Kudu

Anna, I would like to apologize for our behavior. KDD, you should be more Scout-like. Anna William is the BSA's national director of Wood Badge, and she deserves our respect. Zen Bedrooms and Bathtub Residue are previews from the new Wood Badge based on Life Skills Merit Badge. National has replaced office management theory with practical "program neutral" skills that are equally useful to both Patrol Leaders and Den Mothers. When I was approached to be one of the guides for the first new course, I took the plunge. Basically we had to run the course while learning it. Maybe because we were the first, we had to put more into really understanding the new directions and ideas. And being a guide truly strengthened me personally. Today's course has evolved into a real "home management" school of sorts; and if the participants follow up and stay with it, they will grow considerably. We have a few that seem to just not get it, that in the end it is for the kids, not the leaders. Much of our reactions to these things are reflected by our general view of our world. It seems pretty obvious to me that we have a few here that no matter what is said or proven within almost 100% accuracy, it will still be a bad thing, or is misdirected to ruin the program. And they worry me if they bring that really negative vibe to the youth.

How to make Scouting popular: Basketball tick shots! http://www.summitblog.org/programs/

The Chief Scout Executive's "What do we mean by 'Prepared. For Life'?" speech never mentions Scoutcraft, except to say that the 1916 requirements are "not important." The video is still online: http://inquiry.net/leadership/sitting_side_by_side_with_adults.htm

The undeveloped areas of National Forests do not require permits or minimum ages. The same is true for groups of two in most wild backpacking venues. Likewise for Patrol Camping. Patrols of less than ten Scouts do not require a permit in the Adirondack Mountains, for instance.

The most important First Class requirement is missing: The First Class Journey. Therefore the BSA's outdoor requirements are designed to get Cub Scout survivors to Eagle without ever walking into the woods with packs on their backs. For a while, Hillcourt's Patrol Leader Training got Patrols out into the woods without adult helicopters, but in 1972 Wood Badge replaced it with Troop Method training called "Leadership Development." Therefore the BSA's leadership skills requirements are designed to get Cub Scout survivors to Eagle without ever walking into the woods with a Patrol at their backs. Here is a journal of a First Class Journey which includes farmland and villages: http://inquiry.net/outdoor/hikes/1st_class_journey.htm A "How To" set up First Class Journeys guide for Scoutmasters: http://inquiry.net/outdoor/hikes/1st_class_hike.htm The actual requirements for Journeys, Second Class through the equivalent to Eagle. http://inquiry.net/advancement/traditional/journey_requirements.htm

Webelos Scouts camp with adult helicopters. BSA Scouts also camp with adult helicopters, but in addition they cook, clean up, hold whole-Troop popularity contests, and vote for whole-Troop activities in Scout student council meetings. Boy Scouts in William Hillcourt's Patrol Method would also plan and undertake regular unsupervised Patrol Hikes, Patrol Campouts, and in Baden-Powell's Patrol System (when camping as Troop) separate their Patrols by 300 feet. The troop committee in Baden-Powell's Scouting is Patrol Leaders, not parents. The Scoutcraft competency of Scouts in the rest of the world is tested by unsupervised "Journeys" starting as early as an eight-mile Second Class Journey in some countries. The universal test of a First Class Scout is the 14 mile overnight First Class Journey: http://inquiry.net/advancement/traditional/journey_requirements.htm So Webelos III is an accurate description for most BSA "two-deep" helicopter programs: More responsible than Webelos II, but not what Baden-Powell would call a Boy Scout program.

Nike commented: "How would you implement the First Class Journey in this day and age?" You mean in the "day and age" of Bruce Tuckman Wood Badge? For Webelos III Troops, the same way the Patrol Hike is implemented in Wood Badge: In a Boy Scout camp if necessary. One reluctant Baden-Powell Scouting association implemented my compromise "Shadow Party" of older Scouts or Scouters that tracked them at a distance through rough territory. If the Scouts undergoing the Journey needed to interact with the Shadow Party in any way, the Journey was cancelled.

