OldGreyEagle

If the Crews have been formed "correctly", then the youth already know its supposed to be their program so until you know the youth's desires, its a bit early to start comming up with activities that may or may not interest the youth. Are the adults all trained? One thing you could do is organize a Venturing Leadership Skills Course (VLSC) for the crews as a lock-in. Have the youth gather friday night for a social event. Have them bring their favorite movies and them vote on which ones will be seen. Then run the course the next day, the adults can be trained in another room. The VLSC is required for the Venturing Gold and it would be a good way to get the youth in one place and see where the interest lies. Is it COPE? Water events? HIking? Find out what they want do do

If it's illegal to drink under 21 then having a program that allows those who have broken the law "safely" implies that it is ok to break the law. Stealing is against the law, if I steal more than I can carry, can I call the safe ride number to get my loot back home? I think we established that teens were going to have sex no matter what the law says, so why dont we open a safe sex parlour? Clean sheets, plenty of condoms, no responsibility for actions, the whole nine yards

COmming from a Council that requires training and has the highest perentage of trained leaders in the BSA, I dont see an issue with requiring training. It hasnt effected the number of volunteers (as yet). Its hard to deliver the promise, when you dont know what the promise is

And would not a program that allows an active scout to earn the rank of First Class in a year? And how do we keep the boys we have unless we have a program that is fun for them?

A more recent movie that has the attributes of a good team building movie and was made in this century (something the youth will enjoy) is Sky High with Kurt Russell (and it seems just yesterday he was Whitey Siddon)

Personally I like the mnemonic to remember the bones of the wrist, the carpals and the foot, the tarsals or the 12 cranial nerves. as for the scout law, just keep them practicing, after all, in the end, every good boy does fine

Personally I like the mnemonic to remember the bones of the wrist, the carpals and the foot, the tarsals or the 12 cranial nerves

It has to do with the design of the website, none of the moderators can control what shows up where. I understand its frustrating but on the other hand we rarely talk about anyone and when we do, its always in a scoutlike manner... most of the time

I think "Light Responsibility" Positions only occur in "Light" Troops to being with...

On whose plate resides the responsibility to make Scribe, Historian, Chaplain's Aide et al a viable position that teaches leadership and responsibility?

At first I thought the title of this thread was Mea Culpa and I was confused. If Media giants slant news, there is a cure, for people when they find out the truth to boycott the purveyor of the trash. For a group that talks a lot about personal responsibility, there sure is a huge tendency to blame others for our ills and claim there is nothing that can be done about it

http://www.tac-bsa.org/worship_services.pdf

WHo was it that said you will never go broke underestimating the taste of the American Public? Why do networks sensationalize news? Because we the people, the public want them to. DO you remmber the coverage of OJ in the white Ford Bronco? The Networks learned will watch real time news, eevn when nothing happens. Networks show what makes them money. They sensationalize news because its what the public wants. If they just tell the news without sizzle, the ratings fall and the station that sells glitz and glamour and no substance ratings rise. As a society we keep looking for someone to blame. Its the media's fault for the way they cover news, its Hollywoods fault for making lewd entertainment available, its the politicians fault for the state of the country and we need term limits to eliminate the bums, I guess voting bad politicians out of office is no longer an option. We want to blame everyone for everything, rather then realizin we live in a culture we created, if we want to change it, EVERYONE has to do their part

The abuurd thing is, the pool of candidates starts to dwindle long before half the country gets to indicate support for them. What is the sense for having such small in population states dictate who will be on the ticket?

Beavah has a point, Make the kid a Chaplain's Aide and then have him put togther the Scouts Own services. Invite his mother to accompany him on his initial services. Is there CHaplain Aide training in your area? You know, the training that stresses the importance of non-denominational refereneces?

There was the art display that had an American flag on the floor and positioned so if you wanted to see the exhibit, you had to stand on the flag. Offensive to some, art to others. Lets see, if a piece of art is exhibited in a public art gallery, and I find the art offensive, I am within my rights to protest that art. After all, its my money making that available to be seen so if I dont like, I should be allowed to say so, right? And dont say move on to the next exhibit, my money is still being spent to allow that which I call trash to be seen

Lisabob, look in the threads about Lamb, the Eagle in who was tossed out because he is an atheist, I think the rock comment is in it. Also, do you have the slick publication on the religious awards recognized by BSA? If indeed the BSA is a Christian organization, how would she explain religious awards to Buddhists, Hindu, Islamic, and a bunch of others you can get off the PRAY web site

I am sure there are plenty, it's getting the show on the making that I am aiming for

