Kudu

We should force the WB participants who took the Blanchard WB 2000 course, to take the Tuckman course, just to watch them Storm.

Mucho more winter activities for outdoor Scouts: http://inquiry.net/outdoor/winter/index.htm

In the age of ethical choices and Bruce Tuckman theory, fewer set time aside for real Scouting. For the untucked: 21 Klondike sleds, including an Okpik camping model based on reinforced cheap plastic sleds: http://kudu.net/outdoor/winter/gear/index.htm

Nah, definitely not. "The mission of the Boy Scouts of America is to get indoor boys to Eagle without ever walking into the woods with packs on their backs." Anyone who has ever witnessed a Wood Badger or adult Eagle parse our Congressional Charter knows that the words "backpack" and "hike" have no meaning without specific mileage requirements. Without the Journey system, all Scouting is Cub Scouting. http://inquiry.net/advancement/traditional/journey_requirements.htm Just the fact that you characterize a requirement that an Eagle ever walk into the woods with a pack on his back as "romanticizing the past" proves my point. As for an example of anything I like about Scouting, I have 2,000 pages of stuff that Scouts would rather do than explain the concepts of simple and compound interest : http://www.kudu.net/outdoor/winter/activities/index.htm

Nah, definitely not. "The mission of the Boy Scouts of America is to get indoor boys to Eagle without ever walking into the woods with packs on their backs." Anyone who has ever witnessed a Wood Badger or adult Eagle parse our Congressional Charter knows that the words "backpack" and "hike" have no meaning without specific mileage requirements. Without the Journey system, all Scouting is Cub Scouting. http://inquiry.net/advancement/traditional/journey_requirements.htm If it has a "mission," it's not Scouting.

Nah, definitely not. "The mission of the Boy Scouts of America is to get indoor boys to Eagle without ever walking into the woods with packs on their backs." Anyone who has ever witnessed a Wood Badger or adult Eagle parse our Congressional Charter knows that the words "backpack" and "hike" have no meaning without specific mileage requirements. Without the Journey system, all Scouting is Cub Scouting. http://inquiry.net/advancement/traditional/journey_requirements.htm Well excuse me, super moderator: I couldn't find the sugar plum emoticon.

Cooking over a fire without an option to not light the fire? That doesn't sound like Scouting. Isn't your Wood Badge based on Bruce Tuckman yet? I hope you don't force your Queen's Scouts to walk into the woods with packs on their backs!

Nah, definitely not. "The mission of the Boy Scouts of America is to get indoor boys to Eagle without ever walking into the woods with packs on their backs." Anyone who has ever witnessed a Wood Badger or adult Eagle parse our Congressional Charter knows that the words "backpack" and "hike" have no meaning without specific mileage requirements. Without the Journey system, all Scouting is Cub Scouting. http://inquiry.net/advancement/traditional/journey_requirements.htm

I don't recall the term "corral" in the 1916 requirements. Why is it that people like you, who believe that Scouting needs things like "missions" and personal management, insist on screwing millions of boys out of the Scoutcraft program guaranteed them by an Act of Congress? Why can't you do both? Spend ten (10) minutes (minutes) on how to help in case of runaway horse (which all red-blooded American boys would want to know), and ten (10) months (months) on personal management (which all red-blooded American boys hate, have always hated, and will continue to hate until the end of time)? Personal management classes belong in high school basketball, not Scouting.

If Patrols had less "mechanics" and more Patrol overnights, they would be what Green Bar Bill called "Real Patrols."

"Lord of the Flies" is an aggressively Christian allegory (people are inherently evil), but his boys-in-the-wild message is the opposite of Baden-Powell's Christian wilderness premise (people are inherently good).

That's how the human brain works: When we combine two things that have nothing to do with each other, the brain forms connections. So if we take the basketball out of basketball, and replace it with the school subjects that Boy Scouts hate, then adults who hate basketball will be attracted to the sport, start singing "Back to Gilwell," and get all weepy about their fond memories of budgeting, planning, and balancing basketball checkbooks. Boys who hate homework will quit basketball and join Boy Scouts. I call that a Win - Win!

Bouncing a ball is great stuff. However, one purpose of basketball is to develop the mindset of approaching adulthood. For this reason, basketball players should learn the rudiments of budgeting, planning, and how to balance a checkbook. Teach Personal Management in school sports. That's why we call it school! Baden-Powell designed Scouts to be the opposite of school.

