Scoutmaster

Holding Scouts Hostage - the 13 year-old Eagle?

The delightfully plain-spoken author of Ask Andy answers a question about "delaying the earning of
Eagle till Scouts are older and more mature… If a Scout earns Eagle by age 13, what’s left? "

A bit of ancient history:  I made Eagle at 15; my brother at 14; both of us stayed active in our Troop and in Scouting right up to 18, and then became ASMs (I went on to become Scoutmaster of the same Troop I'd earned my Tenderfoot badge in!).  More recently, I've sat on Eagle boards for 17 years olds who drop out right after their Court of Honor, and 13 year olds who stay in and active for the next 4 or more years, and everything in between.  In other words, something other than merely earning Eagle is operating here, and I'll tell you from experience exactly what it is:  It's the myth that "Eagle is the 'end of the trail'."

Too many of us who should know better are out there telling Scouts (and their parents) that Eagle is "The Ultimate," that "Making Eagle is a Life Goal," that "This is the PINNACLE of Scouting."  Horsepucky.  Eagle is a rank, pure and simple.  Yes, it's the highest (we're not counting "Palms" here because Palms aren't ranks), but advancement is just one of eight methods of Scouting.

Now I'll go further... To artificially and arbitrarily hold a Scout back from his own advancement goals is a form of hostage-taking.  In doing this, in purposefully delaying a Scout by throwing up roadblocks, so that he "stays in the troop longer" is a complete and total miscarriage of the Scouting program itself, to say nothing of the advancement plan.

Want Scouts to stay active in your troop?  Simple: Give 'em a program that enriches their lives, turns 'em on, and is fun.  When it works, it works magic.  I've seen troops that "get it."  There's one, in particular, that I have in mind:  It's older Scouts drive to their troop meetings! Got that?  Drove!  THAT is what you call a troop program that's a MAGNET. That's what Scouting's supposed to be.

To anyone harboring the misguided notion of holding a Scout hostage by stalling his advancement in order to keep him in the troop, I have but one response: SHAME ON YOU!

If you haven't discovered Ask Andy take a moment and look over his 100 + columns that serve as one of the best FAQ's on Scouting. Got a Scouting problem? After a nearly a hundred years here isn't anything new out there - ask Andy.

Associated posts at Scoutmaster
Eagle Court of Honor
Eagle Projects

Revised Rank Requirements

Word is these requirements will be effective on January 1, 2008:

Tenderfoot Rank
Current requirement 9:
Explain why we use the buddy system in Scouting.

Revised requirement 9:
Explain the importance of the buddy system as it relates to your personal safety on outings and in your neighborhood. Describe what a bully is and how you should respond to one.

Stop Bullying Now

Scouting and the Bully from Scouting Magazine

Second Class Rank
New requirement 8b:
Explain the three R’s of personal safety and protection.

"The "three R's" of Youth Protection convey a simple message that the BSA wants its youth members to learn:
Recognize situations that place him at risk of being molested, how child molesters operate, and that anyone could be a molester.
Resist unwanted and inappropriate attention. Resistance will stop most attempts at molestation.
Report attempted or actual molestation to a parent or other trusted adult. This prevents further abuse of himself and helps to protect other children. Let the Scout know he will not be blamed for what occurred."

First Class Rank
New requirement 12:
Describe the three things you should avoid doing related to use of the Internet. Describe a cyberbully and how you should respond to one.

Cyberbullying article at Wikipedia

Resources for Boards of Review from BSA

Now available - a  great resource from the BSA entitled:
Rank Advancement and the Board of Review Process: Frequently Asked Questions
Question: What is a board of review, and what is its primary purpose?
Answer: The troop committee conducts a board of review to periodically    review each Scout's progress, from Tenderfoot through Life ranks, to    encourage him, to learn whether he is enjoying his Scouting experience,    and to evaluate the unit's effectiveness in conducting the Scouting    program to benefit him. The review presents a good opportunity to monitor    the Scout's advancement and keep him on track. It also gives unit leaders    a chance to measure the effectiveness of their leadership. The troop    committee appoints three to six individuals to conduct the board of    review.

Well worth reading to refresh your understanding of some important elements of the advancement process.

Resources for Merit Badge Counselors - BSA

Check out these Resources for Merit Badge Counselors from the BSA. A guide to publications that will be useful to those wishing to become a merit badge counselor. Some are only available in printed formt from your local Council Service Center
Here are links to these resources that are available on line

A Guide for Merit Badge Counseling, No. 34532C This tri-fold flier gives a well-rounded explanation about the merit badge program and spells out the counselor's responsibilities.

Merit Badge Counselor Orientation, No. 34542 Merit badge counselors in training can use this two-page resource as a quick reference.