Maybe the BSA could commission Orange County Choopers to do a 100th Anniversary Bike, with B-Ps sihouette on the sissy bar with fenders and gas tank in Khaki and red, I am sure Paul Jr could spice it up. TLC does a show on making it and presenting it at the 2010 Jamboree or just before the Rose Parade and the bike goes on a national tour shown as a symbol of the 100th anniversary

Well, no its not the same country of 50 years ago, its been quite awhile since I have heard a polock, mic, dago, wop or spic joke. Its been quite awhile since I saw a lunch counter with a "whites only" sign posted on it all quite popular 40-50 years ago. If the popular culture is degraded, why is that so? If we blame Hollywood for too violent or sexual movies, again why is that? Does Hollywood ever do anything that wont make a buck? Hollywood makes movies that will generate revenue. Local threatre owners can elect not to show movies that conflict with their own personal values. The question is, will they survive? Why is Paris Hilton such a celebrity? Because we the American Public make her one. Once we hit Paris overload, she will fade from view. Why is Britiny Spears in the public eye? Well, because her name sells. If we were the country we pretend to be, then none of this would happen. Capitalism fuels our economy, if there isnt a market for something, it goes away. Whether this is good or bad is up to the population to decide. If you want a community like 50 years ago, what are you willing to do about it? You have to get all the parents in the area interested in their kids education. You have to stand 100% behind the teachers regardless of what they do and respect them and have your child respect them. You respect the local law enforement officers and have your children respect them as well. Your chilren have to know if they are caught by the police, anything they do to them will pale by comparison to what you will do, as opposed to hiring a lawyer to "get them out of this". Your children have to see you and the other adults in the community do what is best for the commmunity and sacrifice personal gain and see this on a consistent basis. Your children need to see political leaders who do what is right, not what is expedient and if they don't, they are no longer in office. We need carpenters, plumbers and other tradesmen who take pride in their work and don't pad bills and provide shoddy craftmanship. We need professionals whose main goal is to provide competent service at a fair price, whether its Legal, Medical, or whatever. If an "Adult" book store opens, your children need to see it close in a month due to lack of cutomers, not add space after 6 months. If a "Gentlemans Club" opens, it closes both due to lack of cutomers and a lack of applications for "performing artistes" If you accomplish this, and have a model community, then having a few atheists move in wont destroy what you built.

I do not see the issue as much that ideas are threatening, as much as the source of the funds to present the idea.

Had a family in the Troop I serve do this to their two boys. They had to make Eagle to get a drivers license. The older boy fought it. He wasnt happy most of the time and did his work, but it was obvious he would have been much happier doing just about anything else. He earned Eagle and that was the last we saw of him. His younger brother started off the same way, fighting it, but then as he got older he became more engaged, at his Eagle Court of Honor he said he didnt relish making Eagle when he started, but as time went on, he realized he enjoyed scouting. So, two brothers, both Eagles, one hated it another loved it. Were the parents wrong for making Eagle a condition for getting a drivers license? Well, yes and no, at the same time

Way Way Way back, in the Spring of 1997 we might very well be having the same discussion. Youth were apathetic couch potatoes and nothing short of a miracle would bring them out of their lethargic state. Then, in June 1997, the first Harry Potter book was published and it took the world by storm. I am not sure what the reaction would have been had in May 1997 if a post in May 1997 would have predicted a book series would sell millions. I am sure the reponses would have been on the order of "it can't be done" "kids wont do that" and the like. But what Harry Potter does teach us is that kids are kids just as they always have been. They do seek adventure and excitement although it may not be the adventure and excitement we wish to foist upon them. It may be easier to blame the youth, but then, how do we change them? Perhaps the answer is changing ourselves. If the uniform is indeed such a huge issue, then it may be time to ditch it in favor of the Venturing approach. Each Troop may have its own uniform and then have a national one for "dress" events. I dont think it would make much of a difference, but then, I could be wrong. I dont think today's youth are anymore disengaged as any other generation, I think its our generations job to engage them

But what about Numeralogists? Gold WInger has the best idea yet Its time we cast off our "christian" names and went to randomly generated series of letters and/or numbers. To assure no one is insulted because they worship that exact string of charactors, everyone will receive a new series of numbers every quarter. You know, at a high school reunion, hello there, didn't you used to be 1hrty53ret? Yes, I havent seen you since I was 8rtser7rterx

we could go with black and white, ebony and ivory as it were shaded shapes, unless the shapes are considered sacred as black and white is sacred by a group worshipping Ralph Kramden