It is not an analogy. The distain with which most boys hold schoolwork Scouting is literal, not figurative. Simply put, we can destroy any sport by doing to it what Merit Badges and "leadership skills" do to Scouting. All we need is a government-imposed monopoly. What modern Republicans call "socialism." That is exactly wrong. Period. Ask any parent why their son participates in sports. You will get idealistic reasons similar to your so-called "purpose of Scouting" (teamwork, sportsmanship, exercise, sharpness of mind, mental strength; emotional, psychological, and social health; self-esteem, self-worth, peer status, peer acceptance, etc.). The difference between sports and Scouts is that, in a free market, we can not replace ball proficiency with schoolwork and office management "teamwork" metaphors. Boys would simply leave a Scout-like office cubical sport, unless their parents forced them to add a Heisman Trophy Award to their resumes for earning seatwork Personal Management and Citizenship hat pins in a game with the 300 feet removed from between end zones. But woe be unto any boy who cheapens the integrity of seatwork football's highest award by earning all 134 classroom hat pins by the age of thirteen! The Charter lists Scoutcraft as one of the three aims of Scouting. What all adults who love schoolwork Merit Badges (and office cubical Wood Badge) omit is the Charter's primary stipulation: "using the methods that were in common use by boy scouts on June 15, 1916." The purpose of the Congressional Charter was to establish a government-imposed monopoly to protect the YMCA's adult-led night school/summer camp program from competition from real Scouting. HOWEVER, That was in return for Scoutcraft as it was defined in 1916 (based on a lite version of the First Class Journey). Our Scouting monopoly is typical of socialism in general: Most "21st century" Eagle Scouts can not pass the First Class Scoutcraft tests of 1916. So we make indoor Scouting's primary "ethical choice:" Rather than cancel after-school school, we cheat millions of red-blooded American boys out of the Scoutcraft program guaranteed to them by an Act of Congress. And we wonder why they leave. Yours at 300 feet, Kudu

You can't possibly mean Scouting as it was understood by Baden-Powell: Proficiency Badges that measure a Scout's current proficiency in Boy Scout skills only? Bad idea! That would attract boys who like camping, in the same way that basketball teams attract boys who like basketball, baseball teams attract boys who like baseball, football teams attract boys who like football, and soccer teams attract boys who like soccer. The Merit Badge system is designed for adults with a marginal interest in Cub Scout outdoor skills for teens, but seek to make up for the shortcomings of the public school system by turning Scouting into after-school school. Oh, the horror that a Boy Scout might pick up Personal Management in a one hour trick-or-treat session, while we struggle to uphold the standards that most red-blooded outdoor boys hate, have always hated, and will continue to hate until the end of time. Yours at 300 feet, Kudu Easy enough to test, isn't it? Dilute your local high school's football training with Personal Management and the other required Merit Badges, and see what happens to the team's proficiency.

You can't possibly mean Scouting as it was understood by Baden-Powell: Proficiency Badges that measure a Scout's current proficiency in Boy Scout skills only? Bad idea! That would attract boys who like camping, in the same way that basketball teams attract boys who like basketball, baseball teams attract boys who like baseball, football teams attract boys who like football, and soccer teams attract boys who like soccer. The Merit Badge system is designed for adults with a marginal interest in Cub Scout outdoor skills for teens, but seek to make up for the shortcomings of the public school system by turning Scouting into after-school school. Oh, the horror that a Boy Scout might pick up Personal Management in a one hour trick-or-treat session, while we struggle to uphold the standards that most red-blooded outdoor boys hate, have always hated, and will continue to hate until the end of time. Yours at 300 feet, Kudu moosetracker commented "I don't think anyone is arguing that Personal Management should be done right, and Camping or First aid should just be brushed over. All merit badges should be done right" Done "right"? Required badges like Personal Management do not even rise to the standards of what Baden-Powell called "Parlour Scouting" because they are pure school, not the American Cub Scout camping for teens to which B-P's term refers. Boys should be forced to earn Personal Management if they want to play basketball, not Scouting. If we used our BSA training to turn sports into something that boys hate as much as they hate Scouting, it would even the playing field, so to speak. As for both Camping and First Aid, they ARE brushed over. The purpose of Camping Merit Badge is to get indoor boys to Eagle without ever walking into the woods with packs on their backs. That is why none, as in zero (0), of the "20 nights of camping" in canvas towns (in which the Scout does not even pitch his tent, btw), and/or under the blades of two-deep Bruce Tuckman helicopters, qualifies as Boy Scout Camping in Baden-Powell's program, which is to say real Scouting. For First Aid to qualify as a Proficiency Badge, it would have to be re-certified every year by an outside agency. There is no "Once an Eagle, Always an Eagle" in proficiency-based Scouting. moosetracker commented "And I do think citizenship (though not really scout craft) is something Baden Powel pushed for also, but just not 3 merit badges on the topic worth." Baden-Powell never "pushed" for school-bench citizenship. By "citizenship" he meant the practical, sweaty society formed by effort and cooperation within Patrols that practice Scoutcraft in the deep woods.

