Fat Old Guy

Sing? Have fun? I think that it helps if the adults buy into it. Nothing better than leading by example. Also, I've found that "repeat-after-me" songs are very popular. In Cub Scouts, I had loads of fun with songs and the "announcement" cheer mentioned above (I think that the adults were having more fun than the kids). Unfortunately, all that vanished when I moved on to Boy Scouts. Evidentlythe adults feel "that's too Cub Scout" so they don't do it which has carried over to the boys. Oddly many of these adults go to hockey games with their faces painted.

Like most over 40, I sat in classrooms with the desks arranged in rows. The teachers stood at the front of the room and taught. When I go to observe my kids' schools, the desks are in clusters and the teacher is never in the same place twice. What I've observed is that these clusters that eveyone says are great for "co-operative" learning are trouble with a capital "T" for sociable children. I've also noticed that despite whatever the schools say about the quality of education that the government and the parents are always complaining about the lack of education. For my part, I've noticed that kids today are lacking in many fundamental skills and are missing simply knowledge about the world. They may know about Excel spreadsheets but that is about it. I've noticed that a simple understanding of geography is missing in the middle school kids that I deal with. No idea that Richmond is a city and not a state or even how a state differs from a city. No idea that Europe is on the other side of an ocean or that China and Japan are not the same place. I won't even get into language skills.

"Why people buy me old Boy Scout stuff is beyond me" Why do people collect anything? My wife has a humongous collection of ceramic cherubs in snowsuits. Some of these things are damned expensive. Why do some people collect 78 RPM records? I collect old Scoutbooks for a couple reasons. They are interesting to read for a historic perspecitive on the program. Also, most of them have much more useful information than the current one (with the exception of the evil first aid information).

I go an Epicopalian church and our parish has been split over the homosexual issue for many years. There is even a struggle in the church over the ordination of women. One parish in Maryland went rebel and refused to acknowledge a woman bishop. I don't know how that turned out but there was talk of revoking their charter or whatever churches do. For my part, I don't like homosexual clergy or women clergy.

" (For you ex-Marines, the little hand will be on the....)" I've always been told that there is no such thing as an "ex-Marine." :-)

Go to http://listings.ebay.com/aw/plistings/category13885/index.html?from=R11 and put "(fieldbook, field book)" in the search field (omit the quotes). 13 items are currently listed.

"Yes. If the answer is no, you must clean it. If you don't take the initiative, you will be issued a formal directive. " I guess college has changed. In my day, a TA couldn't give a "formal directive" to clean glassware. Why would he? The glassware didn't belong to him. The unclean glassware would only impact your experiments and if you returned it dirty at the end of the year, the supply department would charge you for it.

"some show up in a t-shirt with their kilts." Some people have no idea of the social graces. A club that I belong to has a semi-formal end of year party. Women wear heels and dresses and most men wear suits with a few in blazers. However, one guy shows up in a t-shirt and jeans. In recent years, nearly every wedding that I go to has someone showing up in sweatpants. What can you do?

My son takes Adderall. Does he have ADHD without hyperactivity? I don't know. The school claimed that he did for years and refused to do anything with him unless we medicated him. The school shrink said, "He has an attention deficit and needs meds" A comment, by the way, which is against the law. We had Skinny Young Guy tested at the expense of thousands of dollars. The testing people said, "No attention deficit but there are other problems." Sure there are problems, what else can you say when a child tests "Gifted and talented" but is only reading at a second grade level in the fourth grade. Well, you could say that the school sucks and you'd be right but that's another story. We resisted the idea of medication. My son didn't like the idea of medication. Finally, we gave in and tried the meds. His reading scores shot up. He made honor roll. He liked school. As an experiment, my son asked to stop the drugs for a grading period. The grades plummeted so he asked for the meds again. Do I like the idea of having my son on speed? No. Did you know that college students use adderall as a recreational drug? Did you know that you can grind up Ritalin and snort it to get a cocaine like high?

I once saw an Italian Cub Scout cap that fits that description.

" Store sales go to the troop. Yes, some always manage to "be busy" on the weekends that we sell but that also teaches the Scouts a valuable life lesson." We apportion the proceeds from a store sale based on the total number of Scout hours and how many hours the Scout worked. This way, the guys who show up get credit and those who don't have to convince their parents to shell out more money.

