Position of Responsibility - actually doing something?

[Proud Eagle 13]

If any Scout honestly thinks that wearing the patch qualifies as actively serving, they are an idiot beyond any hope of self improvement.

 

If on the other hand they have seen other Scouts get away with doing nothing, and therefore think that justifies their own attempt at getting by without doing anything, then they posses a wide array of undesirable attributes, some of which are contrary to the Scout Oath and Law.

 

By the time some one is going up for a Star, Life, or Eagle BOR they must know that these positions require carrying out some responsibility of some sort. If they are uncertain of what exactly their position requires, they should be able to either ask someone with such knowledge, or seek it out in the vast array of BSA publications.

 

I know I was never formally trained in the position of SPL, but that didn't stop me from knowing what had to be done. I had seen previous SPLs. I also took the time to seek out some extra materials to read more about the job. If you don't know what the job is, the first step in getting it done is to find out. If you don't know how to do it once you know what it is, then your second step is to learn how. These are common sense things that everyone must learn.

 

Here is a good "test" for the BOR to use:

Ask the Scout what his POR is.

Ask him what the responsibilities of that position are.

Ask him what needs to be done to fulfill those responsibilities.

Ask him how he did those things.

Then ask him if he did the job as well as he should have. Ask him if he did as well as the other members of the troop and patrol deserved for him to do.

 

If the Scout didn't do the job, he will come to that conclusion on his own. At that point, he will either tell you so, or he will decide to deliberately deceive you to advance himself.

 

I know I for one don't ever plan on affirming as truth something I know to be a lie by passing someone at a BOR or signing off the advancement form in such a case.

 

If an appeals board decides to do so, then the responsibility for that is with them, not with me.

 

Oh, one final note. If someone does somehow work their way up through the ranks in a unit where it is possible to think that doing nothing is all the service required for the position of responsibility, then they are not in fact a member of a Boy Scout Troop. The paper work may say so, but it wouldn't be so.

[boleta 10]

Telling the scout what is required for a POR to be successfully completed is certainly not adding to the requirements. It only tells the scout what is expected. A SM in our district recently relieved a scout of his position of patrol leader. In writing, the scout was told that he did not complete the task of obtaining speakers for the month's troop meetings that he was required to do. All patrol leaders are assigned this task in rotation. They are all told this is required prior to their tenure as PL. A SM conference was held with the parent present and the scout was given the opportunity to explain what happened and why he didn't complete the assignment. He was given the opportunity to get the speakers for the next month and refused. He was then relieved of the position. The parent was mad and wrote a letter to district and council officers questioning the "added requirements". The SM did everything correctly and was supported. The responsiblities of the POR were defined prior to the tenure of the scout; when the job was not being done correctly, there was intervention and an opportunity to correct; and the scout was relieved prior to a BOR being held.