nusplash

"I would recommend informing all youth that suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem" . I think this a good comment on a terrible problem. One that should not be ignored. If you don't feel you are qualified to discuss this with your troop, then I would ask your sponsor or your council for some help. If you ignore this and one of yours boy's thinks this is an exceptable way out you would never be able to forgive yourself for not following through.

There are a lot of projects that don't qualify as an Eagle project, but would qualify as a service project. Many volunteer organizations require workers to get things done(this is prohibited in Eagle projects), providing the bodies, and demonstrating leadership in the process would count in my book for Star and Life. It would probably outshine what most Librarians or Historians ever do.

I would like to describe someone who I am sure we have all met at some time or another. We have a boy in the troop who has been a Life Scout for 2 years. He filled his POR in the first year, but has only gone on 1 campout this past year. He comes to meetings once every 4 to 8 weeks, he would rather talk to his friends including the current SPL then participate when he is attending a meeting. He paid his registration fee, and is paid up on dues. In his mind he is active, in my mind he is not. Who is right? When we try to engage him at meetings he is full of excuses, and can't seem to give more than lip service to trying to organise an Eagle project. We haven't given up on him, and now that he is 17-1/2 yrs old I think he is finally starting to get it. The problem I see is with the negative influence on the younger boys. I think the Adult leadership in the Troop needs some tools and guidlines to encourage these boys and others who might think this behavior is OK to improve.

Exactly, I guess I will have to buy "Advancement Committee Policies and Procedures, BSA #33088" to see if the answer is really in there. One would think the answer would be in the Scoutmasters handbook. It is tough to manage all the parents if no one is allowed to interpret what "active" means. After all it will the parents that won't understand and complain, not the boy. My feeling is if our troop comes up with a defintion that the Scoutmaster can work with and everyone has enough warning then all the scouts will know what is expected of them. It seems silly to think that simply paying your dues makes you active. If the Scoutmaster's only leeway is in deciding if the Boy show's spirit, then I could place the restriction on myself, and say I must observe the boy while he is participating in at least 1/3 of the activites before I can make a decision about his ability to demonstrate Scout spirit.

I am not sure that the answer to a FAQ makes what is said there an "official Policy interpretation". We don't know who wrote the answer, or how that interpretation was determinded. Are there a National set of Bylaws that can be referenced? If I look in the dictionary for what active means I get the impression that the definition, in Webster or American Heritage dictionary, of the word goes a lot further than what was stated in the FAQ by some unknown person.

I noticed you refered to a thread as to what defines an active Scout. Please point out the link to that topic as I have been trying to deal with some of the older boys over how to interpret that requirement. Thanks

In general I agree with most of the comments people have about Eagle projects. Let's not forget that the Eagle project should be a challenge to a boy's ability. To someone with severe handicaps, this project may be an appropriate challenge, and therefore an acceptable project