FScouter

What szekany said. Rules written up and filed away in the committee filing cabinet mean nothing. If the SM ignores them, what's the point? Who is going to tell the boy he may not wear a bolo tie?

That is a powerful saying. It is commonly misquoted and labeled "anonymous". It was actually written Dr. Forest Witcraft, a Scout leader wrote a short essay which appeared in Scouting magazine in the 1950's. Within My Power by Forest Witcraft I am not a Very Important Man, as importance is commonly rated, I do not have great wealth, control a big business, or occupy a position of great honor or authority. Yet I may someday mold destiny. For it is within my power to become the most important man in the world in the life of a boy. And every boy is a potential atom bomb in human history. A humble citizen like myself might have been the Scoutmaster of a Troop in which an undersized unhappy Austrian lad by the name of Adolph might have found a joyous boyhood, full of the ideals of brotherhood, goodwill, and kindness. And the world would have been different. A humble citizen like myself might have been the organizer of a Scout Troop in which a Russian boy called Joe might have learned the lessons of democratic cooperation. These men would never have known that they had averted world tragedy, yet actually they would have been among the most important men who ever lived. All about me are boys. They are the makers of history, the builders of tomorrow. If I can have some part in guiding them up the trails of Scouting, on to the high road of noble character and constructive citizenship, I may prove to be the most important man in their lives, the most important man in my community. A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove. But the world may be different, because I was important in the life of a boy.

Your ID number is now printed on your membership card.

I did the training when it was first available, about 2 years ago. The completion certificate and our local council reporting procedures with phone numbers printed out immediately, a PDF as I recall. I didn't have an ID number.

Caused by scientists, eh? That is too funny. Hey, this might make a good paper for the Journal of Irreproducible Results.

From the advancement chapter of Scoutmaster Handbook, regarding First Class Emphasis: "The requirements for Tenderfoot, Second Class, and First Class provide a Scout with a solid grounding in the skills that will allow him to take advantage of Scouting adventures. He will be able to enjoy the Scouting program to its fullest. That success and the satisfaction he is finding in his troop and patrol activities can solidify a boys commitment to Scouting, and help him set his sights on the ranks of Star, Life, and Eagle. A boy who advances to First Class within his first year in Scouting has a better-than-average chance of eventually becoming an Eagle Scout. There are many ways that troop leaders can motivate new Scouts to make their way to First Class. One of the most effective is the new-Scout patrol With the help of an assistant Scoutmaster and a troop guide, members of a new-Scout patrol can often advance to the First Class rank over the course of a year. The First Class Tracking Sheet is an effective means of recording each boys progress and encouraging his continued advancement. This all there is to FCFY and First Class Emphasis. Seems simple enough.

There has been a good exchange of ideas and perspectives in this thread, but I see no attacking of posts. Let's please not start.

I would think that if one's motivation was to help suicide prone teenagers with sexual identity issues, there would be better ways than wearing an unauthorized "gay knot" on the Scout uniform. I'm making no statement as to anyone's character. Wearing a "gay knot" on the Boy Scout uniform appears to me to be much more like a rebellious statement than an effort to help confused boys.

I would think that if one's motivation was to help suicide prone teenagers with sexual identity issues, there would be better ways than wearing an unauthorized "gay knot" on the Scout uniform. What is your real motivation for wearing a "gay knot" on the uniform of an organization that excludes homosexuals as members? This seems more like some kind of rebellious statement.

There is some value in repeating a training course. I've repeated, and also served as a presenter. There's a new wrinkle and a new perspective every time. One of the most valuable parts of training courses is that they point the leader to additional resources. Did you know that there are 57 literature resources listed in the Scoutmaster Handbook? They are found at the end of the last chapter. Appendix 1 of the Cub Scout Leader Book has several pages listing many types of resources including sources for program ideas, materials, equipment, people, and character development.

There are some good thoughts here if one can see past the negativity.

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It could be viewed as a measurement of how well Scouting is being offered by the adult leaders. My first impression of it was just that. Am I providing our boys a good Scouting experience? If they are not advancing, am I doing a good job as Scoutmaster?

"Bbng, BobWhite and FScouter, I am not sure what point you are trying to make." I was going to ask the same thing. What is the point in these long diatribes about cheating on the membership report? You'd think this was some kind of scandal on the scale of Watergate. Explain how BSA benefits from having 1,100,000 on the roll vs. 1,000,000? Who has been defrauded? What have been the results of this fraud and how have the defraudees been injured?

"Lets say you start with 30, 20 join and 15 quit or drop out. The Boy Scouts will report 50 even though there are only 35, because they will carry them through until a unit recharters or renews then all boys who have not paid their $10 registration fee are dropped off." The council has no way of knowing 15 boys have dropped out until the unit fails to recharter them. If a unit starts with 30 and adds 20, how many should be reported if there is no knowledge of any boys that dropped out, if any? Even the unit may not know a boy has dropped until he stops coming to meetings for several months. Hey, by the way what difference does it make anyway if the number on some report says a unit has 35 members or 50 members??

I took that to mean that it was really dumb to use prize-winning museum pieces as "table decorations". Surely the breakfast was by invitation only. Seems simple enough to contact each attendee and ask them to return the cars. Has the organizer done that?

"A goal of making sure you advance your boys to 1st class within the first year?" I can tell you what came into my head the first time I heard that term and saw the FCFY tracking sheet. It wasn't that it was MY goal to advance boys. Rather that it was part of my job to help the boys get there. "OH" "The boys ought to achieve First Class in a year. Hmmm." "UH OH, most of our new boys are barely out of Tenderfoot and we're 10 months into the year already!" "Gee, who needs what skill and let's see if we can work that into the meetings this month and our next campout." "I hope nobody notices I haven't been attentive to my job!"

I see First Class Emphasis as a reminder to the adult leaders that the new boys in the troop have a goal of First Class rank, and that for the boys to reach their goal, the adults need to emphasize activities and opportunities for the boys to achieve it. Are we setting aside time on campouts for boys to learn the skills they haven't yet been exposed to? Do the patrol leaders know which of the patrol members need which opportunities? As we hike down the trail do we point out plants and animals? Is a different boy serving as the patrol cook on each campout? It's important that boys achieve the First Class rank, and it's important that the adult leaders emphasize it. FCFY is simply recognizing the importance of boys achieving the rank, and ensuring that we are enabling the boys to get there. If were doing everything right, this should take 12-14-18 months. If it is taking 2-3 years, then maybe we need to look at what were doing.

First Class - First Year tracking sheet: http://www.scouting.org/forms/34118.pdf

Additional info from the national website on the chartered organization representative: http://www.scouting.org/relationships/04-113/04-113.pdf

You might ask if the committee has a copy of the Advancement Committee Policies and Procedures book #33088D. It has a good discussion about boards of review. The committee should also have a copy of the Troop Committee Guidebook as well.

List of common chartering organizations: http://www.scouting.org/factsheets/02-507.html

If there is someone flapping around in the water and a rescue was initiated, I'd call that more a rescue activity or drowning activity than a swimming activity. Perhaps it is rationalizing to say that the SSD rules don't apply to drowning or rescue activities?

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