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Hello everybody.My troop just started and i am about to be tenderfoot, but our council is saying that they dont want us doing any merit badges until we are first class. Has anyone ever heard of this kind of rule or are they just trying to keep us from looking better than other older troops.Sincerely mouse scouter.

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Once you are registered as a boy scout, you can work on any merit badge you want. There is no rule that says you have to be first class first. In our troop, a scout has typically earned 3-7 merit badges before he is first class, sometimes a lot more. I can't believe that your council would be interfering in your troop's operation to such an extent. This information is coming from someone else who is making up their own rules.

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Way back when I was a youth, Lo those many years ago, it was after Brownsea island but before the demise of the red berets, (BTW I loved the red berets), you had to be First Class before you could work on merit badges. Its not like that anymore, a scout can work on merit badges the day he signs up for scouts. Now for the particulars, when you say Council, I really have a hard time believing that, are you sure? Where did you hear that ? Can you find the Council Office phone Number ? Call and leave a few mesages for your Disitrict Executive and Scout Executive and make sure its a Council policy, I think someone told you wrong or you misunderstood

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Another case of units coming up with more rules, Looks like they want you focused on skills not merit badges. Becoming 1st Class in the first year will be a product of a good program there should be no reason if his aptrol want to work on a merit badge outside of the meetings on their own.

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amouse, first a belated welcome to the forum! It is great to see more of the youth perspective here.

 

Technically, a registered Scouter, with his Scoutmaster's approval and with the consent of his merit badge counselor may earn a merit badge at any (or none) rank. One could technically earn 100 merit badges before earning the Scout badge. I would not recommend it but ...

 

Now a little background - beware of using the phrase "my troop." Some may use that as an indication of your perspective on troop ownership. Now, when you state that "they don't want us doing any merit badges until we are first class" could have many meetings. I take "they" as meaning the Council, which may mean many different individuals. If by "us" you mean the troop, the "council" is partially correct. Troops should not work on merit badges collectively during troop meetings. That is not the purpose of a troop meeting, regardless of rank (see advancement guide). Another factor, as hinted on by Scoutmaster Ron is the first class in first year paradigm. Some use this as a metric to measure the quality of a troop. Therefore, those who worry about such metrics may not want anything to take away from meeting that goal. What they may fail to realize is that earning the first aid or swimming merit badge may help a Scout advance (many overlapping rank requirements) and keep up his interest and sense of accomplishment. Advancement is a method (not aim) of Scouting (and also something the youth should not necessarily concern themselves with).

 

Many troops have built in biases. In our troop, the previous "regime" did not let Scouts take the pathfinder program (work on Tenderfoot - 1st Class reqs) and insisted they work on merit badges because "we will cover the rank requirements during troop meetings." I know of other troops that do the opposite and require first year Scouts to take the pathfinder program - i.e. a Scout should learn basic skills before starting on merit badges. News flash - the Scouts should make an informed decision themselves! In my experience, the pathfinder program in my council is lacking and I've tried to 1) improve it 2) inform the boys of my expectations of the class. Last summer, we had about 60% of the NSP boys take pathfinder I or pathfinder II and about 40% take merit badges exclusively.(This message has been edited by acco40)

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The council told us that we shouldnt be trying for merit badges until first class, or at least thats what i was told by our scoutmaster. We werent informed of first class first year until later and they didnt specify much about that. Can i get more info regarding what to do and more info about the program acco40 was talking about

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amouse, I see that you are about to be a Tenderfoot. Take a look at the camping, first aid and swimming merit badges as well as 2nd and 1st Class requirements. They can complement each other. Why don't you try this approach. Politely request from your SM the name of a MB counselor for one of the MBs I mentioned above that you have the most interest in earning. Inform the SM of how it will help you complete the rank requirements (he should already know this). An informed SM should willingly give you the information that you have requested. If they do not, I would politely ask why. Before talking to a district executive (I'd enlist a parents help for this) I'd approach your district advancement committee first.

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OGE...BTW... don't wear no stinking red berets....

 

amouse appears to be misunderstanding something...

it simply can't be council policy. Virtually every council summer camp operates a "Brown-Sea" program to load new scouts up on merit badges and advancement opportunities (towards first class)! Perhaps, the SM was discouraging spending time on merit badges that could/should be used for advancement goals. Or perhaps 'a mouse' is looking to tackle merit badges SM feels should wait a bit (not necessarily correct...but still a SM's program "fact of life"). In our troop we know that the Brown-sea program almost always leads to a swimming merit badge (and others), so the time (March to July) can be better used on other areas of scout-craft...(unless we know swimming will present a major problem for our 'scout' at camp)...

 

or perhaps 'amouse' is pushing the envelope with this SM and for what ever reason SM thinks the boy needs to slow down or redirect his energies...Many of our 'new scouts' want to jump in with both feet and then find it hard to advance and do merit badges and that equals frustration and lots of started but not finished blue cards...We offer a strong first year to first class program and our latest crop of New scouts (30 boys) about 75% are on schedule to be first class by March/April of '05...and almost every boy has three to seven merit badges...

 

It's hard to say, but it seems like most of the posters have concluded that the council or SM are "WRONG"...go slow guys...remember the 'whisper a message game'...you whisper a phrase/message to one person who passes it down the line...almost never gets to the end "correctly"... what is said is not always what is heard! Perhaps amouse needs to talk to his SPL and has his parents conference with the SM if the matter can't be cleared up...but we can't assume that the Council or SM are wrong on the face of this...only that amouse thinks they are giving out incorrect or unfair(?)information.

I would look at the last sentence of the first amouse post...interesting conclusion..no?

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It would be awefully difficult to keep a Tenderfoot from earning a mb during his first summer camp (even if he is enrolling in the Trail to First Class courses at the various summer camp). In our troop, we (adult leaders and junior leaders) want our boys to work on their TFC requirements instead of spending time on mb and not rank advance. Troop level is where the rank advancement program is developed not at Council level. Hmmm that would be interesting to have the Council to lay down the law like that.

 

 

1Hour

 

ps: Long live the red berets.

 

 

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Hope you don't mind if I play a little Perry Mason (uh...I guess you don't remember him). How about Johnny Cochran?

 

Do you know if your Scoutmaster is calling 'council' on a frequent basis to ask about a lot of things? In other words, does he often quote 'council says'?

 

Does he say who specifically he is talking to?

 

Do you know if your scoutmaster is attending a roundtable (meeting of other adult scout leaders)?

 

Do you want to earn some merit badges now?

 

Are there any other adults in your troop that have questioned the information you are sharing here?

 

Have you shared the responses above with your parents and/or scoutmaster yet?

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