Eagle94-A1

Depends upon the skills being taught. First aid will be a big deal. Lifesaving and BSA Lifeguard will be major deal as you will not be able to do several of the requirements, and if they do not know those skills, it could kill them.

COMRADE! They do not have enough volunteers to be Unit Commissioners as it is. And the pros have been overworked and underpaid for as long as I can remember, and it is a heck of a lot worse now. Remember, DEs were suppose to visit the IHs every year as part of the Charter Agreement, and how often did it actually happen? Heck when my DFS found out I actually did one back in the day, I was told to stop because I had more important things to do. So I do not see this happening I think "Family Scouting" will be the end. Youth want independence and time to discover things on their own. But sadly I am seeing more and more parents and adults doing things for the Scouts instead of letting them do things for themselves. You can read about my family's experience with "Family Scouting" with the troop they left. And look at some of the questions being asked on the various FB groups. And when folks state that the Scouts need to deal with the issue and not the adults, the responder is villainized. I am thankful there are still a few of us "old fogeys" around who understand youth development, the need for independance, and letting the Scouts figure things out for themselves. We had a visitor at my troop last nite who was an Eagle from the 1990s, and his son is getting ready to Cross Over. he was not impressed with other troops he visited.

So none of your boys' dens have 2 female leaders running them? If that is the case OUTSTANDING! As for how folks are interpreting the YP standards, see @yknot's post above.

Thank you for proving my point that society in general, and now the BSA, does view men as abusers and evil because of the deeds of a few, yet the abuse that women do gets overlooked and does not affect all women. Do you really think the Scouts do not notice these things? They do observe, and do see the double standards. And yes some adults do talk to their kids about YP and why things cannot be done. And those Scouts who work day camp and summer camp do indeed get the YPT training as it is mandated in the NCAP.

My Thoughts. If the parents are trained and leave the Scouts alone, OK. If it turns into "Family Scouting" as I have experienced it. Scouting will slowly die. Scouts will lose interest fast. Or you will will see more of the extremely young Eagles who couldn't lead a Tiger Cub den on a short hike. who Eagle and leave. This can cause major problems. There is no way I can teach certain BSA required skills: First Aid MB and Lifesaving MB and Lifesaving BSA come immediately to mind. Scouts know the difference between " good touch bad touch." Showers and bathrooms are already the norm in many places. Individual tents will eb new. We have a hard enough time getting unit commissioners. While the lose of council camps will hurt in some areas, in others it may not. I know in some areas it is cheaper to camp at local, state, and national parks. As for summer camps, sadly they are turning into MB mills, and it seems that is what parents want. My only concern si will the professionals finally listen to the volunteers? Been happening for a long time. if it can cut the cost of registration, I am for it.

The double standard in youth protection, i.e. 2 female adults over 21 can take a bunch a males out camping, but 2 males over 21 cannot tale a bunch of females on any meeting or activity. Also 18-20 year old males no longer count as a 2nd adult for YP purposes.

Do not know who makes them now, but the ones from the 1990s/early 2000s were indeed Stetsons, just not marked with their logo. Stetson sells a nearly identical hat, just no holes for a chinstrap nor chinstrap. My Father In Law has one. His was slightly cheaper. Chinstrap has been helpful.

Sadly I knew one outstanding volunteer had their reputation destroyed and was kicked out of scouting for supposedly propositioning a Scout. Thankfully the criminal investigation found evidence to support her story that she found the "scout" being a peeping Tom while she was in the showers after hours. But the accusation was enough to destroy her her life.

Every single high school with a boys locker room and every single youth sports facility with a locker room is in trouble....

Yes it can be a pain in hot weather. Or backpacking. I got a boonie hat I wear on the water and backpacking.

One thing about 4-H, and least in my neck of the woods. 1) there is no registration costs, just costs for supplies and events and 2) You can do whatever interests you want under the 4-H umbrella as long as you have the volunteers to run that particular interest. HOWEVER once the volunteers are gone, that program ceases. Local 4-H has a multitude of programs: envirothon, electric club, shooting sports, leadership academy, ad nauseum. No fee vs $75 fee PLUS council fees ( $100 in my neck of the woods) I can see why 4-H is growing and BSA is not.