Training is the problem, not the solution. Baden-Powell designed a week-long immersion course to teach indoor volunteers how to think like outdoorsmen. Leadership Development reversed the course to teach indoor volunteers how to think like a CEO. The problem is that we pay our mountaintop CEO role model a million dollars a year to explain why camping is not "inclusive," and to heap ridicule upon the Scoutcraft program guaranteed to America's children by an Act of Congress. And its not just the Utah Scouters that are out Storming and Deforming: http://inquiry.net/outdoor/leave_no_trace.htm

Clarke Green writes: ""We could return to the same campsite ten times a year and do ten different things, or the same thing each time, but in the end applying the patrol system is all that really matters... Some Scoutmasters complain if patrol leaders choose the same activities from year to year, there are a few that require they don’t repeat anything from one year to the next. I don’t see any appreciable difference between a camping trip to a local park where patrols are functioning at a high level, cooking, hiking, playing games, and a ... big exciting activity or challenging adventure..." http://www.scoutmastercg.com/what-do-scouts-decide/ I don't see any appreciable difference either. Troop camping in a manicured park, and most "High Adventure" activities are Troop events. It was BSA camping in local parks that inspired Baden-Powell to coin the term "Parlour Scouting." Now leadership skills have brought us full circle. What makes me sad is that leadership enthusiasts like Clark Green have begun to use Baden-Powell's term "Patrol System" to refer to the leadership skills "Troop Method." As most of you know Baden-Powell's Patrol System is run by the Patrol Leaders. There are no "Boards of Review" or "Scoutmaster Conferences," and the Troop committee is not indoor moms and dads, but the Patrol Leaders themselves. When "Patrol System" Patrols camp as a Troop, they camp at least 300 feet apart, but the real business of the Patrol System's Patrol Leader is to lead his Patrol into the woods without other Patrols. The purpose of a Patrol is to go out on patrol. Period. Because Troop Method Patrols are not trained to patrol, Troop campouts become the Troop Method's big event, the place to "gain very advanced leadership skills with independent authority to determine direction." The irony here is that in Baden-Powell's "Patrol System," Troop campouts are a place where Patrol Leaders relax a bit, set the theme for the weekend, but can delegate the details to the Scouters including (believe it or not) the menu! In Bruce Tuckman's Wood Badge, Scouting in its highest form is doing the same thing year after year if it means "youth leaders" (ugh) "gain very advanced leadership skills with independent authority to determine direction" (ugh). But Scouters' training in the real Patrol System is all about Baden-Powell's Wood Badge. The idea here is that Troop campouts provide the opportunity for Patrol Leaders to learn from the Scouters' example. See, for instance, John Thurman's "fly on the ceiling" account of a Patrol Leaders meeting in the real "Patrol System:" PL Woodpeckers: We talked this over in the Patrol and we suggest that one meal should be Backwoods Cooking, preferably Saturday night's supper. 　 SPL: All right, what do you others think of that? 　 PL Cuckoos: I think it's a rotten idea. Last time we tried it I didn't get any supper at all. 　 SPL: Ron, what do you think? 　 PL Pigeons: I'm all for it: I'm not too sure about the Patrol though, but I'll ask them. 　 SPL: Who's going to arrange it? I wonder if the ASM could have the right sort of food available? 　 ASM: Yes, I can do that. Will you just leave it to me or does anybody want to suggest anything in particular? 　 PL Owls: I'd only say that it is a rotten time of the year for eating rabbits and I hope they won't be on the menu. 　 ASM: All right, Tom; duly noted. It will probably be hedgehog instead. (John Thurman) http://inquiry.net/patrol/court_honor/coh_session.htm　

The most important First Class requirement is missing: The First Class Journey. Therefore the BSA's outdoor requirements are designed to get Cub Scout survivors to Eagle without ever walking into the woods with packs on their backs. For a while, Hillcourt's Patrol Leader Training got Patrols out into the woods without adult helicopters, but in 1972 Wood Badge replaced it with Troop Method training called "Leadership Development." Therefore the BSA's leadership skills requirements are designed to get Cub Scout survivors to Eagle without ever walking into the woods with a Patrol at their backs. For the curious: Here is the 1916 program specified in our Congressional Charter. Missing requirements are marked in red: http://inquiry.net/advancement/tf-1st_require_1911.htm

Maybe a tie into the new marketing slogan "Prepared. For Life," which was introduced as "Life" being the opposite of the Scoutcraft defined by our Congressional Charter.

I thought about taking it again when I moved to my new Council, but a mere hour of Roundtable is more than I can bear. Wood Badge would still be a place to meet other Scouters if it was about Baden-Powell rather than Bruce Tuckman.

The most important First Class requirement is missing: The First Class Journey. Therefore the BSA's outdoor requirements are designed to get Cub Scout survivors to Eagle without ever walking into the woods with packs on their backs. For a while, Hillcourt's Patrol Leader Training got Patrols out into the woods without adult helicopters, but in 1972 Wood Badge replaced it with Troop Method training called "Leadership Development." Therefore the BSA's leadership skills requirements are designed to get Cub Scout survivors to Eagle without ever walking into the woods with a Patrol at their backs.

