share Posted November 24, 2013 Some other newspapers have now picked-up this story, neither link below mentions that he was earlier denied Eagle because he was too young. Both articles below mention 1. his goal is to earn Eagle by his 14th birthday this January. 2. he plans to continue in Scouting 3. He is homeschooled 4. Working to earn all MB's "just happened" 5. believes he is 210th scout to earn ALL mb's 6. nothing about parental help http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/me...ry-merit-badge http://newstimes.augusta.com/news/20...ry-merit-badge One interesting statement was the following: "Though (scout) can buy the badges he’s earned, he’d rather wait until mid-December, when they’ll be presented to him at a quarterly Court of Honor ceremony." Wow when did this happen? Ok scout congratulations, you earned these merit badges. Here's your receipt (blue card), go down to the scout store or scoutstuff and buy 'em. Say they are having a sale - buy 3 merit badges and get 20% off on your next merit badge pamphlet. Have to admit, I have felt like tell some helicopter parents this, when our troop's recognition process wasn't fast enough for them. What next out-source COH to local scout store? My $0.02, I wasn't sure how it was done, but there was a kerpluffal with our troop when a parent did this also. But, I think it was due to the scout store not following protocol, and there was something our Advancement chair did he shouldn't have.. So there was something that there were checks and balances in place, but the scout sneaked through do to some dropped balls (and very manipulative parents, because they knew they were sneaking something through).. Link to post Share on other sites
jpstodwftexas 72 Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 Anyone ever think we should set a Standard Number of Merit Badges and do away with all the Fluff ones? We need to concentrate on certain Skills and their Knowledge retention. What good is a 134 Merit Badge Eagle who can't remember how to Stop Bleeding or perform CPR no matter what age they are 13 or 18 or anywhere in between. Link to post Share on other sites
skeptic 992 Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 Anyone ever think we should set a Standard Number of Merit Badges and do away with all the Fluff ones? We need to concentrate on certain Skills and their Knowledge retention. What good is a 134 Merit Badge Eagle who can't remember how to Stop Bleeding or perform CPR no matter what age they are 13 or 18 or anywhere in between. You know Basement, while you may have had a bad experience and have a reason to be annoyed, but it is NOT BS just because someone broke the rules. We do have some scout shops that have poor staff and not trained well; but overall, that is not the case. If your council store has this happen regularly, then someone needs to step in and fix the issue. With the amount of negative comments that come from you regarding things there, National really maybe should be doing some investigating as to why, as it does not seem to be that common in other areas. Link to post Share on other sites
jpstodwftexas 72 Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 Yeah, kindof wonder if 20 or 30 years from now he will look back at these merit badges that now hold absolutely no meaning, and think.. "I could of had a childhood".Basementdweller commented Yesterday, 02:19 PM No when his lad is a scouter, he will be the guy at roundtable that says, oh your only an eagle, well I am an eagle with 10 palms. The Saying is Once and Eagle always and Eagle. An Eagle is a Eagle, Palms or no Palms. Link to post Share on other sites
jpstodwftexas 72 Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 Where is the rule written by BSA that once earned a Scouter can't Purchase a Merit Badge but have to wait because it has to be presented by Unit at a Court of Honor? Link to post Share on other sites
qwazse 4342 Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 Anyone ever think we should set a Standard Number of Merit Badges and do away with all the Fluff ones? We need to concentrate on certain Skills and their Knowledge retention. What good is a 134 Merit Badge Eagle who can't remember how to Stop Bleeding or perform CPR no matter what age they are 13 or 18 or anywhere in between. No! The worst thing we can do is teach our kids that the only things "out there" are a few occupations and interests that are economically valuable and all they need to do is master those and the world will be a better place. Link to post Share on other sites
