RememberSchiff

GAHB - Some of us think in pictures. I agree a teacher needs subject expertise to teach no matter what the "process to teach" used or the buzzword used to name it, but do not infer that if someone is an expert implies he/she can teach. IMHO, these Train-the-Trainer, EDGE courses or whatever they are called should qualify students as subject competent first and then show them how to transfer their knowledge to scouts. Leave No Trace and Water Safety Instructor (Red Cross) use this approach. Arguments can get lost in analogies and other references. My $0.02,

Not If, but rather When and Where... My prediction - National allows CO's to decide, so some units will become coed but most will not. The public hears that Boy Scouting is going coed, hurrah, and runs down to the local unit to sign their daughters up. Unfortunately that unit is NOT integrated, er I mean does not accept girls, and the confusion, bad publicity and discrimination lawsuits begin. Another prediction, going coed adds another core incompetency to Scouting along with drug education, bullying, internet safety, special needs, religion,... sex education. This may mean another version of the Scout handbook - coed with sex ed material only for those coed units. Adult training? Maybe at Scouting university. It will be a storm, but other countries have weathered it. A good storm clears the air. My $0.02

My Norton Internet Security just notified me of a Medium Security risk from scouting.org Time: 12:14 PM Date: 11/21/2009 Intrusion: NMap Xmas Scan Intruder: documents.scouting.org(209.246.150.189) Risk Level: Medium Protocol TCP Attacked Port: 1877 I would notify the webmaster or IT dept at National if I knew how. Please pass along info if you can. As often stated here, a contact list on the National website would be helpful. I have seen diferent info on this scan attack from it just probing for open ports to something more.

"Besides, as far as I can tell, the only thing a man can teach a boy that a woman can't is how to pee standing up." Another urban myth. Moms teach their little boys to pee standing up. Why? Self interest, they want the lid raised before and dropped after! Now, a man can teach a boy to pee his name. Easier to track boys hiking in the snow as a dog, as everyone knows, cannot pee his own name Rover. YP prohibits this now. Probably just as well, the schools don't teach cursive penmanship anymore. I remember when and compare with the realities of now. I welcome women and am thankful for their help, particularly Lisabob I wish more men stepped up. I see "Boy Scouting" becoming Scouting in 5 or 10 years. That new movie "Old Dogs" opens next week, as I understand the storyline includes a coed young scout group going to camp. My $0.02(This message has been edited by RememberSchiff)

I see more local camps closing. Yet a big box, high adventure camp opens. The economics of this escapes me. All of my scouts attend local scout camps, fewer than 5% go to high adventure camps. Is high adventure camp attendance up? Local camp attendance is flat as membership continues to drop. Will opening this camp cause the nearby, smaller council high adventure camps (Maine, Cape Cod, ...) to close? I wonder. My $0.01, (This message has been edited by RememberSchiff)

Say you ask him and his response is "Mine your own business." Then what? He's an adult not a scout. He is not disrupting, nor is he participating by his choice. Leave him be, tend to your unit. Maybe in time he will change. Make an issue out of it and he may stop attending ...with his son soon to follow. Do not specifically speak to the scout about his father's actions either. Another $0.02,

He is free in this country to sit or stand, recite the words with or without thinking or not recite at all. He was exercising that right. Respect his rights and you respect the country that granted those rights. My two Lincoln cents,

Huh, I could have sworn I have bought Simpson, Muppets, and Marvel Comics stamps. Can't get much more commercial than Bart, Miss Piggy, and Stan Lee! Too bad it wasn't a stamp set, say of 12 stamps with a different stamp for each Scout law or the like. Good stamp for the Lone Scout program. My $0.01

I would wager that BSA licensing told the USPS that no BSA trademarks could be used unless some license fee was paid. I see no BSA trademarks in use, so that's my guess.

Yes there they be, thanks JFL49!

I no longer can read the annual reports or strategic plans on the National website scouting.org, does anyone know where they went? Thanks.