You can't possibly mean Scouting as it was understood by Baden-Powell: Proficiency Badges that measure a Scout's current proficiency in Boy Scout skills only? Bad idea! That would attract boys who like camping, in the same way that basketball teams attract boys who like basketball, baseball teams attract boys who like baseball, football teams attract boys who like football, and soccer teams attract boys who like soccer. The Merit Badge system is designed for adults with a marginal interest in Cub Scout outdoor skills for teens, but seek to make up for the shortcomings of the public school system by turning Scouting into after-school school. Oh, the horror that a Boy Scout might pick up Personal Management in a one hour trick-or-treat session, while we struggle to uphold the standards that most red-blooded outdoor boys hate, have always hated, and will continue to hate until the end of time. Yours at 300 feet, Kudu

He won't turn 14 until next February.

Chief Scout Executive Robert Mazzuca, and his anti-Scouting campaign! "Did you know that there was a time when to be a First Class Scout--you guys didn't know this I bet--did you guys have to learn how to catch a runaway horse to be a First Class Scout? When was the last time you saw a runaway horse?" Chorus from the Audience: "Tuesday" http://inquiry.net/leadership/sitting_side_by_side_with_adults.htm

Hillcourt's test of a "Real" Patrol was physical distance. The success of both Hillcourt's and Baden-Powell's Patrols was a result of putting the best leader in charge. So I'd think in terms of an outdoor meeting about something that one of the boys is already good at.

I'm thinking maybe a Jar Jar Binks figure for the "Earth Unaware" prequel...

Counting twenty minutes of EDGE in place of the Patrol Method in the "Patrol Method" session of Scoutmaster Specific Training?

