Engineer61

Yikes ... been hearing more and more about pot at various kid functions...not good ... Rules are rules... rules for all of us are called laws....of course they vary from locale to locale...but in general terms ... If you offer a minor tobacco, alcohol, OTC drugs, illegal drugs or sexual contact ... it's a crime of some sort...that's a job for legal authorities....you break the big rules, you get the big consequences. The kid has problems far bigger than whether or not he Eagles. If he's offered pot up at Scout camp then he's done so elsewhere...

There's two words there that have to be evaluated closely ... unaware = oblivious ... he has no clue what he is doing is affecting others? I kinda doubt that. I'll put a big vote in for uncaring. My two sons are opposites...my oldest is fully aware ... so much so that because of his ADHD, he chooses not to interact with very many people because he does not want to insult anyone, especially the opposite sex. My younger son (the Scout) is truly oblivious about what he says or how he says it 99% of the time. We have to put the brakes on him quite frequently.

I dunno, when my daughter wanted to go to tech school, it was $75000 for three years....and no aid....not too cheap.

I dunno, when my daughter wanted to go to tech school, it was $75000 for three years....and no aid....not too cheap.

The cost on Epi-pens varies with insurance...our's were like $10 then when to $30. Incidentally, the Epi-pen trainer is NOTHING like the real thing! The real injector has a HUGE recoil from the spring loaded injector...and if you don't apply it with enough pressure, it will bounce out before completing the injection....basically wasting the shot. The Epi-pens typically last 1 year, but I ditto a previous poster they are heat (and also cold) sensitive...they will crack if frozen and the medication doesn't like high temperature...a drag in the desert southwest. Also, depending on the extent of the reaction and the metabolic rate, the effect of the Epi-pen can wear off ...but the max duration is usually only about 30 min. Most people care two...and they are packaged that way now. Also, a little known issue.. I believe the Epi-pens are shock sensitive as well. When my daughter was is school, we found one injector spent in it's container...it apparently fired when she dropped her backpack.

As one that has life-threatening food allergies, and has a daughter with them...the avoidance can be a little tricky. Peanut allergy is the biggest bummer....because there are what you would think are unrelated foods that can be an inconvenience, or just as deadly at the peanuts themselves. If you have the peanut allergy, you have to know if you are also allergic to tree nuts, beans or peas as well. (Peas being the most common I believe.) Quiz the allergy kids, and the parents. Also, because accidental exposure is inevitable, you have to know how severe the reaction will be (rashes/runny nose/anaphylaxis) and how to treat an exposure... anti-histamines, Epi-pen....

To bad you can't revoke rank. Because that is probably the only solution that will work. My guess is that this kid can't be turned around without a serious butt-kicking from another scout, I would start recruiting the biggest kids you can find to offset this bully. The Eagle rank appears to have validated his superiority complex....so he's gonna pummel every kid he can with it. Probably could be a troop killer, given enough time and exposure.

I liked one of the comments to the article: "I don't think that being a Boy Scout had a darn thing to do with me becoming a responsible adult. Sure was fun, though." I tend to agree with that.

The "B is no better than an F" view comes from the fact that if you don't have "at least" a 3.0 "CORE GPA" and a higher overall GPA (weighted or not), colleges and universities (other than community colleges) will either not look at you or waitlist you. Been there done that. This is true even for the big "State" universities. Way different than when I entered college...heck I probably would not have gotten in. This is especially true for scholarships...GPA is the weed-out. Unless your extra-curr's are in your intended profession (my son and music for example) it is definitely his/her advantage to control the extra's. My son used to be in Marching Band and play/umpire Baseball in the spring. But he chose extra's that were more in line with his career path...honor music groups outside the school. As for the AP courses, unless you plan to go to the specific college that is offering the AP credit...don't bother...the credits most likely won't transfer...although I suppose it looks good on your transcript anyway. Now if you plan to go into forestry, park ranger, geology or some such avenue, the Scouting is probably and all-in proposition.

I was thinking the other day that it is too bad that the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's didn't encompass ALL the groups that need the changes to occur...would have been a lot more efficient.

May be... but anyone who's tried to matriculate a kid into college lately will soon learn that a "B" on the transcript is an "F" ... and Eagle counts for nothing in your average admissions office.

I think you really answered your own question, "And that may be because they see no need for having scout skills." Unless you have a lifestyle or career that needs those capabilities, I think that Scouting is probably nothing more than recreation to most boys. At most a hobby, but not a lifelong state of mind that is appears to be to prior generations. I think kids growing up today have a different agenda and a different lifestyle that what we ever thought about having....but then I'm sure we have a different lifestyle and agenda than what our parents had. It's not good, or bad, it's just different. Times change. And what was thought to be permanent fixture in our lives has gone the way of the buggy whip factory. My one son that is "in" Scouting is clearly not "into" Scouting...for him it is something to do when there is nothing else to do. That is his priority to set. He passed up a camping trip this weekend to go to his friend's birthday party. I can see where that might frustrate the adult leaders...but that's the way it is.

"RE: Boy Scouts. We have some who are not very welcoming of parents who want to become a Boy Scout Leader or merit badge counselor. I was shocked to witness this recently. Since when do we ever turn away help?" Yep, sounds right. If you were never a Scout, you'll get shown the door pretty quick, usually by the old-fart with the most white hair.

I took my "passing knives" lesson in the meat packing plant many years ago. The knives there were the sharpest I've ever encountered. We'd steel them 2 or 3 times and hour, just to stay productive. The were so sharp, most of the time you would see the blood long before you would feel the cut. The preferred method was to table the knife with the handle facing the receiver, sharp edge to the table lip. If passed hand-to-hand, it would be handle first, back of blade to the givers hand.

It would be nice if you'd teach the proper way to use a knife....especially in a food preparation setting. I watched my son try to "whittle" an apple this past weekend. Remarkably, all of his work went into the sink. When I tried to show him a more productive way to slice an apple...he complained that "it wasn't the way he was told in Scouts." So I guess he'll go hungry in those survival situations.