moosetracker 132 Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 Anyone ever think we should set a Standard Number of Merit Badges and do away with all the Fluff ones? We need to concentrate on certain Skills and their Knowledge retention. What good is a 134 Merit Badge Eagle who can't remember how to Stop Bleeding or perform CPR no matter what age they are 13 or 18 or anywhere in between. Agree with qwazse.. The 134 Merit Badges is not for someone to do them all, they are there to give you options to have elective merit badges in things that really interest you.. Although I was happy to see the Cooking MB become required, I did think that a good change, I was not happy to see it reduce the number of elective MB's the scout gets.. I am someone who thinks the 3 Citizenships should be merged into one MB. I kindof look at the Merit Badges of similar to College course. There are courses you are required to take for your chosen major, but then there are electives where you have the ability to choose what you want to take. Link to post Share on other sites
Kudu 186 Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 Anyone ever think we should set a Standard Number of Merit Badges and do away with all the Fluff ones? We need to concentrate on certain Skills and their Knowledge retention. What good is a 134 Merit Badge Eagle who can't remember how to Stop Bleeding or perform CPR no matter what age they are 13 or 18 or anywhere in between. You can't possibly mean Scouting as it was understood by Baden-Powell: Proficiency Badges that measure a Scout's current proficiency in Boy Scout skills only? Bad idea! That would attract boys who like camping, in the same way that basketball teams attract boys who like basketball, baseball teams attract boys who like baseball, football teams attract boys who like football, and soccer teams attract boys who like soccer. The Merit Badge system is designed for adults with a marginal interest in Cub Scout outdoor skills for teens, but seek to make up for the shortcomings of the public school system by turning Scouting into after-school school. Oh, the horror that a Boy Scout might pick up Personal Management in a one hour trick-or-treat session, while we struggle to uphold the standards that most red-blooded outdoor boys hate, have always hated, and will continue to hate until the end of time. Yours at 300 feet, Kudu Link to post Share on other sites
moosetracker 132 Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 Anyone ever think we should set a Standard Number of Merit Badges and do away with all the Fluff ones? We need to concentrate on certain Skills and their Knowledge retention. What good is a 134 Merit Badge Eagle who can't remember how to Stop Bleeding or perform CPR no matter what age they are 13 or 18 or anywhere in between. You can't possibly mean Scouting as it was understood by Baden-Powell: Proficiency Badges that measure a Scout's current proficiency in Boy Scout skills only? Bad idea! That would attract boys who like camping, in the same way that basketball teams attract boys who like basketball, baseball teams attract boys who like baseball, football teams attract boys who like football, and soccer teams attract boys who like soccer. The Merit Badge system is designed for adults with a marginal interest in Cub Scout outdoor skills for teens, but seek to make up for the shortcomings of the public school system by turning Scouting into after-school school. Oh, the horror that a Boy Scout might pick up Personal Management in a one hour trick-or-treat session, while we struggle to uphold the standards that most red-blooded outdoor boys hate, have always hated, and will continue to hate until the end of time. Yours at 300 feet, Kudu A lot of the electives are for boys who are only interested in scoutcraft kinds of things. You can complain about some required Merit badges not being geared to Scout crafts, but when it comes to electives a boy can go all outdoorsy if he wishes.. So that shouldn't be a deterrent. Also I don't think anyone is arguing that Personal Management should be done right, and Camping or First aid should just be brushed over.. All merit badges should be done right, and not during troop time.. Troop time should be used to organize for outings and improve & retain scout skills.. Therefore if you are against the required MB's that are not part of scout craft, then the simple answer is join a troop for fun and outings and scout craft, don't bother doing the advancement stuff for ranks. And I do think citizenship (though not really scout craft) is something Baden Powel pushed for also, but just not 3 merit badges on the topic worth.. More in oath and in deed. As in going out into your community and doing. Link to post Share on other sites
