Incomplete merit badges

[Trevorum]

 

I'd like to find out what approaches are taken (if any) by your troop towards incomplete MBs.

 

We have one gung-ho SA who diligently tracks all of the incomplete MBs and periodically reminds boys of their outstanding requirements. On the one hand it's nice to have such a data base on a troop-wide level, but on the other hand I strongly feel it is the boy's responsibility to know what they need to do and to take action to finish up, if that is what they choose to do. This SA and I constantly have a good-natured philosophical disagreement on this issue.

 

Before I became SM, I realized at one point that my son had half a dozen incomplete merit badges. Some of these were two years old and were getting more stale by the day. I remember thinking at the time that this was a waste of effort and that he really should try to complete these. ("Look at this son - you only have this ONE requirement left for Mammal Study and you'll have another merit Badge!"

 

My thinking has radically changed. I no longer think of incompletes as 'lost opportunities'. After all, supposedly, the boy learned something while pursuing the badge, and that is not negated by the lack of one or two missing requirements. So what if he'll never get that Architecture MB, or Mammal Study, or Music, or ...

 

[OldGreyEagle]

The ASM is providing a great service for your troop. I hope the scouts appreciate it. As there is no time limit on merit badges, the scout has til his 18th birthday to finish them. I think its nice for the troop to keep up on the incompletes, but in no way is required to.

[SemperParatus]

We don't track them (up to the scout), but I wish we did.

 

It would be nice to know that when a scout asks me for a blue card to start working on a badge that I could use that opportunity to remind him of the specific other badges that he is almost finished and maybe help him focus his efforts to completion.

[evmori]

Semper,

Does your Troop use any tracking software? We use Troopmaster & we do track partials. Great resource & it helps keep all advancement organized.

 

Ed Mori

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[SemperParatus]

We use Troopmaster, but don't track partials. I have had discussions with the advancement chair about this, but unfortunately other pressing matters seem to take precedence.

 

After summercamp, we do help the scout hook up with a registered counselor for partially completed badges and attempt to track and follow-up. However, if several months go by with no activity, it invariably gets forgotten by the troop leadership (and the scout).

 

Something we need to work on and can do better. Trev, any chance this SA may want to relocate to the land of pleasant living?

[Eagledad]

I have no trouble with an adult reminding scouts, but I don't think it helps all that much. If the scout wants to finish a badge, he usually does. If the scout is waiting for a better time, reminders don't usually help.

 

But if you have an adult who feels good doing this, then that is a simple way of letting them feel they are contibuting.

 

Barry

[Hunt]

We do this to a limited extent--we keep the partials from Summer Camp, and return them to the boys the next year. Mostly this is stuff like Rifle Shooting and Archery that they need free shoots to complete. I think this is an artifact of the way the camp treats the partials, which is to hand them over in a big pile to the troop. If it was a MB that the Scout was more likely to complete during the year, we'd give the partial to him.

[nldscout]

We keep track and list it on the troopmaster printout the keep in thier scout notebook. They get new printout about every other month.

 

 

[Eagledad]

I have a story that kind of supports Trev's point. We had a 17 year old scout from another state trasnfer to our troop with just two MBs left to get his Eagle. When he finished, he brought all his paperwork to the Troop meeting, handed it all to me and told me to call him for the BOR. I handed it back to him and told him that the scouts handle all the paperwork, turn it into the Council, set up the BOR and then call to tell me the time and place. He was in shock, but once he got his wits about him, he went to our advancement ASM and handed her the same paperwork and asked her take care of it. Of course she handed it all back to him and told him in our troop, the scouts take care of the Eagle paperwork and set up the BOR.

 

I knew I was in trouble when he came walking in the next meeting with his dad who looked like he wanted answers. I was quick to the point that we believe Eagles should have the maturity to handle the Eagle paperwork. By the way, he was about my 20th Eagle, so we knew he could do it. Once the dad heard my explination, he agreed and wanted his son to take care of it all. It was tough for him, he told us that in his previous troop, the adults hold on to all the MB cards and advancement cards and paper work. They find the Eagle project for each scout, set the date and basically tell the scout when to show up. Once the scout completes everything for Eagle, the adults fill out the packet and send it to Council. The only thing the scout needs to know is the time and place of the BOR.