Good point! In the Scoutcraft program mandated by an act of Congress, Second Class Requirement #4 (track/observe), as well as First Class #3, 4, 7, and 10. http://inquiry.net/advancement/tf-1st_require_1911.htm Presumably "modern" Scouts take Ritalin instead.

How do they complement each other? Scoutcraft ("The Religion of the Woods") and Service for Others ("Practical Christianity") are the two spiritual sides of Baden-Powell's Boy Scout program. Literally the "two sides" because Scoutcraft badges are worn on the right side of the uniform, and Service for Others badges on the left. In most Western religions, the right side is favored by God, but as far as I know there is no written account of the right/left symbolism of the Traditional Scout Uniform. The final test of Scoutcraft competency for every award (what Americans call a "rank") is an overnight backwoods Journey, undertaken with a buddy, or alone like an OA Vigil. No doubt this sounds abstract to most BSA members, because we replaced spiritual quests (Journeys) with indoor job interview practice (Scoutmaster Conferences and Boards of Review). During the Hillcourt era, regular Patrol Hikes and Overnights provided some semblance of a close experience with nature, but Leadership Development replaced Hillcourt's Patrol Method with whole-Troop "leadership skills." Likewise Leadership Development replaced the spiritual quality of Service for Others (service projects and competency-based leadership), freely given, with advancement-credit compensation. "Some may object that the religion of the Backwoods is also a religion of the backward; and to some extent it is so. It is going back to the primitive, to the elemental, but at the same time it is to the common ground on which most forms of religion are based --- namely, the appreciation of God [The Religion of the Woods/Scoutcraft] and service to one's neighbor [Practical Christianity/Service for Others]" (Baden-Powell). http://inquiry.net/ideals/b-p/backwoods.htm "There is no religious "side" of the movement. The whole of it is based on religion, that is, on the realization [The Religion of the Woods/Scoutcraft] and service [Practical Christianity/Service for Others] of God" (Baden-Powell) "His father's pantheistic book, The Order of Nature was a significant influence upon him, as a sub-heading in Rovering to Success makes plain 'Nature Knowledge as a Step Towards Realizing God'. Baden-Powell also used to quote Bacon's aphorism: 'The study of the Book of Nature is the true key to that of Revelation.' In a bizarre way he managed to combine camping equipment, adventure, and religious sensations in a remarkable synthesis. In his published Matabele Campaign he described his camping impedimenta as his 'toys' and then went on: 'May it not be that our toys are the various media adapted to individual tastes through which men may know their God?'" http://inquiry.net/ideals/beads.htm

There's the Troop Method, and there's the District Method :-)

Kudu says "Chuck Those Chuck Boxes!" http://inquiry.net/outdoor/skills/cooking/lightweight.htm

"Service for Others" has always been central to Baden-Powell's Scouting. If you look at his Boy Scout uniforms in the rest of the world, all Scoutcraft badges are worn on the right side of the uniform, and all Public Service badges are worn on the left. http://inquiry.net/images/placement-sr.gif Note that these Public Service badges represent current proficiency in the SKILLS of service (such as First Aid, recertified every year), not hours of service projects or months of leadership service. In real Scouting a Boy Scout helps other people at all times because it is the right thing to do. Service hour requirements and Position Of Responsibility requirements teach Boy Scouts to expect compensation for what should be given freely.

Count Baden-Powell among those whom as a boy valued hunting but hated classrooms. Against school rules, he snuck out to the Copse (a wooded area near his school) to hunt and cook rabbits. He developed skills of stealth to hide himself and his cooking fires from teachers paid to patrol the Copse and catch boys like him. When he got older he incorporated his anti-regimentation skills into a military program that riveted the world's attention to the Siege of Mafeking, and turned his military book Aids to Scouting into a best-seller. Become a Wood Badge Staffer to form and storm boys like Baden-Powell away from the Copse. To its credit, Leadership Development and the Merit Badge system has made great progress in cranking out Patrol Leaders who never walk into the woods with a Patrol at their backs, and Eagle Scouts who learn their citizenship from a book. We turn Scouting into After-School School: What every boy hates, has always hated, and will continue to hate until the end of time. Yours at 300 feet, Kudu http://kudu.net Sure, find the passages in which Baden-Powell encouraged the boys to engage in critical thinking, debate, and to become skilled orators, and I'll show you how he used what he called "education instead of instruction." The reason that Scouting was once wildly popular is that Baden-Powell designed it to be the opposite of school. Most BSA Merit Badges are just After-School School. That's why boys hate Scouts. Here is a history, if you are interested: http://www.inquiry.net/traditional/turning_scouting_into_school.htm