Kudu 186 Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 Anyone ever think we should set a Standard Number of Merit Badges and do away with all the Fluff ones? We need to concentrate on certain Skills and their Knowledge retention. What good is a 134 Merit Badge Eagle who can't remember how to Stop Bleeding or perform CPR no matter what age they are 13 or 18 or anywhere in between. You can't possibly mean Scouting as it was understood by Baden-Powell: Proficiency Badges that measure a Scout's current proficiency in Boy Scout skills only? Bad idea! That would attract boys who like camping, in the same way that basketball teams attract boys who like basketball, baseball teams attract boys who like baseball, football teams attract boys who like football, and soccer teams attract boys who like soccer. The Merit Badge system is designed for adults with a marginal interest in Cub Scout outdoor skills for teens, but seek to make up for the shortcomings of the public school system by turning Scouting into after-school school. Oh, the horror that a Boy Scout might pick up Personal Management in a one hour trick-or-treat session, while we struggle to uphold the standards that most red-blooded outdoor boys hate, have always hated, and will continue to hate until the end of time. Yours at 300 feet, Kudu moosetracker commented "I don't think anyone is arguing that Personal Management should be done right, and Camping or First aid should just be brushed over. All merit badges should be done right" Done "right"? Required badges like Personal Management do not even rise to the standards of what Baden-Powell called "Parlour Scouting" because they are pure school, not the American Cub Scout camping for teens to which B-P's term refers. Boys should be forced to earn Personal Management if they want to play basketball, not Scouting. If we used our BSA training to turn sports into something that boys hate as much as they hate Scouting, it would even the playing field, so to speak. As for both Camping and First Aid, they ARE brushed over. The purpose of Camping Merit Badge is to get indoor boys to Eagle without ever walking into the woods with packs on their backs. That is why none, as in zero (0), of the "20 nights of camping" in canvas towns (in which the Scout does not even pitch his tent, btw), and/or under the blades of two-deep Bruce Tuckman helicopters, qualifies as Boy Scout Camping in Baden-Powell's program, which is to say real Scouting. For First Aid to qualify as a Proficiency Badge, it would have to be re-certified every year by an outside agency. There is no "Once an Eagle, Always an Eagle" in proficiency-based Scouting. moosetracker commented "And I do think citizenship (though not really scout craft) is something Baden Powel pushed for also, but just not 3 merit badges on the topic worth." Baden-Powell never "pushed" for school-bench citizenship. By "citizenship" he meant the practical, sweaty society formed by effort and cooperation within Patrols that practice Scoutcraft in the deep woods. Link to post Share on other sites
qwazse 4342 Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 Anyone ever think we should set a Standard Number of Merit Badges and do away with all the Fluff ones? We need to concentrate on certain Skills and their Knowledge retention. What good is a 134 Merit Badge Eagle who can't remember how to Stop Bleeding or perform CPR no matter what age they are 13 or 18 or anywhere in between. You can't possibly mean Scouting as it was understood by Baden-Powell: Proficiency Badges that measure a Scout's current proficiency in Boy Scout skills only? Bad idea! That would attract boys who like camping, in the same way that basketball teams attract boys who like basketball, baseball teams attract boys who like baseball, football teams attract boys who like football, and soccer teams attract boys who like soccer. The Merit Badge system is designed for adults with a marginal interest in Cub Scout outdoor skills for teens, but seek to make up for the shortcomings of the public school system by turning Scouting into after-school school. Oh, the horror that a Boy Scout might pick up Personal Management in a one hour trick-or-treat session, while we struggle to uphold the standards that most red-blooded outdoor boys hate, have always hated, and will continue to hate until the end of time. Yours at 300 feet, Kudu Will reducing the number of MBs get us any closer to "proficiency badges" (in the outdoors or otherwise)? Link to post Share on other sites
Kudu 186 Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 Anyone ever think we should set a Standard Number of Merit Badges and do away with all the Fluff ones? We need to concentrate on certain Skills and their Knowledge retention. What good is a 134 Merit Badge Eagle who can't remember how to Stop Bleeding or perform CPR no matter what age they are 13 or 18 or anywhere in between. You can't possibly mean Scouting as it was understood by Baden-Powell: Proficiency Badges that measure a Scout's current proficiency in Boy Scout skills only? Bad idea! That would attract boys who like camping, in the same way that basketball teams attract boys who like basketball, baseball teams attract boys who like baseball, football teams attract boys who like football, and soccer teams attract boys who like soccer. The Merit Badge system is designed for adults with a marginal interest in Cub Scout outdoor skills for teens, but seek to make up for the shortcomings of the public school system by turning Scouting into after-school school. Oh, the horror that a Boy Scout might pick up Personal Management in a one hour trick-or-treat session, while we struggle to uphold the standards that most red-blooded outdoor boys hate, have always hated, and will continue to hate until the end of time. Yours at 300 feet, Kudu Easy enough to test, isn't it? Dilute your local high school's football training with Personal Management and the other required Merit Badges, and see what happens to the team's proficiency. Link to post Share on other sites
