TAHAWK

At least we had a "uniform." Now we have a brand of clothing with many "official" choices of material, style, colors and and shades of color. 😐

Sure was. 1980. Here's a start; https://mediafiles.scoutshop.org/m2pdf/BePrepared_Vol_1_No_8.pdf https://www.classb.com/history-of-the-scouts-uniform/ https://www.classb.com/history-of-the-scouts-uniform/

It was easier when it was Lion, Lion, all and each of whom wanted to earn the Webelos Award.

I wrote to the address that the BSA home office last specifically told me to write. I have been asking those I have been told to ask for eighteen years - with no answer as to the goal or the idea, except five years ago when the then national head of training, an actual professional, was trying to generate the proper language in training syllabi. His expressed goal would have been fine, but it was not achieved, and the "guidance" has only become more vague and incorrect by Bill Hillcourt standards since the typical bureaucrats got back in charge. That they are not too interested in program is nothing new. I was warned about that reality by my first Council Exec in 1959. No change. Too bad they do not see the connection between program quality and their goal.

All excellent points, but this is the one I see after 50 registered years: • Adults - either do not know or do not accept that they are not the leaders but are, instead, coaches, mentors, and resources.

Google boy scout game and pick from 61,300,000 choices as of tonight. Add other terms to narrow choices such as ball or inside As a JASM, you could develop an expertise in games to coach the leaders (youth).

If you have one patrol, you don't have a troop, except to the bureaucrats; you have a patrol. The Patrol Leader plans the program in a meeting with the patrol. Only two patrols? A less formal get together with the two PLs, the SPL, and their coach, still needs an agenda, someone (SPL) to lead the discussion and a record keeper. There are useful videos found via Google that give examples.

fred, I hope you are right. Truly, I do. I live on hope. But I also vote in hope, and am regularly disappointed, which counsels realism. While almost all the current language - the 2019 language - the website language about the Patrol Method - sorry "the patrol method" - is gone, this is still here : "Most patrol activities takes place in the context of troop activities, but that doesn’t mean that every patrol has to do the same things on every outing." This contradicts not only what Bill said about the primacy of the patrol, it also contradicts what BSA said as recently as 2018: "In Scouting, a troop is composed of several patrols. Boy Scouting happens in the context of a patrol. The patrol, a small team of eight or so Scouts, is more than an organizational convenience or a Boy Scout version of the Cub Scout den. It is the place where boys learn skills, take on leadership responsibilities, and develop friendships that will often last throughout their lifetimes. [emphasis added]. Of course, that is not how, in fact, it is happening, and it takes little space to list the incentives BSA offers to encourage the primacy of the patrol context, or the disincentives BSA offers to discourage the de facto "troop method": 1. 2. 3. And we still have this January, 2019, language from BSA at Scouter.com (unchanged since 2006): "Patrols are one component of what we call youth-run, or youth-led, troop." And this means ??? The "youth-led troop method"? Probably not. Simply more incompetency, such as Journey to 😉 giving no points for doing anything required by the Patrol Method, like having youth actually plan or lead a single, solitary patrol or troop activity. So hope on, by all means. But remember, it's Committee Chairman, Scout Executive, Scoutmaster and, especially, Donor in BSAese, but it's only "patrol leader" and "senior patrol leader."

It seems to have started dying in 1972, just after BSA introduced girls into the program but, more significantly, decided Scouting needed to be "modernized." By 1983, the vast majority of troops (of the few left) here were both troop-based and adult-led. It got sicker in about 2000 when all explanation of the Patrol method disappeared from Scoutmaster basic training, leaving no article, list, session, or chapter that defined Scouting's most important method. It seems to have received the headstone recently when the website Scouting.org gave a "404 Closed" code to even its shallow articles on the Patrol Method, Patrol Leader, and Aims and Methods of Scouting. We were so close - an actual red-jacket Scouter, Eagle, former SM, son of an Eagle, father of two Eagles, took over as defacto head of training at National (volunteers have no real authority). But he was transferred in 2014 before he could really get Scouting back into adult training. He knows more about the inside game than we do and thinks it's not intentional. The bureaucrats simply "misplaced" Scouting, being focused on more "important" issues . That would make it a case explained by Hanlon's Razor: "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

Not just "in attendance." I Scouted lots as a Scout with adults "in attendance." They drove us to where we camped or started off backpacking. They left us alone or were not allowed to be there. (A couple of the men pulled their kids when they were disqualified, but we had 120 Scouts/Explorers and a waiting list.) But the persons in the safety bubble, being ignorant of what Scouting is, have decreed that the adults are to "supervise" and have not explained that they are not to lead, not being the leaders. Thus the deadly adult-led troop method is further reinforced. This blunder is most likely because the safety bubble persons, like the majority at National, misplaced Scouting decades ago. Nor can you catch their attention as they go about destroying Scouting; their sole goal is $$$$$$$$$$$$$$ and they cannot see that the $$ would follow the membership they fruitter away by ignoring what kids - still - like about Scouting - kid adventure, including planning and leading. It's a race to the bottom between Sears and BSA. Did I mention that our newest Council Executive believes the solution to inept training is less training? That seems to be the BSA party line. I mean why would a competent "sales" force help sales when you can instead shift emphasis to PR and risk management?