I think more liberal as there are different ways to measure body fat and no one method such as BMI is specified on the form. So this may finally be the Sanity Clause we needed, just in time for Christmas The form B needs a further edit on this point. The top line should state Meets height/weight OR body fat % limits []Yes []No My $0.02

Back in the 60's, prior to the introduction of the "Uniform Method", we had more scouts and more scouts in uniform. Far few adults self-designating themselves as uniform police too. The district Neighborhood Commissioner did unit inspections once or more a year as a requirement for unit rechartering. If the unit was not fully present and not fully (and cleanly) uniformed, the unit and SM were in doubt to get re-charterd. Yes back then, the BSA maintained quality control over the program in chartered units. Today, there is no mention of uniforms on the Quality Unit form after all uniforms are optional. Another historical point, wearing the uniform then was a privilege bestowed only until a scout EARNED Tenderfoot. New civilian-dress scouts wanted to quickly fit in with the older uniformed scouts and to belong they had to EARN the privilege. You were expected to be a scout at all times, uniform or not. Strong lessons all but lost today. I intend to wear a red beret and an Oscar De la Renta shirt for Halloween and scare other old scouters. My $0.02

I remember segregation and Negro boy scout troops. Previous thread discussed this with links to references. http://www.scouter.com/forums/viewThread.asp?threadID=184228#id_184363

shortridge, I think we set ourselves up for failure by asking outsiders for help, they willingly arrive, and then we start auditing - 'er wait we have some forms, need personal information, oh you need to go online and take a test, you will need to set up an online account, you need to take a district training course oh that's offered in the spring, no it doesn't matter if you were a scout...' See ya later. By 3. "MB counselor need NOT be an adult scout leader" - I meant they would not need to fill out the insecure adult application as code 42 with the SS#, DOB, DRP. Anyway, National would not go along with this. By 4. Currently there is NO requirement for two adults at a mb meeting. The thought is 'two deep' protection occurs by the scout buddy system. I don't agree with that thought. It is common in my unit for one or more adults to hang around a mb meeting as they would have to drive back anyway. Two-deep adults is better protection than one MBC taking YP. I believe the examples that John cited all had taken YP, one a former National Program Director had helped develop YP. Prospective volunteer MBC's have asked for an adult leader(s) to be present as they just want to teach and leave the discipline to us. Again, this will not happen either. How do we prevent a bad guy from becoming a MBC, a teacher, a priest, an elected leader? Unless he/she has a criminal record or someone steps forward with damaging credible information, we can't as we have seen. How do you prevent a MBC/SM/.. or unregistered adult from committing a bad act - two or more deep adult presence with eyes and ears open. For the 100th, I would like a 100 'new' MBC's in each council. And I mean 'new' as not otherwise currently connected with scouting. And I want cool people, no turnips. I want people willing to advertise they are MBC's. I want pics, badge info, bios on council website and no more of this secret squirrel nonsense with counselor lists. But to make this happen, the process of becoming a MBC needs to be easier while maintaining youth safety. Another $0.02

Merit badge universities are the perceived solution to the problem of fewer merit badge counselors (MBC). The real solution is get more and better MBC's particularly from outside of scouting. In my experience, it is easy to get outside experts to help with merit badges but difficult to impossible to get them to register. Oh they are interested until they see the paperwork and hassle now required. Many are very concerned about identity theft (good luck getting all that info from a licensed physician). They are also amazed at the absence of professional courtesy - 'I am a licensed plumber/EMT/policeman/teacher why can't I automatically counsel Plumbing/First Aid/Fire Safety/Scholarship'?'Heh I'm willing to teach some metalworking for da boys but I'm not jumping through hoops.' So National could go back to an old simple system. 1. Just a one sheet, double spaced MB application form, signed by a sponsoring adult scout leader. A SM could 'knight' a new MBC on the spot! A council employee is assigned to maintain lists. 2. Registered until they withdraw. (No yearly renewal, which councils seem unable to process anyway) 3. MB counselor need NOT be an adult scout leader, just an upstanding community member will do. (I doubt National will agree to this) 4. YP not required AND an adult scout leader is present for all merit badge meetings. Just like any other outing activity, we don't require outfitters, museum guides, etc. that we work with to take YP. Or here's an approach that I use - an adult scout leader registers as a MBC but acts as a merit badge facilitator of sorts. Scout(s) are interested in say Railroading where there are no MBC, so I register as a Railroading MBC whether I know or care if trains run on tracks. Council is just glad to have a warm body. Next I outsource - get help from local Casey Jones's. I show Casey the requirements and merit badge book and we talk it over. I am there for all meetings, somewhere in the back. When the requirements are complete, I sign the card (Casey can sign too, after all no one at council looks at the signatures anyway ). This is just an approach that I adapted from my earlier Den Leader experiences: find a expert, shield him/her from BSA BS, let expert do his/her thing, scouts learn something/have fun/earned badge. Maybe at Round Table, ASM's can be asked to try this approach for merit badges which have few or no MBC's. I have not participated in a Merit Badge University nor would I. My merit badge courses require more than 2 meetings and I do not want that expectation misunderstood. I also want scout's undivided attention. I think the merit badge system needs some serious repair, the only bright spot for me is that the merit badge pamphlets are FINALLY in color. My $0.02