"The shirt price deters Scouts from having both a short sleeve and a long sleeve shirt." No, it is just a matter of priorities. Most of the families in my troop are well into the upper-middle-class income range. These folks don't blink at spending $40,000 for an overgrown station wagon with DVD player. These people don't think twice about going on a cruise every year during spring break. These people have separate phone lines for each member of the family plus a cell phone for each person as well. However, they claim that a $25 Scout shirt is too expensive and that they can't justify paying for the pants as well. Now, let's take a trip to one of the poverty striken inner city neighborhoods. What's that kid wearing? $150 basketball shoes. Is he playing basketball in them, no way. What else is he wearing? A $50 NBA replica shirt. For both of these groups, it is a matter of priorities. We do have a family in my troop that "poor" doesn't begin to describe them. However, they don't exhibit the hipocracy of claiming to not be able to afford Scout stuff and then driving off in a Jaguar. For these people, I've outfitted both sons with what I've found at yard sales. These people too, it is a matter of priorities. If they bought Scout shirts, they might not eat for a couple days.

" I'm sure they feel the same way about me, considering the rapid retreats their missionaries have executed when confonted with the three translation of the Bible that I keep handy with highlighted verses that demonstrate why I believe their church to be under a leader who is not Jesus the Christ." What verses would those be?

"Are any of us wealthy? Not on BSA pay, I can tell you that much. " Maybe not the DEs but the Scout Executives aren't starving. I found the tax return for National Capital Area Council on the internet and the Scout Exec there is making nearly $300,000 and has a $70,000 expense account. Oddly, the Assistant SE barely gets a third of what the big boss gets. I was flabergasted when I found out how little DEs are paid. You can actually make more as an assistant manager at a McDonald's. No wonder we go through DEs on a regular basis.

In retrospect, I'm not sure that my expamle is even coaching. It is more of a teaching thing. Is your Chem TA acting as a leader when he says, "is your glassware clean?"

That wasn't directing, that was coaching. You are helping the SPL to find a solution to the problem. Directing would have been, "Mr. SPL, detail some boys to get this trash picked up." Then again, all forms of leadership are directing in disguise.

Well, you guys down under have different customs and traditions than we do. I don't remember ever seeing a flag get blessed unless it was in church when the priest was spraying holy water everwhere. When a ship's ensign becomes unservicable, they simply retire the old and break out a new one. Around here, nearly all color guards carry guns, either mock or real (not toy, okay) that includes the guards at high school football games.

I still don't see the purpose of the award other than to promote your sport. To my knowledge, BSA doesn't have special marksmanship awards but Scouts may earn NRA awards once they have mastered the basics of shooting. If you are a crackerjack kyaker, there isn't a BSA kyaking award is there?

Same here.

"I cannot recall EVER witnessing a troop in which the adults NEVER directed the Scouts to do anything." If we do direct, we are in error because very little is learned during "directed" activities. Rather than say, "police the campground," we should say, "Mr.SPL, have you noticed the trash on the ground? What can be done about that?" When you want someone to learn, you need to provide them with the tools to find the answers on their own.

"Secondly, I have a reason -- I'm in high school...What's yours???" We should hope that a high school student would have a good grasp of English. As for your adherence to the Scout Law, your post shows that you have less respect for it than you claim that I have. Buh-bye.

Rudd, good military leaders use all four forms of leadership as described in another thread. As discussed there, the style depends on the situation at hand. The effective leader knows when to delegate, when to direct, when to coach and when to provide support.

Dan, according to our family doctor, the people who name illnesses have eliminated ADD from official diagnoses. Now there is ADHD and ADHD without hyperactivity. I know it makes no sense but sometimes the name games that doctors play make no sense. However, ADD is embeded in our social consciousness just like people still speak of "juvenile diabetes" even though the names for the various types of diabetes have changed. Another example, there was a dramatic increase in the number of girls diagnosed as having "premature puberty." What did the American Academy of Pediatrics do about the problem? They lowered the age defining premature puberty. Rudd, how many doctorates does one need? Some need one, some need many. I had an engineering professor who had a Ph.D. in Psychology and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering. On the way to the Psych. PhD, he became fascinated with electronics so he went back to school.

Jeff, say what you will, at least I know the difference between "your" and "you're". ;-)

FYI: In the British Cavalary, a troop is a platoon sized unit. A squardon is the company sized unit. The Brits also apply the term troop to engineering and signal unit.