MBs: Did anyone else notice....

[John-in-KC 311]

That the 2005 list of merit badge requirement changes is BIG:

 

Eagle List:

Camping

Citizenship in the Community

Citizenship in the Nation

Emergency Preparedness

Family Life

First Aid

 

Elective List:

Archery

Astronomy

Canoeing

Chemistry

Cooking

Electricity

Fire Safety

Fish & Wildlife Management

Medicine

Metalwork

Nuclear Science (was Atomic Energy)

Plumbing

Railroading

Scholarship

Small Boat Sailing

Soil & Water Conservation

Space Exploration

Surveying

Theater

 

I'm really glad for the guy who does the meritbadge.com site.

 

For those who counsel or know folks who counsel these badges, it's recheck time.

 

YIS

[EagleInKY 14]

Yes, the list is big this year. But I believe it was due. Several of these were in need of updating. From the few I've looked at, I believe they have been good changes.

[mdutch 10]

I recently got the Emergancy Prep merit badge book and started working on the requirments. The book is dated 2003, but it seems to have the new requirments in it.

 

Any ideas on why this may be?

 

 

[nldscout 18]

First to answer John, the Bsa committed to update all of the MB books over a 5 or 7 yr period starting in 03, so we will see a lot change over the next couple of years.

 

 

meamemg,

Its not unusual for the requirements to be updated after the book is published, thats why you need a new requirements book each year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Proud Eagle 13]

No, I think what he meant was that he has an old book, but the new requirements were already in it.

 

It could be they just made some minor change. There may have been a typo or something wasn't printed that should have been. Who knows.

 

I do know that Archery was completely revised for 2004. I was the Archery supervisor for our camp last summer. We had a brand new book with new requirements in it LAST YEAR. The edition prior to that was a 1970 something, and that is what had been used through 2003.

 

Why they needed to change something in the 2004 edition for 2005 I have no idea (assuming this list is correct).

 

Also, the 2005 Requirements Book has a problem. Not all the 2005 changes were ready to go when the book was printed. It apparently contains instructions to look for updates (there is a list of which badges are involved) on the web. I guess they needed a couple of extra months. There is also apparently some sort of mistake that left a major requirement out of the 2005 Requirements book, but it is in the MB book.

 

 

[John-in-KC 311]

PE,

 

Then it's time for BSA to take the Requirements book out of the realm of the printed page as primary medium, and instead bring it into the world of digits.

 

With either FTP or www, National can update as needed, and then send a note to the Regions, Areas and Councils to "get the word out" through training and Roundtables.

 

As it is now, it's a once-a-year process, with changes posted to someplace amorphous.

 

YIS