POR- Youth only or for Adults as well?

[OldGreyEagle 5]

OK, I split this off so as not to confuse the original thread. I have never seen the abbreviation POR (Position of Responsibility) used for anything but Scout Advancement, another poster says POR can be used for adult positions, I have been wrong before, and most likely will be wrong again, but does anyone have a reference on this?

 

I have only seen POR in reference to youth, is POR ever used in reference to adults?

[dg98adams 18]

Position of Responsibility or POR I have seen most oftenly used describing youth leadership.

 

 

Adults are not playing the game of "Scouting" we just pass out the marbles.

 

I have not seen POR referenced when describing an Adult Scouter position, but it could be used in the same way "description of your job" could be.

(This message has been edited by dg98adams)(This message has been edited by dg98adams)

[Oak Tree 15]

I would say it's youth-only. That's the only way I've ever heard it.

 

The term POR comes from the requirements for youth ranks of Star, Life, and Eagle. The requirements could just as easily have read serve actively for six months in one or more of the following positions:, but instead, it added the phrase of responsibility, and hence, those youth positions became known as PORs.

 

For adults, I've only ever seen it referred to as a position. That's what it is called on the leader registration form.

 

Sure, the words seem to be relatively interchangeable, but the practical usage makes a distinction.

[NJCubScouter 1389]

I have never heard POR used for an adult position -- but come to think of it, the term "POR" (either spelled-out or the acronym) is seldom if ever used in our troop anyway. When talking about the POR's needed for Star, Life and Eagle, people in our troop usually just say "job", less often they say "position." But usually it's something like "Johnny just made First Class and needs a job for Star, what's available?"

 

I think Eagle92 (in the other thread) was just using the term "POR" loosely, as an equivalent for "position."

[John-in-KC 311]

There are registered positions for folks in units. For that matter, there are registered positions for folks at District and Council level.

 

If you happen to be on the Committee side, you are either a member at large, or you and the Chair have agreed that you will do some things to support the youth program.

 

Of course, back in the day, they weren't PORs. There were PLs, ASPLs, SPLs, and holders of troop office by warrant.

 

 

[evmori 11]

Well wouldn't POR be applicable to all adult leadership positions?

[NJCubScouter 1389]

Well wouldn't POR be applicable to all adult leadership positions?

 

It could be, if that is what the accepted terminology was. As OakTree points out, the term "positions of responsibility" is used for the youth positions because it appears in the requirements for Star, Life and Eagle. Are CC, SM, ASM etc. "positions of responsibility"? In the non-jargon sense, yes they are. They are positions, and they involve responsibilities. It just isn't the way the term is usually used or understood.

[Twocubdad 665]

Ditto what NJ said.

 

Even with youth, I think most folks refer to the job as a "leadership position" although that's not technically correct.

[rkfrance 11]

"Position of Responsibility" is exactly that for adult leaders. It is what we do.

 

I have a "Job" outside of Scouting, and I have a job to do in and for Scouting that relates to my POR. The variation is too many adults look at their position as a "job" and not a privilege. Too many forget we are in this for the youth.

[BDPT00 41]

My opinion: Sometimes with large troops, there aren't enough "positions" to go around. I think the POR allows a Scoutmaster to give a particular assignment to a Scout to earn the credit for leadership without benefit of a particular position patch. (One of them might have been a webmaster, which now has a patch.) This is superior to handing a kid a patch and not telling him what his job is.

So ... I think a position of responsibility can be handled with or without a patch.

BDPT00

[Eagle92 110]

Well, I thought I saw the term used in conjunction with adults onthe Language of Scouting, but the terms POR, Position of responsibility, etc don't appear in it so I may very well be mistaken.

[BDPT00 41]

So . . . so far, the answer to the original question is no. POR is for advancement.

[evmori 11]

I think the answer is maybe.

[Eamonn 61]

Back in the UK, POR was the abbreviation for Policy, Organization and Rules.

It covered everything you wanted to know about Scouting but were afraid to ask.

Ea