How to save a rapidly dying Troop.

[Eagle94-A1]

12 hours ago, Tron said:

UK is doing a lot of stuff that is great; but they have high quality control. We can't do what they do because we do not have even half of the quality control that they have. 

Going from memory here, so bear with me. One of the reasons for better quality control is that there are a lot fewer professionals, so there is no pressure to increase membership numbers. As a result volunteers are empowered more to do things. If a group of volunteers want to clean up camp to prepare for an event, they contact the camp warden (ranger) and Bob's your uncle, you can do it.  I know of councils where  you have to go through the council office and SE in order to have a work day, and they may even deny it!

Another thing is that their standards when I was there had not changed. "One and Done" was not a thing. Emphasis on advancement, and Queen's Scout was not existent, compared to the pressure in the US. I have had folks tell me HA is a was a of time because there is little to no advancement involved. Instead their focus was on skills and adventure.

Finally, they held their Scouts to higher expectations/standards. It was not uncommon for their Scouts and Ventures to go on a week long expedition without any adult supervision as part of the DoE Award program. Even today they do "Remote Supervision" as defined as:

"Remote [Supervision]

‑ Where the Supervisor remains out of sight and hearing of the team and allows them to get on with the expedition without any intervention

‑ The Supervisor will have a good idea of roughly where the team are and how they are progressing

‑ This is the norm for the majority of practice expeditions and all qualifying expeditions. It allows the Supervisor to:

           ◦ Periodically observe the team without intervening

           ◦ Allow the team to make mistakes and to recover from them without outside intervention

           ◦ Support the team by remaining remote yet in the expedition area and able to intervene if absolutely necessary or if requested."

[Tron]

2 hours ago, Eagle94-A1 said:

Going from memory here, so bear with me. One of the reasons for better quality control is that there are a lot fewer professionals, so there is no pressure to increase membership numbers. As a result volunteers are empowered more to do things. If a group of volunteers want to clean up camp to prepare for an event, they contact the camp warden (ranger) and Bob's your uncle, you can do it.  I know of councils where  you have to go through the council office and SE in order to have a work day, and they may even deny it!

Another thing is that their standards when I was there had not changed. "One and Done" was not a thing. Emphasis on advancement, and Queen's Scout was not existent, compared to the pressure in the US. I have had folks tell me HA is a was a of time because there is little to no advancement involved. Instead their focus was on skills and adventure.

Finally, they held their Scouts to higher expectations/standards. It was not uncommon for their Scouts and Ventures to go on a week long expedition without any adult supervision as part of the DoE Award program. Even today they do "Remote Supervision" as defined as:

"Remote [Supervision]

‑ Where the Supervisor remains out of sight and hearing of the team and allows them to get on with the expedition without any intervention

‑ The Supervisor will have a good idea of roughly where the team are and how they are progressing

‑ This is the norm for the majority of practice expeditions and all qualifying expeditions. It allows the Supervisor to:

           ◦ Periodically observe the team without intervening

           ◦ Allow the team to make mistakes and to recover from them without outside intervention

           ◦ Support the team by remaining remote yet in the expedition area and able to intervene if absolutely necessary or if requested."

Sounds like where we want to be as a program here in the states. 

[fred8033]

On 5/21/2025 at 12:37 PM, Eagle1993 said:

Stop the Lion and Tiger program. ...

I've said the exact same thing when I saw the Lion program piloted.   Burns out parents.  Creates the wrong perception of scouting.  Wears out the teaching elements of scouting.  It's just too, too much during the early baby sitting years.  IMHO, scouting (cub or troop) should start when scouts begin to be somewhat independent.  Kindergarten and first grade scouts are tied too too much to the parents.  

Edited Tuesday at 06:35 PM by fred8033