Noticing that the website articles on the Patrol Method, Patrol Leader, and Aims and Methods of Scouting had all been closed, and having tried for many years to get a coherent, comprehensive definition of the Patrol Method out of National Council, I wrote to the official answer place (Boy Scouts of America Service Desk ) and asked for such a definition so I could be sure to be following the official language at a University of Scouting presentation. The reply stated that the "priority" for answering my inquiry was "Low." But I knew that already. Is BSA ever defines the Patrol Method in a single list, chapter or article, or ever eliminates the incorrect statements that appear here and there (""The patrol method is one aspect of what we call the boy-led troop." Scouting.org."), I will share, should I live so long.

Using his image without his consent was a dumb move by We Sell Cookies.

internal communication within BSA is often, like external communication, awful. Plus, inconsistencies abound.

Like most public schools, BSA distinguishes between "suspension" and "revocation" of membership. Sexual predator Michael Kelsey, it was announced, was first "suspended" and then had his membership "revoked." Sexual predator John Lenwell was suspended for two years and had his membership revoked only after he molested another Scout in a different unit. "The unit committee should review repetitive or serious incidents of misbehavior in consultation with the parents of the child to determine a course of corrective action including possible revocation of the youth’s membership in the unit. If problem behavior persists, units may revoke a Scout’s membership in that unit. When a unit revokes a Scout’s membership, it should promptly notify the council of the action." Guide to Safe Scouting [emphasis added]

OK. Follow the rules. Good. But lets not pick and choose. Worry more about the Merit Badge Mill counsel camps and 6-7 times as many "Eagles as once was the case. What lessons taught thereby? Adherence to guidelines? Hardly! Cutting corners? You betcha'. Then we could discuss "lockins" watching movies as "weekend campouts" for purposes of Journey to Mediocrity. And The Patrol Method? Outdoor Method? Goodby to all that. 3 car campouts for "First [sic] Class."

Attendance in BSA uniform as a member of a Color Guard at a political event is allowed - even traditional. They do need to promptly leave the stage after the flag ceremony is over.

BSA was founded as an educational organization. Advancement (FKA "Recognition") is designed to encourage learning. Advancement is not an official objective of Scouting or Scouts BSA, although it is often confused as an objective. Please explain why you would want to prevent a youth from having the opportunity to learn to be a good person and good citizen, sound in mind and body solely because they were not a registered member of Scouts BSA. Thank you.

Are the offending councils parties?

For purpose of international Guiding, GSA already is the recognized association for the U.S. BSA would be infringing and opposed by The World Association.

Facts may change over time, changing the outcome. Here, BSA has used "Scouts' and "Scouting" for over a century with no effort by GSA to assert exclusive ownership of either. Many others have openly used "Scout" and even "Boy Scout" in connection with selling goods for decades with no effort to assert exclusive ownership by BSA. The purpose of the law is to protect consumers of the goods or services from being misled as to the source. GSA has no case. BSA should start selling cookies.

Selling items gifted for the Museum or property with reversions that can only lawfully be used for Scouting has been an "issue." A Scout is Trustworthy.

Change. Recognizing that some will wish to go their own way, might we start at the National level? If BSA wished to promote actual use of the Patrol Method, what might they do? After the message is clear through words and deeds over a reasonable period of time, it might be appropriate to discuss how to discourage refusal to use/or ineptitude in providing the Patrol Method. Example, "Journey to 'Excellence'" might be amended to provide points for actual use of the Patrol Method, rather than merely having youth with certain titles. All this would, of course, require someone(s) at National who know what the Patrol Method is. Six years ago, there was such a person.

"BSA doesn't have a mechanism for enforcing quality standards in units. For all of its hand-wringing about membership numbers, BSA seems to ignore the direct relationship between unit quality on the one hand and member recruitment and retention on the other. All recruitment is by local units. All retention is by local units. Membership numbers could be improved substantially if the vast majority of those units met quality standards of the kind found in the Commissioner Helps book." 👍

Objective is to develop Scouts as leaders and have Scouts experience democracy. We also do not have school teachers take the tests with the students. So not at all "odd." Sadly, BSA fails to train the adults properly, for example omitting explanation of Patrol Method even as they abandon it de facto for the adult-led troop method.