Merit Badge Counselor Information, No. 34405 Local councils use the information from this form to identify merit badge counselors, the merit badges they are willing to coach, and other pertinent information. This form also includes the merit badge counselor's agreement to follow the merit badge requirements, and other BSA policies. This form, available online in PDF format (click here), should be submitted to the BSA local council along with the Adult Application.

Adult Application (to Be a Scouting Volunteer), No. 28-501C To serve as a merit badge counselor, an individual must complete and return this adult registration form. The Adult Application is valid for one year only and must be renewed annually. To register as a merit badge counselor, mark the box labeled "Council/district position" in the upper right-hand block with "merit badge counselor." Fill in the "Position Code" with code "42," and fill in the "Position (Description)" with "merit badge counselor." This application also is available in Spanish (No. 28-502Q).

Application for Merit Badge, No. 34124A Better known as the "blue card," this blue wallet-sized card shows that the Scout has permission to start working on a particular merit badge, records his progress, and, when completed, provides a separate record for the Scout, the counselor, and the unit.

Scouts Earn all 122 Merit Badges

Every once in a while a Scout reaches the extraordinary achievement of earning all 121 merit badges. I can imagine few other ways to gain experience in a crazy quilt of interests like  American Business, Archeology,  Bird Study,  Cinematography, Dentistry,  Entrepreneurship, Farm Mechanics,  Genealogy, Geology, Journalism. Music, Nuclear Science, Pottery, Railroading, Surveying, Textile, and Whitewater. Here are three who have achieved this remarkable distinction recently:

Here's an interview with one Scout

Raymond Adrian DeLeon Jr. is an Eagle Scout, founder and president of Venture Crew 1209, and recently graduated high school senior. He also has earned all 121 merit badges in the Boy Scout program. On June 1, 2007 I talked with Adrian about his experience. Link to interview.

News story about Eagle Cameron Barber from Frisco, Texas:

"I felt that earning all 122 merit badges would be a unique opportunity to learn about career opportunities and hobbies and get a taste for the adventures they provide," he said.

Additionally, for every five merit badges over what is required for an Eagle, Boy Scouts can earn a palm. Cameron has 20 palms. Link to whole story

Eagle James Calderwood from Chevy Chase, Maryland

It's not easy making Eagle, the highest honor in Boy Scouts. You need at least 21 merit badges, some required. Only 2 percent of Scouts get that far. A remarkable achievement. So what adjective should be used for James Calderwood, who has attained 121? Scout's honor.

Least favorite badge: "Insect study was something I wasn't as fascinated by as much as the other ones," he said. "But there wasn't a badge that I dreaded getting. I mean, every single badge intrigued me."  Link to the full article

Listen to a radio interview with James at the NPR website.

Hoop Jumping

Scouts, unlike trained dogs, should not have to jump through hoops.

I have heard repeatedly, and unfortunately advocated for a time, some of these  hoops;

"Scouts should go over and above the rank requirements, they should really know their stuff."

"Eagle projects should take a minimum of X hours."

"Active membership or leadership means X number of meetings or camp outs"

"Troops should police the quality of merit badge instruction through boards of review for merit badge work"

Requirements towards ranks and merit badges are written carefully and the overall standard is a Scout's best effort- nothing more nothing less - no hoops allowed.

Community service, Eagle projects, leadership tenure; all the parameters are written down - no hoops allowed.

What is ACTIVE all about

An excellent treatise on the largely misunderstood 'serve actively' requirements at Ask Andy:

In the advancement arena, one of the BSA’s most practical, intelligent, realistic, compassionate, and youth-sensitive decisions was to not attach percentages, numerics, or any other sorts of rubrics to the term “active.” Instead, the underlying principle of “active” is simply “Do Your Best.”  In the same arena, one of the biggest mistakes a troop can make is to attempt to make up their own “rules” for this, and, further, to fail to understand that “active” extends well beyond mere troop and/or patrol meetings and outings.  You’ll see why in just a few moments…

Read the entire post below.

 

Scoutmaster Conference Help

From the Boy Scout Trail Scoutmaster Blog

I've found that some scouts (ok, just about all scouts) don't prepare for a scoutmaster conference without prompting. When I ask what they've learned in the past 6 months, or what good turns they've done, or how they've demonstrated Scout Spirit, more often than not I get a blank stare.

To make scoutmaster conferences more interesting and valuable, I've put together this Scoutmaster Conference Preparation Sheet. A scout can print this out and complete it before his conference to help him have answers in his head for those questions that the scoutmaster will ask.

If the scoutmaster has scouts turn these in to him, he can keep a history of the scout's thoughts and see how his ideals evolve.

Tough Calls - Advancement

Scoutmasters are called on to evaluate intangible aspects of a scout's progress towards his next rank; Scout Spirit and Active Participation.