BSA is the largest youth/youth-serving organization in the US. false, it is one of the largest.

Sea Scouting in Nebraska? How does that work haha? Prairie schooners.

Just use the "contact" webpage to notify the webmaster or whoever at Irving. ...oh, right the National website doesn't have one of those "contact" webpages despite the numerous requests over the years by us, the users, to have that useful and common feature. Here's how the WOSM does it http://www.scout.org/en/about

I found this http://www.scouting.org/faq/volunteer.aspx Must I be a U.S. citizen to join scouting? Citizenship is not required of youth or adult members. That said, I have seen a few CO and units impose some additional membership requirements such as US citizenship.

Yes and No. Yes, if the MB counselor wants to be formally listed as counselor in another council. This way both scouts and their Scoutmasters will readily see that counselor's availability. Some counselors may have a vacation residence or frequent travel in another council. That counselor would have to remember to re-register each year in those neighboring councils too. But there is no need. A scout can go to ANY merit badge counselor who is registered with ANY Council and APPROVED by his SM. Common examples where this occurs is out-of-council summer camps, museums, merit badge colleges, and Jamboree. My $0.02

No, but Without a uniform or what someone declares to be the "proper" uniform, a scout might be turned away from the following: Most troop state their own uniform policies National Jamboree (some councils explicitly require the new Centennial uniform - two sets!) BSA High Adventure Camps Most scout summer camps OA Board of Reviews Another $0.02, (This message has been edited by RememberSchiff)

Your Hawk Mountain Council http://www.hmc-bsa.org/training/index.htm appears lacking in training courses. Try Pennsylvania Dutch Council in Lancaster. They offer an Introduction to Outdoor Leader Skills course this fall: http://www.padutchbsa.org/openrosters/DocDownload.asp?orgkey=1952&id=58279 There are also online outdoor safety courses such as Hazardous Weather at the National BSA website scouting.org. Taking WFA is an excellent idea. Here are some other outdoor resources in your area. Princeton University Outdoor Action is a great source of "online" outdoor skills information. I say "online" because 1. there is a wealth of free online information and 2. I don't know how much they open their hands-on training to the outside community. http://www.princeton.edu/~oa/training/index.shtml http://www.princeton.edu/~oa/programs/index.shtml Appalachian Mountain Club - Delaware Valley Chapter http://www.amcdv.org/ My $0.02

You might want to attend the New England Scout Memorabila Show at Camp Carpenter in Manchester,NH Oct 23,24 Here's a link to flyer http://nhscouting.org/openrosters/DocDownload.asp?orgkey=1801&id=48047 Enjoy. BTW I have been looking for a red 50th Anniversary of Scouting strip that was sewn above the "Boy Scouts of America" strip above right pocket. I had such a strip when I first joined back then and lost it along the way.

Here's a earlier thread http://www.scouter.com/forums/viewThread.asp?threadID=243866&p=1 Not many American Heritage Girl units around here. According to their website, there are just 2 in all of the New England states so we have not seen or heard of any AHG units, so this is a non-issue for us. My $0.02