I am on my second one. First one I had for a year+ and it was stolen. Second one I have had for 21 years. Had to replace the leather strap, used paracord, and had to fix one small hole. I highly recommend it. It has survived hurricanes, snowstorms, ad nauseum over the years.

Does that work in your council? It has not in 2 of the councils I was in. One person yelled at by a pro was a member of the exec board. Nothing happened to the pro until COVID-19, about 18 to 24 months later.

OK, death threats are uncalled for, need to be investigated, and punished by the law. That is way over the line. Too far over the line. Obscene calls are also over the line. And need to be dealt with. As for abusive, it depend on the definition the pro is using. I had a SE state that publicly disagreeing with the council is abusive, and had the individual removed from Scouting. Whereas i have been yelled at and told I do not know what I was doing, etc by volunteers, but to told to grow a tougher skin by the same SE. The reason why folks are upset with national is that there is no transparency. Decision are made, and no one knows who is making them or why. When asked for input from volunteers, the results of that input are ignored, never posted, or responded with "double speak." Volunteers were ignored regarding Instapalms as 94% Against (18%) or Strongly Against (76%). The poll regarding membership changes by the members and volunteers has never been published AND a segment of the Scouting population, Western Region LDS members were excluded form those results. And look at the "double speak" of the Churchill Plan survey that national had to do because someone posted a slide. A lot of folks think Sea Scouts, OA, and Venturing are safe for the 18 to 20 year old members, when the "double speak: says they will continue talks on the matter. Further there are times when the national level volunteers making policies are overruled or uniformed of the decisions National has made or plan to make. Philmont being mortgaged but not informing the National Philmont Committee, nor the Trust about the mortgage is an example of National pros not being transparent with national volunteers. Another example is the National Sea Scout Commodore being completely taken off guard when the Churchill Plan was leaked. Not only should he have been informed, he should have been on the Churchill Committee. IMHO. Then there is the 411 Committee that redid the Cub Scout Program in June 2015. They were not informed prior to the December 2016 Cub Scout program changes. Volunteers are upset and angry at they way they are being treated by councils and by national. You have volunteers who will do anything in their power to help Scouts and units, but will do absolutely nothing for council, let alone National because of the treatment they have experienced.

My Responses will be in red Do you really believe that national has little input into the councils? National narrows down the choices a council has for SE and DFS that a Council Executive Board (CEB) chooses. National provides the growth opportunities for the professionals. National provides the training that professionals take. National sets the goals professionals need to meet. National [provides the recognition professionals get. As for executive boards and committees, why is it that SE's push "yes men" into those postions, and encourage DE's to push "yes men" into district roles instead of the best qualified? Why is it that when things do not go the way the council professionals want because the volunteers oppose the decision, national intervenes by threatening to revoke the council charter unless the pros get their way, i.e. Chicago and the camp sale a number of years ago? If that is the case, why wasn't the National Philmont Committee informed of the Philmont mortgage until several months after the fact? Why did members resign in protest? Why was the Trust not informed of the mortage and is now involved in the lbankruptcy? Why was the 411 Committee on Cub Scouts, the ones whos pent years working on the June 2015 program, not advised about the December 2016 Program changes? If policies and decisions are made by volunteers, why are the volutneers not being informed? From some of the decision national has made, this does not seem to be true. Unless the NEB is hiding things? There is no doubt that volunteers care at both the local and national levels. But I have seen volunteers manipulated on the local level, and that example must be coming from somewhere?. I have also seen volunteers forced out of positions at the local level because there have disagreements with professionals. That too has to come from somewhere? I have seen at both the local and national levels professionals overrule the decisions of volunteers,. And I have seen local and national volunteers resign in disgust over decisions of the local and national council. Instapalms, 411, and Churchill Plan, are some of the examples I can give of professionals ignoring the volunteers. Sadly this is not just a local issue. You may not be seeing it at this time in your council, but that can change with the next SE.