A scout advances through a progressive set of expectations in these two areas;

 

                                       

Rank	Participation	Scout   Spirit
Scout	None	”Understand   and   agree to live by the Scout Oath and law”
Tenderfoot	Spend   at least one   night on a patrol or troop campout.	“Repeat   from memory and explain in   your own words the Scout Oath and Law”
Second     Class	Since     joining, have participated in five troop/patrol activities	Demonstrate   Scout   spirit by living the Scout Oath (Promise) and Scout Law in your    everyday life.
First     Class	Since     joining, have participated in 10 separate troop/patrol activities.
Star	Scout
Life	Be   active in your   troop and patrol for at least six months as a Star Scout.
Eagle	Be   active in your   troop and patrol for at least six months as a Life Scout.

Obviously there are no uniform easily quantifiable standards expressed other than the spirit and participation requirements for Tenderfoot through First Class. An important concept is implied in the fact that the first four ranks are much more structured than the top three; scouts should progress in these areas from an external to an internal standard of performance.

I have struggled with assessing active participation over the years. One reaction was to develop a set standard for all of our Scouts- attendance at 75% of Troop meetings and 50% of outings as a standard for active participation, for example. As soon as I set this standard there were compelling reasons to make exceptions. I quickly realized that a set standard would never work and saw the reason that the requirements did not include them. Besides setting a standard where none exists is a violation of the policy prohibiting adding or subtracting from rank requirements.

Quantifying 'Scout Spirit' is also problematic; I have never seen nor created any set standard for this requirement. This requirement simply can't be expressed in a uniform standard of evaluation; there are too many individual factors to consider.

What I came to realize was that these requirements are purposefully silent when it comes to numbers or uniformity of evaluation. We cannot assess these requirements by comparing one Scout to another. The only way to assess that a Scout has successfully completed these requirements is the Scout himself. Has he met his own expectations? Have we done our job of helping him internalize a personal standard of responsibility?

My practice is to review these requirements at the Scoutmaster's conference. I have the attendance record of the Scout in hand and do not raise the question of active participation unless there is some serious deficiency. If there is I discuss the issue with the Scout and often discover that some home or school difficulty prevented them from attending campouts or meetings. I then ask the Scout to evaluate himself - did he make every effort, did he plan well, did he prioritize his activities? The answer is almost always clear. There have been few instances where, by mutual agreement with the Scout, the requirement needs more work.

When it comes to assessing 'Scout Spirit' I again ask the Scout to evaluate himself and give me compelling reasons that he has fulfilled the requirement. More often than not I begin by saying; 'from my observations I believe you have fulfilled the Scout Spirit requirement, if I ask your Patrol Leader, Senior Patrol leader, parents, teachers and friends would they agree?'. If any problems arise it is up to the Scout and myself to agree on what happens next.

If we are to achieve the goals of Scouting we, in concert with their family, will mentor our Scouts through the process of developing and internalizing a sense of morality and personal responsibility. This process will never work if we assign these intangible qualities a numeric standard.

Standardization of Advancement

The short passage below has had more influence on what I do as a scoutmaster than anything else.

From Baden-Powell’s OUTLOOK November, 1921

In view of a very elaborate curriculum that was recently drawn up by one authority for standardizing the test for badges, I was obliged to criticize it in this sense: I hope that the compilers are not losing sight the aim and spirit of the Movement by making it into a training school of efficiency through curricula marks, and standards.

Our aim is merely to help the boys, especially the least scholarly ones, to become personally enthused in subjects that appeal to them individually, and that will be helpful to them. We do this through the fun and jollity of Scouting; by progressive states they can be led on naturally and unconsciously, to develop for themselves their knowledge. But if once we make it into a formal scheme of serious instruction for efficiency, we miss the whole point and value of the Scout training and we trench the work of the schools without the trained experts for carrying it out.

We have to remember that Scoutmasters are voluntary play leaders in the game of Scouting, and not qualified schoolteachers, and to give them a hard-and-fast syllabus is to check the ardor and their originality in dealing with their boys according to local conditions. I could quite imagine it frightening away many Scoutmasters of the right sort. The syllabus as suggested seems to go a good deal beyond what is prescribed as our dose in Scouting For Boys; and if the proportions of the ingredients in a prescriptions are not adhered to you can not well blame the doctor if the medicine doesn’t work. Our standard for badge earning—as I have frequently said—is not to attain a certain level of quality of work (as in school), but the AMOUNT OF EFFORT EXERCISED BY THE INDIVIDUAL CANDIDATE. This brings the most hopeless case on a footing of equal possibility with his more brilliant or better-off brother. We want to get them ALL along through cheery self development from within and not through the imposition of formal instruction from without