 

It took this Eagle three weeks to fill out the paperwork, get all the signitures and set up the BOR. His dad helped him a little and we did gave him some help, but only enough to keep him moving. It was a challenge for him.

 

My point is don't do to much for the scouts or they may not learn enough to get the job done. I had a saying for our adults as they developed their responsibilities. Try not to make the job anymore complicated than what a scout can do so the next person can take over easily, and because maybe a scout will be the next person.

 

This doesn't have anything to do with this subject, but this scout was a hero in our town a year later for resuscitating a baby found at the bottom of a baby pool near a pool he lifeguarded.

 

Oh how I live this scouting stuff.

 

Have a great evening.

 

Barry

[madkins007]

Personally, I think the best compromise is for the troop to maintain accurate records, and make them available to the Scout when asked- but to expect that the Scout is doing his own tracking and is responsible for his own advancement.

 

I think EagleDad's story demonstrates that we can easily make things TOO easy for the Scouts with every good intention. On the other hand, I'd hate to think about scenarios where a Scout looses key paperwork, or uses a bad system for a while then gets his act together and wants to move.

 

The adult leaders and troop should provide a safety net, but not necessarily a cattle prod.

[eagle90]

After Summer Camp I send the partial card to each scout with the name of a local counselor for that badge. Then it is pretty much left up to the Scout to finish it on his own. Unfortunately the percentage that do is pretty small. Of course some of the badges, like the shooting sports and aquatics need special facilities which may not be readily available. I do remind them periodically about the partials.

[Eagledad]

An idea I've seen and like a lot is scouts making an advancement book to hold all their advancement records. It's a three ring binder with several pages of those plastic baseball card holders. The scouts are suppose to put their MB cards in the slips where baseball cards usually go along with the cards for all their ranks. This is also where they keep records of leadership and service projects. And anything else the want to keep for record. The scouts are asked to bring their advancement book to all the BORs so the adults can review their experience.

 

Our troop didn't do this, but I like the idea because its teaches a method and habit of maintaining records that he can use for the rest of his life. He could even have a partials section of the book.

 

Have a great scouting day.

 

Barry

[Eagledad]

An idea I've seen and like a lot is scouts making an advancement book to hold all their advancement records. It's a three ring binder with several pages of those plastic baseball card holders. The scouts are suppose to put their MB cards in the slips where baseball cards usually go along with the cards for all their ranks. This is also where they keep records of leadership and service projects. And anything else the want to keep for record. The scouts are asked to bring their advancement book to all the BORs so the adults can review their experience.

 

Our troop didn't do this, but I like the idea because its teaches a method and habit of maintaining records that he can use for the rest of his life. He could even have a partials section of the book.

 

Have a great scouting day.

 

Barry

[EagleInKY]

I try to track partials in Troopmaster. I certainly get all the partials from Summer Camp in there. I try to remember when a boy asks for a blue card to add it as well. It doesn't always happen.

 

I have a couple of ASMs that occasionally remind boys about partials. They don't twist arms or force them to work on it, just provide gentle reminders when we circle up at the end of a meeting.

 

Also, I provide a scout advancement history a few weeks before each COH. This is to allow the scout the chance to review it against his records. I remind the scouts that it's up to them to verify that the info is correct. They own the responsibility for tracking their advancement, I'm just providing a backup to their records. In the end, we have to make sure theirs, ours and the council's all agree before completing the Eagle paperwork.

[nldscout]

We provide each scout a Note book like Eadgle Dad talks about.

 

Its a 3 ring binder with a cover with his name. Inside is a copy of troop roster, MB list, Troop guidelines, Copy of his advancement records from Troopmaster and a copy of the troop dicipline agreement that the scout, parents and Sm signs annually. He is also given BB card protectiors to keep MB cards and other cards in.

 

After he gets Notebook its up to him to maintain and organize it. We schedule on calender about once a qtr for them to bring in natebooks for new paperwork.

 

It has made record keeping so much easier.