Parents Acting as Merit Badge Counselors

[Bob White 20]

Gosh, where to begin.

 

What my opinion is of who the best merit badge counselor is just that...my opinion. The scout should not be learning how to make decisions based on my opinion. There are far more important things to consider when choosing a counselor. Are they available, are the convenient, is the scout familiar with them, what resources do they have available. What qualifies them.

 

A person with a degree in lanscaping, a person who works as a landscaper, and a person who lanscapes as a hobby are all qualified as counselors for landscape architect merit badge. Who I think is best is irrelevant if they are not readily available, inconvenient to the scout, or not the one that the scout wants to go to.

 

I will give the scout facts about each but he does not need my opinion no matter how much you may think that he does.

 

The SM signs the blue card initially to show that he has discussed the badge with the scout, reviewed the prsocess with him, and that the scout has recieved the name and contact information for a registered counselor.

 

The second signature which goes on the Scout's portion of the blue card acts as a signed reciept so that the scout can if needed at a future date show evidence that the completed card was returned to a trool leader to record and send to council.

 

Nowhere does the program say that the scout makes ALL the decisions. The program tells us to not do something for the scout that the scout can do for himself. Selecting his own counselor from a list is something a scout can do himself.

 

I see no one trying to prove who has the best program. I see people trying to do a scouting program...and people who just like being in charge.

 

"A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves."

Lao Tzu

 

 

BW

 

 

[Eagledad 2777]

>>The second signature which goes on the Scout's portion of the blue card acts as a signed reciept so that the scout can if needed at a future date show evidence that the completed card was returned to a trool leader to record and send to council.

[Bob White 20]

"OK, so you're saying that your opinion is each one of us have opinions of what are opinions of counselors and what are facts of counselors."

 

I haven't the foggiest idea what that means?!

 

"I never have understood the second SM signature on blue cards since there is no reason for the SM to acknowledge the completion.

 

It is to protect the scout in case the leader he gives it to (or someone else down the line) loses the other portions of the card before it gets recorded at the council office.

 

The pocket certificate is fine for a record once the scout gets it. But many troops wait weeks or even months before presenting that card to the scout. In the meantime if the troop loses his paperwork the scout has a reciept signed by a troop leader showing that he turned in the completed merit badge form to the troop.

 

So the first signature insures that the scout speaks with the SM before beginning and gets info on registered counselors, and the second acts as his reciept until he gets his pocket certificate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[evmori 11]

I understand, Barry! There is no place for opinion in the BSA!

 

You opinion of me as a MB counselor could be you think I just "let 'em slide" while you opinion of Bob as a MB counselor could be "he is a really good teacher of the MB". So you would suggest Bob over me. But that's just your opinion!

 

Ed Mori

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[Eagledad 2777]

>>In the meantime if the troop loses his paperwork the scout has a reciept signed by a troop leader showing that he turned in the completed merit badge form to the troop.

[Bob White 20]

If Barry thinks that councelor ed lets the Scouts "slide" rather than complete the requirements as listed in the merit badge book then Barry has a responsibility to contact the council advancement committee and share what he knows of Ed's continual incompetence as a counselor and have him removed from the list.

 

Barry the BSA merit badge blue card is a simply 3 part card that folds to pocket size. It has the name of the scout, the counselor and contact infor, the unit the scoutmaster and the specific merit badge. On completion one portion is retained by the counselor, one goes to the unit and one goes to the scout.

[Eamonn 61]

I may be guilty of seeing the world through rose tinted specs. But when it comes to Merit Badge Counselors, the Scoutmaster has no say.

He or She didn't select or approve them, this was done at the District or Council level.

If he or she is unhappy about a Counselor the District advancement committee will deal with it.

None of this should in any way effect the Lad and his merit badge.

If the SM thinks that a counselor is favoring his son, then the advancement committee needs to be informed and they will decide what the proper course of action is.

The standard for each and every merit badge is clearly laid out and the Counselor needs to stick to the requirements or be removed.

Eamonn.

[evmori 11]

No one has said anything about approving or not approving MB counselors! And Bob, I would do the exact same thing! But until the sub-standard counselor is removed, I would not suggest any of my Scouts go to him/her. What would you do, Bob?

 

We will have to agree to disagree, Eamonn. Both the BS Handbook & SM Handbook state "obtain a MB card and name of a MB counselor from your SM". Not exact wording but close enough. I interpret that as the SM giving the Scout the name of a MB counselor from the MB counselor list. You interpret it differently. We are both correct.

 

Ed Mori

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[Eamonn 61]

Ed,

You or I might think that someone is a sub-standard Counselor. But as long as they are on the list they are Counselors and are approved.

Hunt,

I kinda, sorta, see where you are coming from. However I think that the choice has to be the Scouts.

If a Lad came to me (Which I know isn't going to happen as I'm no longer active with a troop) and I gave him the blue card and the list and he lived in the far north end of the district and selected a counselor in the far south end of the district. I might ask him if he was sure that he wanted to do this? If there were other counselors near to where he lived. But if he wanted to go ahead, that would be fine with me.

Eamonn.

[packsaddle 753]

I'd even let little Ed fill in his own information on the blue card. Mr. Ed couldn't do it anyway, because he's a horse

Seriously, if there are multiple approved counselors, let the boys' fingers do the walking. It's part of taking personal responsibility and also part of the fun for them. I just wish we had that luxury more often.

[FScouter 24]

"He'll give you the answer that you'll endorse..."

[evmori 11]

He'll probably pick a counselor named Wilbur!

[Hunt 11]

"The scout should not be learning how to make decisions based on my opinion."

 

Why not? What's wrong with your opinion? Why isn't that just one piece of useful information for him to process in coming to a decision? Sensible people seek the opinions of more knowledgeable and experienced people. If you just think the scout should ask for your opinion, I guess I can understand the lesson there. You do give your opinion when asked, right?

 

Maybe we have a semantic issue here between "information" and "opinion." I take it you think that "the counselor lives near you" is information and "the counselor is terrific" is opinion. What about, "when Joe and Bob went to that counselor, they had a hard time getting in touch with him."--? That information, while probably not enough for you to try to get that counselor bounced from the list, would certainly be helpful for the scout to know.

[Eagledad 2777]

>>You or I might think that someone is a sub-standard Counselor. But as long as they are on the list they are Counselors and are approved.

[Eagledad 2777]

>>You or I might think that someone is a sub-standard Counselor. But as long as they are on the list they are Counselors and are approved.