The film is not true to Kahuna's assessment. In the novel when Stilson's gang confronts six-year-old Ender, the smaller, highly intelligent boy (the alter-ego of every sci-fi and/or Boy Scout nerd), not only kicks Stilson when he is down, but (unknowingly) delivers Stilson's death blow to warn the gang not to hurt him again: Then Ender looked at the others coldly. "You might be having some idea of ganging up on me. You could probably beat me up pretty bad. But just remember what I do to people who try to hurt me. From then on you'd be wondering when I'd get you, and how bad it would be." He kicked Stilson in the face. Blood from his nose spattered the ground nearby. "It wouldn't be this bad," Ender said. "It would be worse" (Kindle Locations 351-354). Ender is accepted into Battle School when he later explains to Graff "his belief that, by showing superiority now, he has prevented future struggle," an understanding of strategy reminiscent of Sun Tzu's "The Art of War." Likewise, missing from the film are the scenes in which Ender breaks Bernard's arm during the flight to battle school, and singlehandedly takes on a group of older boys in the battleroom. Perhaps this missing hand-to-hand combat in "nullo" (no gravity) best illustrates Kahuna's primary objection to the novel: Someone caught Ender by the foot. The tight grip gave Ender some leverage; he was able to stamp firmly on the other boy's ear and shoulder, making him cry out and let go. If the boy had let go just as Ender kicked downward, it would have hurt much less and allowed Ender to use the maneuver as a launch. Instead, the boy had hung on too well; his ear was torn and scattering blood in the air, and Ender was drifting even more slowly. 　 I'm doing it again, thought Ender. I'm hurting people again, just to save myself. Why don't they leave me alone, so I don't have to hurt them? 　 Three more boys were converging on him now, and this time they were acting together. Still, they had to grab him before they could hurt him. Ender positioned himself quickly so that two of them would take his feet, leaving his hands free to deal with the third. Sure enough, they took the bait. Ender grasped the shoulders of the third boy's shirt and pulled him up sharply, butting him in the face with his helmet. Again a scream and a shower of blood. The two boys who had his legs were wrenching at them, twisting him. Ender threw the boy with the bleeding nose at one of them; they entangled, and Ender's leg came free. It was a simple matter then to use the other boy's hold for leverage to kick him firmly in the groin, then shove off him in the direction of the door. He didn't get that good a launch, so that his speed was nothing special, but it didn't matter. No one was following him. 　 He got to his friends at the door. They caught him and handed him along to the door. They were laughing and slapping him playfully. "You bad!" they said. "You scary! You flame!" 　 "Practice is over for the day," Ender said. 　 "They'll be back tomorrow," said Shen. 　 "Won't do them any good," said Ender. "If they come without suits, we'll do this again. If they come with suits, we can flash them." 　 "Besides," said Alai, "the teachers won't let it happen." 　 Ender remembered what Dink had told him, and wondered if Alai was right. "Hey Ender!" shouted one of the older boys as Ender left the battle room. "You nothing, man! You be nothing!" 　 "My old commander Bonzo," said Ender. "I think he doesn't like me." 　 Ender checked the rosters on his desk that night. Four boys turned up on medical report. One with bruised ribs, one with a bruised testicle, one with a torn ear, and one with a broken nose and a loose tooth. The cause of injury was the same in all cases: ACCIDENTAL COLLISION IN NULL G 　 If the teachers were allowing that to turn up on the official report, it was obvious they didn't intend to punish anyone for the nasty little skirmish in the battleroom. Aren't they going to do anything? Don't they care what goes on in this school? (Kindle Locations 1850-1881). Finally, the missing death blow scene in the shower (In the film, Bonzo is pushed backward by Ender and hits his head by accident): Ender whirled in time to see Bonzo stagger backward, his nose bleeding, gasping from surprise and pain. Ender knew that at this moment he might be able to walk out of the room and end the battle.　 The way he had escaped from the battleroom after drawing blood. But the battle would only be fought again. Again and again until the will to fight was finished.　 The only way to end things completely was to hurt Bonzo enough that his fear was stronger than his hate. 　 So Ender leaned back against the wall behind him, then jumped up and pushed off with his arms. His feet landed in Bonzo's belly and chest.　 Ender spun in the air and landed on his toes and hands; he flipped over, scooted under Bonzo, and this time when he kicked upward into Bonzo's crotch, he connected, hard and sure. 　 Bonzo did not cry out in pain. He did not react at all, except that his body rose a little in the air. It was as if Ender had kicked a piece of furniture. Bonzo collapsed, fell to the side, and sprawled directly under the spray of streaming water from a shower. He made no movement whatever to escape the murderous heat (Kindle Locations 3211-3220). Basement writes that "Harrison may have been not intense enough." For many years fans said the book was unfilmable because the drama takes place inside Ender's heart and head. Harrison's portrayal of Graff is heartless and calculating enough for me, but the film is so fast-paced that Ender never seems to experience the utter and absolute isolation that Harrison's Graff defends, and that Kahuna so emphatically decries. Aside from Kahuna's objections to the novel, also missing from the film are plot and character developments for events I hope to see in sequels. In the twelve (12) novel sequence, Bean and Peter join forces on Earth, while Ender, Valentine, and "Jane" travel the stars for thousands of Earth years in search of a home planet for the Formic queen. All of that being said, the film exceeded my expectations, and continues to stand up after three viewings. In the novel, Bean is younger and smaller than little Ender, has a much higher IQ than child genius Andrew, has a better grasp of strategy than Commander Wiggen, and is more ruthless than "Ender the Xenocide." What makes Ender the better leader, is his unique blend of empathy and killer instinct. In this the film is true to Card's raft scene, which expresses the novel's central theme: "In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him. I think it's impossible to really understand somebody, what they want, what they believe, and not love them the way they love themselves. And then, in that very moment when I love them--" 　 "You beat them." 　 "No, you don't understand. I destroy them. I make it impossible for them to ever hurt me again" (Kindle Locations 3609-3613). The missing scenes are more than compensated by Asa Butterfield's acting. Bearing is everything in the "Real" Patrol Method, because a Patrol Leader must be able to hold his own when the adults are not around. To that end, my favorite scene is Ender's solution to the unwinnable choice the giant offers his avatar in the Mind Game: Specifically, Butterfield's bearing when Ender explains his actions to Alai.

Skeptic: My post is for skeptics only.