merit badge 'classes' when and how?

[Eamonn 61]

Sometimes I hate this machine.

I did have the Who on the CD player.

Maybe a little too loud and the Moon got to me.

Sorry.

As I have said before I go out of my way not to be part of Eagle Scout BOR.

There are times when I get caught and do serve. One of my pet questions is to ask the Scout how many of his Merit Badges did he go out of troop for?

Not that this has any bearing on the Scout.

But I like to see if all the time and effort that the Advancement Committee put into keeping the list is worth while.

At times it does seem like a waste of time.

Eamonn

One Click

[LauraT7 13]

Eamonn -

 

in our area we have had to RECRUIT Badge counselors to work with boys in our troop because the district/ council list is so outdated - IF you can find a copy of it at all!

 

For example - my son had ONE requirement to finish on Swimming after summer camp first year - he called all 6 of the counselors he was given - 3 phone numbers were disconnected, one counselor had died. One never answered the phone, the last had a weird answering machine - we weren't sure we had the right party. He went back and tried a number of times over a number of months to contact these two last counselors, because the message on the machine was a different family name and a female voice (the counselor was male) I left a message for him to call me a number of times - my son was a little confused by the garbled message. after about 4 months, Jon and i gave up. We figured he'd have to wait for next summer to get that one requirement signed off.

 

In January, they revised the Swimming badge and DROPPED the one requirement he had to complete! So we renewed the effort to find a counselor - since they had not updated the list in years - we were back to calling the two numbers we had left. I also used the 'grapevine' of roundtable meetings to find a counselor for him. Eventually, at one roundtable I was introduced to "Bob" - the very guy we had been leaving messages for! he said - oh - that's my daughter's phone, they don't pass message on to me and anyway, i never respond to badge calls made by parents - only if the BOY calls me! Well, how is the boy supposed to call you if he doesn't have your right number and your own kids aren't made to pass on such messages?

 

we eventually got him to come to a troop meeting, as we had a number of boys who had been trying to reach him - and he met with them and signed off.

 

This is not an isolated incident - we have found it ALWAYS difficult, if not impossible, to get a response from badge counselors off the district "list" mostly because they do not make any effort to keep it current. I've been in Boy scouts for 3 years, and it was outdated by 5 yrs when I started and they were promising to update it then - they still haven't done it.

 

Even if the district DOES update - it still comes down to individual counselors - and i have found many to be very unaccomodating - IF they haven't died, IF their phone is still connected and they are still counseling, and IF they bother to return calls at all! I'm sure there are many - myself being one - that if called would at least return a call. But, how can they? My name is not on the 'list'! No one but my troop and a few others know I am a badge counselor!?!

 

Experience has taught the boys to not even bother trying outside their personal circle (which, luckily, includes a couple of other troops in our area) If a boy wants to do a badge - generally the adults call the other troops to find out - or we recruit someone specifically to do that badge. Most get done at camp or at badge colleges.

 

So who is to blame? the boys? I don't think so.

[dsteele 20]

The district advancement chairman is charged with keeping the list up-to-date and recruiting counselors. Not the Council Service Center and certainly not the boys.

 

DS

[KoreaScouter 13]

I know this wasn't your central point, but if a MB's requirements change, a Scout has the option of completing the new requirements, or the old ones, provided he had a signed blue card while the old requirements were still in effect. So, in your scenario, if he had a partial with one requirement left, and BSA dropped that requirement, he just finished the badge, opting to use the new requirements...

 

KS

[LauraT7 13]

But that's my point, KoreaScout - suddenly he HAD the badge done, by them dropping a couple of requirement, only one of which he needed under the old badge requirements - so we only had to find someone to sign off on it - or wait 6-7 months for summer camp to come around to finish it. But no one would answer him and do so.

 

It would be nice if the District Advancement Chair WOULD get a list out - but everytime we've asked ar roundtables, (For me, since april of 2001) we get "it's being worked on" -

Really - the office is computerized - I'm sure they have some kind of software that lists volunteers and their positions - can it be that hard? Our district want to be able to give a list to everyone on CDROM - that's great - but I'm sure we would be happy to settle for paper or anything!

 

[dsteele 20]

The office is computerized and can give you a list of merit badge counselors, but Scoutnet doesn't keep track of which merit badges they counsel. I wish it did, but it doesn't.

 

They are registered simply as merit badge counselors, not basketry merit badge counselors, etc. It falls to the volunteers to keep track of who counsels what and for whom.

 

DS