Number of Merit Badges

[KoreaScouter 13]

MK:

 

Your approach to partials, changing requirements, and which set of requirements a Scout is held to, is in fact BSA policy. If a Scout is working on a MB, and the requirements change after he begins working on it, he may complete the badge using the new requirements, or the old ones, at his discretion.

 

KS

[mk9750 11]

KS,

 

That's kind of what I thought. The difficulty I have is how to get old requirements. If a boy called me to do a badge that he partialed 3 - 4 years ago, but the requirements had changed, how would one go about digging them up, and who is responsible for having the old requirements, the boy or me?

 

Mark

[SharonNC 10]

It would be the boy's responsibility to have the requirements and phamplet to work from. As it is the boy that must call the MBC, not the Counselor calling the boy.

Sharon

[packsaddle 753]

After reading the posts here, I realize that I was a lucky scout as a boy, to have the well-organized MB program that our district had. It is disheartening to learn that many decades later, so many areas of the country (including mine) are in such bad shape. The issue of MBs from camp are a perennial problem. When I catch my boys signing on to certain badges at camp because "we can get this one really easy here", I remind them to make sure their motives are in line with scout spirit. A few sneak through anyway. I do wish, though, that the camps would take the MB program more seriously.

[mk9750 11]

PackSaddle,

 

I agree with you 100%. And I think the problem lies with the way camps are staffed.

 

At our Summer Camp, adult staff are the registered MB Counselor. However, they rarely have much direct involvement with instruction or testing. This is left to junior camp staff. Delegating to the junior staff is a great idea, but if the adult is responsible for signing the blue card, he should be more involved with testing each Scout before he signs. Additionally, group MB instruction, in my very humble opinion, makes for a less than thorough MB experience.

 

That all said, in our experience, there are a few MBs that are easier at camp, not because the work is easier, but the resources are more readily available. Rowing, Sailing and Motorboating come to mind, as does Env. Science in our case. I think many would also say rifle and shotgun are easier at camp, although our Troop has better resources for these badges than even camp does.

 

I'd have loved the chance to see what camp MB programs were like 40 years ago. I suspect that they were much closer to what we all believe would be best.

 

Mark

[packsaddle 753]

Well-l-l-l, 40 years ago the program I experienced WAS closer to what you just described. I wonder if that council still has it. I agree with you about the limitations of group badges as well.