The Right Fit For Your Troop.

[Eamonn]

I am big on the Methods of Scouting. I can put my hand on my heart and say that I used them and the reason that I used them was because they work.

Boy Scouting is based on the Patrol. It is the all important unit in Boy Scouting.

However there are different schools of thought. At this time in the USA, little fellows are recruited and are in Dens, when they become Webelos Scout, they are still a Den but we allow them to pick a Patrol name. Some time in February or March these guys move into a troop. Here they become the New Scout Patrol. They spend the next 12 - 18 months working on becoming First Class Scouts.

They remain in the same Patrol with the same Lads for their entire Boy Scouting career.

Just as the adults who attend Wood Badge are proud to belong to a Wood Badge Patrol and they belong to it forever, the same should hold true in a troop.

If we look back at how it was in England in BP's time and when I was a Scoutmaster over there. Cub Scouts meet weekly as a pack, the pack is divided into Sixes. A six is a team of six Cub Scouts of different ages. They are led by a Sixer who has in second command a Seconder.

When a Lad reached 11 years old he would move from the pack to the troop (The pack, troop and all other Scouting units were all part of one Scout Group) In the 1970's a Link Badge came along which the Cub Scout worked on with at least one other Cub Scout. It was activities that linked the troop and the pack.

All this meant that there was never a time when a troop would see a huge number of new Lads entering the troop all at once, or it would be a very rare thing if you did.

What used to happen was that the PLC would know who was coming into the troop and would decide which Patrol they would go into. Mixed age Patrols were the only Patrols I really ever worked with in England. While the idea that you were in a Patrol for life was there, it never really worked as when the Troop grew and new Patrols were added there were reshuffles. Still everything was done to keep the Patrol as the main unit. We rarely if ever had Patrols camp with or join up with another Patrol. If the membership of a Patrol went down, we knew that they would get the next new Lad.

Both systems have their pros and cons. The New Scout Patrol does have a lot of advantages if you have the right leaders. Scouts when I was a leader moved on up to the Venture Scout Unit at age 16. One of the big complaints that I hear from older Scouts here is that they don't want to do stuff with the "Little Kids!!" A Venture Patrol is a wonderful idea, again you need good quality trained leaders to help make it work.

The mixed age Patrol does allow the older Scout more time to work with the younger Scout and because the little fellow is part of the same team /Patrol, he is one of their own. Patrol spirit kicks in and everyone wants everyone to be better than the other guys.

I like the NSP. If these guys have the correct leadership and don't have too many distractions, they should or at least most of them should be First Class Scouts in about a year. It isn't a race and if it takes 18 months there is no shame. Some Troops keep the NSP as a Patrol other Troops allow the NSP to break up and move into the Patrols of their choice. Or the Scoutmaster tells them what Patrol they are joining. (Then when the quit he has no idea what went wrong!!)

Patrol Camping was a very big part of our program. I was a lot happier seeing a mixed age Patrol go off, than I would have been a same age Patrol, the older Lads kept an eye on the younger Lads and the younger Lads by just being there stopped the older Lads from trying some of the stuff that they might have got into had they all been the same age.

It does seem that mixed age Patrols are now looked upon as not being the way to go. I would say find the system that works best for the troop. While the make up of the Patrols is fairly important, what you allow them to do is vital.

Eamonn.

[FScouter]

t487scouter made a comment in the other thread:

"... but if for instance there are 2 scouts in one patrol and 8 in the others would it not be better for the boys to absorb into the other patrol(s)?"

 

Boosting the number of boys to 10 creates its own difficulties. Primarily, 10 is more difficult for a PL to manage. The ideal size is 6-8 boys.

 

A more difficult solution to the 2-boy patrol is to recruit 3 or 4 more boys. Too late now, but what happened to the rest of the patrol? They didn't all become SPL.

 

Sadly, the easiet solution is not necessarily the best solution.

 

[eagle90]

Eamonn -

 

Ouitstanding post! Great analysis. we have tried it both ways and prefer the mixed age patrol. For some the New Scout Patrol may work best. As you say, find the system that works best for your troop.

 

Dale

[Backpacker]

Eamonn

 

You are brave indeed to again bring up this topic after what happened last time. Tempers flew and a former poster(BW) is gone. I hope this time we can have a polite, open, informative and civil discussion.

[t487scouter]

Eamonn, I second, a great post. As for the rest of you posters, equally well done. There is so much more information to be gained in this board, more than any other resource I have found so far. One question I have for mixed patrols. Again, I may be way off base and this is just an assumption since I have never had a mixed patrol but since humans are pretty lazy, is there a large burden for the senior members of the patrol? I would guess that younger members would rather be taught tasks by the older members rather than learning on their own from their books. In fact I would guess that most if not all they learn would be from senior members. Not that this is a bad thing but is it fair to the senior members? Do they get burned out teaching instead of learning?

[Eagledad]

>>but since humans are pretty lazy, is there a large burden for the senior members of the patrol? I would guess that younger members would rather be taught tasks by the older members rather than learning on their own from their books.

[eagle90]

I have found, for the most part, the boys who stay in Scouting long enough to become "the older guys" naturally enjoy teaching and working with the younger scouts. Sure, it could be a "show-off" thing - See how much I know. But it doesn't come off that way. We just crossed over 16 Webelos in the last two weeks, just about doubling our size. I'll let you know how it's working!

 

DALE

[Eamonn]

I do think that there is a time when older Scouts out grow the every day troop activities.

While I'm sure that there are Troops that do manage to keep the 17 and 18 year old Scouts busy and active with the everyday troop activities. Most of the troops in this area, bump these Lads up to being Junior Assistant Scoutmasters. These Lads then become "Troop Visitors". They tend not to be part of anything and just visit the Troop when they have time, attend Troop Camp-outs if they get the information and feel like attending.

I have lost count of the number of times that I have heard that if it wasn't for the OA they would be gone.

Maybe we need to look at what the OA is doing right to see if we can make it work in a Troop setting?

Back home most of the PL'S and the SPL,were Lads who were 14 and 15 (They were done with the Troop at 16 and moved on to the Venture Unit.)

I am guilty of taking a PL to one side and mentioning to him that a member of his Patrol needed to complete something for Rank Advancement.

While the Troop program kinda sorta followed a theme, mostly based on the next big activity or District event. There was very rarely a time set a side for Skills Instruction, this was covered at the Patrol Meeting. The Patrol meeting was where the Patrols found out what was happening next. We had at the PLC meeting gone over and if needed taught new skills or done a refresher course of old ones.

Competition between the Patrols was very strong. Being a Patrol Leader was a great honor.

I can't seem to get that Gary Glitter song out of my head:

D'you wanna be in my gang, my gang, my gang, D'you wanna be in my gang, Oh yeah!

D'you wanna be in my gang, my gang, my gang, D'you wanna be in my gang?

I'm the leader, I'm the leader, I'm the leader of the gang I am!

I'm the leader, I'm the leader, well there's no one like the man I am.

The older Scouts wanted the little fellows to do well because they were part of their gang.

People talk about Patrol Spirit. We went one step further and had Patrol Honor.

Eamonn