Troop vs Crew vs Webelos 3/4th year

[ps56k 10]

I've become more and more disappointed at Scouting. Looking at our Council, Districts, OA, and Troops, there is very little really good interest from the Scouts, and their supporting leaders. For example, I see the Boy Scouts (up to First Class) as more of the Webelos 3rd & 4th year - and then the Scouts drift out of Scouts, or maybe to a Crew, or just stay on the roster as a ghost. Our Troop is still struggling with how to turn itself around from 6 years of a youth camping/outdoors "club". We have several star & Life Scouts, that needed "more", so a Venturing Patrol was setup - but that was not enough, so a Crew was established. Out of 20+ older Scouts on the Troop & Crew roster, only 3 show up for any meeting or discussions. But they will waltz into a Troop meeting for a BOR after getting their rubber stamped MB cards at the local MB Clinic or MB Univ. And yet, they can't start a fire, cook a meal, build a lashing, or most other Scouting skills... let alone teach tme to others, or try and be an active part of the leadership team.

And, as I see at various levels in our Council, most of the organized activities seem like dressed up Cub Scouts - which are still eager, but the Camporee and other "Boy Scout" activiites are pretty lame.... like Webelos 3/4th year levels. So - after getting to First Class, and being around 13/14 - what happens to your older Scouts ?

 

[SR540Beaver 116]

Who signed off your Star and Life Scout's requirements for Tenderfoot, 2nd class and 1st class? If they have no scouting skills now, they didn't learn them back then. Why were they signed off and how did they get to Star and Life?

[Trevorum 24]

I agree with SR540Beaver. The first two years are critical to establishing scout skills, scout spirit (Oath and Law) and pride in the unit. It's a circular problem, yes, but older scouts (14+) are critical as role models to those younger guys. Some attrition and sporadic participation are natural in the older guys, but they need to have some reason to keep active. We used to have age-based patrols, but recently shifted to mixed-age patrols so that the older guys can serve as leaders and mentors to the new scouts.