Count Baden-Powell among those whom as a boy valued hunting but hated classrooms. Against school rules, he snuck out to the Copse (a wooded area near his school) to hunt and cook rabbits. He developed skills of stealth to hide himself and his cooking fires from teachers paid to patrol the Copse and catch boys like him. When he got older he incorporated his anti-regimentation skills into a military program that riveted the world's attention to the Siege of Mafeking, and turned his military book Aids to Scouting into a best-seller. Become a Wood Badge Staffer to form and storm boys like Baden-Powell away from the Copse. To its credit, Leadership Development and the Merit Badge system has made great progress in cranking out Patrol Leaders who never walk into the woods with a Patrol at their backs, and Eagle Scouts who learn their citizenship from a book. We turn Scouting into After-School School: What every boy hates, has always hated, and will continue to hate until the end of time. Yours at 300 feet, Kudu http://kudu.net

Those Methods of Scouting are designed to teach Bruce Tuckman to Den Leaders. Scouting helps boys grow into good men because of common interests between the young and the old. It's a human thing. The Methods are only a theory, and a bad one at that. If hockey had "eight methods" boys would hate ice as much as they hate Scouting. Some are, as the statistics I provided show. Over the years a number of mothers have said that their sixth-grade sons were "not ready for camping yet, maybe next year." Statistically DCSimmons is closer to the truth, but my general sense is that experience with Cub Scouts is the greatest source of anti-Boy Scout sales resistance among both parents and boys. The statistics at the following URL (from above) show how that 80% of sixth-graders who want to be Boy Scouts is reduced by parents to only 30% registered BSA members: http://inquiry.net/adult/recruiting_boy_scouts_public_schools.htm However, if I read my own statistics correctly, 30% of all the sixth-grade parents do sign their sons up for Scouting if I promise them nothing more than some fresh air and exercise. I never mention Eagle Scout to parents because I don't want that kind of people on a Troop Committee. I never mention "Leadership" because teaching "leadership skills" is based on every Scout getting a turn at being a "leader." To camp Patrols 300 feet apart, and send them out on hikes without Tuckman helicopters, we need to stick with only the very best natural leaders in positions of real responsibility, so that all the other boys are not in harm's way. I never mention "Adult Association" or "Ideals," but rather read to them what their son wrote on the clipboard. "Jimmy says he likes guns. He can shoot a .22 next month, and a shotgun if he can handle it." "Tommy says he wants to see a bear. He will have to wait until July, when we camp at Sabattis." "Johnny and his friend Carlos love fishing? Do you know Carlos? They will be spending a lot of time with our older Scouts who bring a fishing pole to every campout." That seems to be enough. Yours at 300 feet, Kudu http://kudu.net

KDD, No adult voices until announcements at the end? That is impressive. "Most boys had collars folded under, with neckers" is a small but good thing. Older Scouts is usually a good sign. As for a unit of 90 Scouts, Baden-Powell limited Troops to 32 Scouts, but that was when all 32 loved Scouting. The advantage of 90 Scouts is that perhaps 30-45 are potentially competent enough in the backwoods to allow ad hoc backpacking Patrols (without adults during the day), and 300 foot Patrols at night (when away from the rest of the Troop). "No 300', citing safety issues" and "Run TLT one day twice a year" is redundant! You can not replace Patrol Leaders every six months and camp safely without Bruce Tuckman helicopters (hence "20 have WB" and you "Recognized at least 3 of the leaders on District Training Staff.") I'm not familiar with your current situation.

Basementdweller: The link lists specific dates. dcsimmons: Apples and oranges. You speculated that society has urbanized and the pool of potential members is simply drying up. But the potential market share of urban sixth-graders who can be sold on outdoor adventure is 80%. The percentage of parents who will actually allow their sons to register is around 30% of the total audience. That does not include Cub Scout survivors already crossed over. The fact that your public school might not give you access is a different issue. If the mission of the BSA was Scoutcraft rather than "ethical choices," we might be more welcome.

Short answer: If you present Scouting as outdoor adventure, 80% of sixth grade boys will (in front of their peers) sign a clipboard asking you to call their parents so they can be a Boy Scout. For what it is worth, I compiled a breakdown that lists the reasons parents say "no": http://inquiry.net/adult/recruiting_boy_scouts_public_schools.htm

　 Yes. On occasion Baden-Powell himself demonstrated that same fatal bravado. 　 Physical Scoutcraft skills made Scouting so wildly popular with boys, that the founders never in their wildest nightmares anticipated that professional Eagles would use our government-imposed monopoly to convert Scouting to an "ideals trump skills" program in which the highest rank did not require a single night of camping.