TIME BETWEEN RANKS

[Fat Old Guy 11]

I wonder how all those guys made it to Eagle back when it could take two or three years to make first class.

[Bob White 20]

wonder how all those guys made it to Eagle back when it could take two or three years to make first class.

 

Would that be way back 80-years ago when 98% didn't make Eagle, or last year when 95% didn't make Eagle?

 

 

 

 

[Eamonn 61]

Hi Pack899

While I am 100% against "Planned Advancement".

What I mean by that is where the Troop Leadership have this Grand Plan of who is going to advance and when they are going to do it.(Every boy Will make such and such rank, in so much time !!)

The road / Trail to First Class Scout, offers our Scouts the ground work or the foundation to do so many things in Scouting, that I feel we really need to do a good job of getting the message across.

However, we must treat each Scout as an individual, they do not have to much along as a group.

Very often a boy will join a troop and be very active, but as things change at school, he will become more involved with Sports or music or whatever. He will be just as keen as ever on Scouts and Scouting. He just has so much more things on his plate, and may not advance at the same rate as some others in the troop.

Bob White, has outlined the BSA policy.

The sad thing is, that so many Adults want to try and add or subtract from something that is very clearly stated.

Let each Scout do what he wants to do.

Provide a program that is safe and fun and well planned.

The Advancements belong to the Scouts, not the leaders or the troop.

Advancement is only one of the methods of Scouting. Don't get hung up on it.

Eamonn.(This message has been edited by Eamonn)

[hops_scout 9]

I didnt get First Class until this last February. This was almost four years.

[dsteele 20]

When I joined the Scouts (in the Seventies) there were time requirements between all ranks. It may have been an attempt to discourage young Eagles, or to more fully develop leadership. I don't know. I was a kid at the time.

 

There was a minimum one month tenure as a Scout to earn Tenderfoot.

There was a two month minimum to go from Tenderfoot to Second Class.

There was a minimum three months from Second Class to First Class.

Four between First Class and Eagle.

Six between Eagle and Life.

Six between Life and Eagle.

 

And still I earned Eagle just shy of my 14th birthday -- it was awarded when I was 13.

 

I pushed hard. Eagle was my goal. Those months of waiting between fulfilling requirements were tortuous. I used to fall asleep just dreaming of the distant time in the future when I could go through my board of review and get to the next rung.

 

There's no need for that now. The early parts of Scouting's path are about Scouting skills -- tenderfoot, second class, first class. Becomming a Scout.

 

I think the higher ranks have tenure requirements because of a subtle shift from basic scoutcraft to leadership -- something that takes time and a minimum of practice.

 

Just a couple of cents from an old Eagle and a fairly young guy.

 

DS

[hops_scout 9]

(This message has been edited by hops_scout)

[Fat Old Guy 11]

"Would that be. . ."

 

Thank you Mr. White, you proved my point. The 3% difference is really meaningless.

[Bob White 20]

The goal of first class emphasis is not to generate more Eagles but to retain more scouts in the program. Units that use it see the difference, units that don't whine that kids have to many conflicting activities.

 

[Fat Old Guy 11]

We use the First Class in Less than a Year program (Soon to be "First Class in One Week"!) system and we still whine about too many conflicting activities. Soccer, wrestling, football, baseball, swimming all take place on the weekends.

 

Do you have actual numbers that show historic retention levels?

[Bob White 20]

"We use the First Class in Less than a Year program (Soon to be "First Class in One Week"!)system"

Since that is not a part of the scouting program I am not surprised to hear that you do that.

 

"and we still whine about too many conflicting activities."

I am not surprised t hear that either.

 

Bob White

[Fat Old Guy 11]

Tsk, tsk, tsk. Bobby, you chastise me for my behavior and then have to take the cheap shots.

[hops_scout 9]

Fat Old Guy, you make Bob sound like he's about 6 years old calling him Bobby.

[Eagledad 2779]

>>Units that use it see the difference, units that don't whine that kids have to many conflicting activities.

[Fat Old Guy 11]

"One thing the really alerted this to us was the uproar we got a couple of years ago when we considered canceling our District MB fair. Several units protested because summer camp and the MB fair were their only advancement program. They felt we were canceling half their troop advancment program."

 

I don't know about other troops but the vast majority of Merit Badges in my troop come from Summer Camp or MB fairs. Why? I don't know. For some reason very few pursue Merit Badges unless they are spoon fed to them.

 

Just about everyone around here plays some sort of organized sport or two or three. Even the out of shape kids play CYO baskeball, LL baseball, etc. However, only 2 Scouts out of 60 have the Sports merit badge.

 

We have two Scouts that are accomplished muscians, to the point of composing original pieces and performing them in public. Neither has the Music merit badge.

 

You might argue that they don't know about the merit badges but why wouldn't they?

 

I'm busy trying to encourage boys to work on merit badges on their own and parents keep asking when we're going to do more "merit badge classes" during troop meetings.

 

 

[OldGreyEagle 5]

Doing merit badges during your weekly meeting is a sign of a poor troop program. (Unless the merit badge has a direct correlaiton to the Troops theme)

 

Merit Badges are not intended to be taught in a grand classroom style, rather they are to be partof the scouts exposure to adult association (with all YP guidelines followed)

 

You have parents who want more merit badges taught during meetings, you have prospective committee members or ASM's begging for training.