Brewmeister 132 Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 Anyone ever think we should set a Standard Number of Merit Badges and do away with all the Fluff ones? We need to concentrate on certain Skills and their Knowledge retention. What good is a 134 Merit Badge Eagle who can't remember how to Stop Bleeding or perform CPR no matter what age they are 13 or 18 or anywhere in between. You can't possibly mean Scouting as it was understood by Baden-Powell: Proficiency Badges that measure a Scout's current proficiency in Boy Scout skills only? Bad idea! That would attract boys who like camping, in the same way that basketball teams attract boys who like basketball, baseball teams attract boys who like baseball, football teams attract boys who like football, and soccer teams attract boys who like soccer. The Merit Badge system is designed for adults with a marginal interest in Cub Scout outdoor skills for teens, but seek to make up for the shortcomings of the public school system by turning Scouting into after-school school. Oh, the horror that a Boy Scout might pick up Personal Management in a one hour trick-or-treat session, while we struggle to uphold the standards that most red-blooded outdoor boys hate, have always hated, and will continue to hate until the end of time. Yours at 300 feet, Kudu This is a false analogy. The purpose of football (or any sport) is to teach the players to play football. Period. The purpose of Scouting is "to train youth in responsible citizenship, character development, and self-reliance through participation in a wide range of outdoor activities, educational programs, and, at older age levels, career-oriented programs in partnership with community organizations." Even the congressional charter, which you often cite, specifies a much broader purpose of Scouting: "[T]he ability of boys to do things for themselves and others." Scoutcraft is but one part of that; "teaching" is explicitly cited as another. Link to post Share on other sites
moosetracker 132 Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 Anyone ever think we should set a Standard Number of Merit Badges and do away with all the Fluff ones? We need to concentrate on certain Skills and their Knowledge retention. What good is a 134 Merit Badge Eagle who can't remember how to Stop Bleeding or perform CPR no matter what age they are 13 or 18 or anywhere in between. You can't possibly mean Scouting as it was understood by Baden-Powell: Proficiency Badges that measure a Scout's current proficiency in Boy Scout skills only? Bad idea! That would attract boys who like camping, in the same way that basketball teams attract boys who like basketball, baseball teams attract boys who like baseball, football teams attract boys who like football, and soccer teams attract boys who like soccer. The Merit Badge system is designed for adults with a marginal interest in Cub Scout outdoor skills for teens, but seek to make up for the shortcomings of the public school system by turning Scouting into after-school school. Oh, the horror that a Boy Scout might pick up Personal Management in a one hour trick-or-treat session, while we struggle to uphold the standards that most red-blooded outdoor boys hate, have always hated, and will continue to hate until the end of time. Yours at 300 feet, Kudu That's what I said Kudu.. Hands on citizenship, was pushed by BP.. Like the scout who impressed Boyce in London so that he returned to America and founded BSA. That is not necessarily your outdoorsy backwoods man type of scout craft, but it was there.. Do we need 3 merit badges for it.. "No" I also would not cry hard to loose Personal Management as a required course.. But, I am more of the mind that if doing the eagle project, I would rather see the boy fund raise of find donations that do not include Mommy & Daddy donating the funds.. Personal management is something kids need to learn, but it doesn't need to be incorporated into a required Merit Badge As for First Aid & camping not going far enough in your opinion.. Don't know what else to say, except that if that is your belief you can instill that into your Troop culture and really don't need a Merit Badge to do that for you. PS Sports in a way is starting to do as you describe, only not being taught in the locker room or football field. But, most schools now insist you keep your grades up to stay on the team.. So yes, to be in football, you can't play hooky in your Math classes. Link to post Share on other sites
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