MB councilor using old requirements

[CNYScouter 46]

My son has been working on Personal Management MB. He came home, said that he needed to create a resume, and asked if I could help him with this.

The MB councilor has copies of the book to use during the meeting and would not allow my son to bring a copy home.

I went to www.meritbadge.com and downloaded the requirements and did not see any requirement that has a resume.

 

I found that the MB councilor was using MB books that were 5 years old. He bought these when he started doing this merit badge and has used them ever since then and has never bothered to see if there was an update. I have found out that every MB that is being taught in my sons troop is using old requirements and none of thr MB councilors have been updating the requirements.

 

Now the old MB councilor can not finish with him, due to a work related issue, and he will need to finish with a new councilor. The old requirements do not match the new ones and the number of requirements have been increased from 9 to 10.

 

I do not want to see my son have to redo this merit badge and was wondering what, if anything, can be done?

 

 

 

[John-in-KC 311]

First things first. You need a long, heart to heart talk with the Scoutmaster. This guy needs to come off your units' MB counselor list.

 

Next, there is an issue for your District Advancement Committee: Guys who don't stay current need either RETRAINING or decertification as MB Counselors.

 

Third, if the MB Counselor is unwilling to pony up the youths MB card, there is yet another reason to drop this guy from unit and council rosters.

 

Fourth, your son needs to go and crosswalk requirements. Troop library should have a copy of the MB pamphlet. Another youth might have a copy. Someone in the troop should have an older copy of BSA Requirements. Compare content!

 

After all this, he'll be ready to go to the SM and ask for a new PM Counselor

 

Then and only then do we get to this question, which your son must ask the new MB Counselor: I started under Mr X on xx/yy/zz. He had to drop being an MB Counselor due to work. If I show you my work to date, are you willing to accept me under old requirements?

 

Policy is once a youth starts a badge, he gets to stay in that requirements set. Challenge is if your youth kept his work in hand.

(This message has been edited by John-in-KC)

[LPC_Thumper 10]

John,

 

Nice post, may I correct one thing? As for working on old requirements, the standard is that a Scout SHOULD use the requirements that are current at the time. Once he has started the work these requirements don't change for him (even if National does). I don't have enough information from CNYScouter to be able to say if his son is OK with work already done. I totally agree with everything else you have said. I must admit that if I (as a MB counselor) cam across this lad, I would be sure to make it known what he need to do, and what was complete. If I didn't have the existing blue card because some *&%#$ (let's just say person) took it from him and wouldn't return it I'd try hard to ensure he didn't have to redo that work (assuming he had evidence of doing the work)

 

Good Luck with this!

[John-in-KC 311]

LPC-T,

 

Thanks for the clarification of my post.

 

I have to wonder if the young man was working Communications and Personal Management concurrently. There is a resume required for Communications ... my son is working to close THAT MB out (and then it's on to Personal Management and a Leadership Service project).

 

John(This message has been edited by John-in-KC)

[CNYScouter 46]

If you look up some of my other posts this is just another in a long list of issues I have with my sons Troop. I have been trying to decide if I should switch to another troop and was waiting until after the next COH, which by the way has now been postponed for the forth or fifth time.

Luckily, I live near a mid-sized city and have over a dozen troops to pick from within a 15 min. radius. I feel guilty about switching as I have recruited the last 15 out of 20 kids into the troop and feel that I will abandoned them to a poor program.

 

As far as this person coming off the units MB councilors list is that every one of our units MB councilors would have to be removed as none are trained and none are using up to date requirements..

In fact, the only Adult leader that I have found that has taken any training is an ASM who said that he took some type of training in 1978.

I am starting SM/ASM training along with the Outdoor Skills training tonight. Current Troop leadership does not encourage Training and I was openly discouraged by CC in taking the training that he felt I since I had time to take a weekend training course I should be heading up a camping trip for the boys in the troop instead.

 

What I cant understand is that SM is head of our District Advancement Committee, on the District membership committee, and is a roundtable commissioner and we have no trained leaders. We do no district or council activities. I attend roundtables for the Pack I am associated with and have never seen another leader, outside of our SM, from the troop attend.

 

My son is not working on Commutations MB. He finished it last fall and did not have to do a resume for one of the requirements. As far as the requirements for PM, he is OK for what he has done and only has 3 or 4 more requirements to finish. I'll have to check with my son but I think the current MB counclor has kept everything he has done. One of thee requirements he needs to finish is to visit a bank, but I see that this is no longer required. One of the biggest things I see is the requirement for preparing a budget and tracking spending money. Old requirements this was done for 90 gays, new requirements is for 13 weeks.

I can get a copy of the requirements he is working with and have him cross reference to new requirements.

 

As far as the Blue card because this is being taught internal to the troop blue cards are never used. I know of scouts in the troop who outside of summer camp, have never taken a MB outside this troop.

 

At this time I think is time to switch troops ASAP.

 

[Lynda J 10]

If you son started on the old requirements for a badge he needs to finish those requirements.

A scout can not pick and chose the requirements between old to new. He has to do one or the other.

If he is doing the requirements that have visit a bank in them he has to do that.

BTW 13 weeks is 91 days.

 

[CNYScouter 46]

 

Lynda J - Sorry I guess I didn't do my math.

 

I am still concerned when he goes to a new MB councilor that they will require him to do the new ones instead of the old ones.

 

The old requiremnt numbers do not match with the new ones.

 

How is the new MB councilor going to know which requirements he has completed and which ones he needs to finish

[John-in-KC 311]

CNY,

 

You need to have your son put his hands on the requirements he WAS working on. Then, have him go to BSA Requirements or www.meritbadge.com, and COMPARE requirements ... not numbers, the actual wording of the requirements. THEN, he'll have an idea of the work he's done, and the work he needs to do, under both old and new.

 

Usual practice is that a MB Counselor, having started a youth under a set of requirements, will finish him under the same set of requirements...

 

That said, Counselor may well say "I'm sorry, you are STARTING this MB with me" and only accept that work that fits in.

 

My concern is that your sons' old MBC may be more than one edition of requirements behind, or that the old MBC was "making stuff up." We like to think it doesn't happen, but it does.

[Hunt 11]

This thread has gotten me to thinking about how to "manage" MBCs associated with the troop. In thinking about my son's troop, the various parents and others who are MBCs will not know that requirements have changed unless somebody tells them. Ideally, they would know to check for themselves, but to expect all of them to do so is probably not realistic. So I guess it is up to somebody to monitor MB changes, and to "push" the changes to the MBCs so they know about them. I guess that somebody is probably the advancement coordinator (and guess who that is...sigh). Is this how other troops handle this issue?

[John-in-KC 311]

Hunt,

 

I'm also an advancement coordinator. Yes, it's my job to know requirements.

 

I'm also a Roundtable staffer. We're going to wrassle with how our Merit Badge Corner helps leaders identify changed MBs.

 

Maybe an annual letter in the troop mailboxes....