Sadly I do not see the BSA fulfilling "the ability of boys to do things for themselves and others, to train them in Scoutcraft, and to teach them patriotism, courage, self-reliance, and kindred virtues, using the methods which are now in common use by Boy Scouts ." The Patrol Method died on October 1, 2018 when patrols could no longer do day activities, i.e. patrol meetings, patrol hikes, patrol shopping etc. And as noted the Advancement Methods has been destroyed by the "One and Done" mentality prevalent in Scouting today. Scouts no longer have to "Master the skills," like my generation and older did. The badge no longer represents "what the Scout can do, not what the Scout has done." Summer Camps, MBUs, and now the online MBUs are a joke. The problem is that we did lose over 20% of our membership as a result of this decision. Some of those longtime , experienced Scouters that left still have not been replaced, and it left a vacuum. Others who disagreed with this decision have slowly backed away from non-unit positions, focusing on their units. And again this leaves a void. I have seen this happen. Do not know the stats, by they do not call FOS 'Fund Our Salary" for nothing. When My district could no longer raise enough money to pay for a DE, we lost them I know a DE who was trying to start a SCOUTREACH program in his district. When one company found out, they were willing to make a donation to help equip the the units started in the program. When the DE attempted to find out the process for this with his DFS, he was chewed out for attempting to start these SCOUTREACH units and was told they cost more money than they bring in. Several other DEs told me similar stories, the focus is on payroll. National encourages the awarding of advancement, and turns a blind eye to its problems. In one recent video, National was bragging on the number of belt loops and merit badges being earned virtually, to the point of publically praising the council that had the most awards "earned." Worst case was the "Eagle" whose district BOR found some major problems, and followed procedure to come up with a plan to rectify the situation. The council advancement committee upheld the decision when it was appealed to them. BUT when National got the appeal, they overruled both the council and district decisions, and gave the Scout Eagle. Their rationale was " You do not penalize the Scout for the mistakes of the adults." Sadly I wish this was true. I have found some challenges. I have found names of youth still on the charter after I had removed them twice on previous recharter documents. Sadly that is also not true, not only on the local level, but national level as well. You can read about some of the experiences I have had regarding local level. The 411 Commitee and the Philmont Committee are the best examples of professionals not informing key volunteers what they are doing. My personal beef is Instapalms. 94% of those polled were either Against (16%) or Strongly Against (78%), yet they did it anyway. Agree Agree with you. Some states did have Mandatory Report Laws that affected Scouters and others did not, prior to and during that phase of YPT. One of the challenges of a national organization is having multiple jurisdictions to deal with. Yes, the volunteers love Scouting. But the professionals as I have shown actually run things. And for some, it is just a job.

I want to apologize for my snarky comment. I had just read a FB post stating that 18-20 year old ASMs serve no purpose in a troop. I am sick an tired of folks denigrating young adults, and I took out my frustration on you. Regarding the brain and development until age 25. Something that appears to be conveniently forgotten is that is that lifelong learners and folks starting new professions, basically anyone still learning stuff, has the same brain scan patterns as those under 25. If I can find the study's report, hopefully on PubMed Central, I will post the link. Unfortunately I no longer have access to the medical databases since I left the hosptial.

I think you meant ASM. JASM is a youth POR for 16-17 year old Scouts. Once they are 18, they are an adult, and an ASM. And yes, they usually carry a lot more weight in the younger Scouts eyes than us old fogeys.

Especially with all the changes that occurred in June 2015 and December 2016. Cub Scouts is a completely different program now.

I hope they still plan on having a wilderness area for Scouts.

Just wait. I see locker cubicles coming in the future.

None whatsoever. Instead of people with experience in the program they either look for warm bodies who get promoted, or folks with academic credentials. When I worked for national supply, my boss started off as a warm body, a sales clerk, and gradually moved up to manager. But the boss has 0 field experience in the program. When she hired me to be part of a trial program, it was because I had experience in the field and working summer camp. Every single proposal she questioned because she had no idea how summer camp operates. When I tried to explain why I suggested things, I was ignored. Best examples include shutting down the trading post during night time activities when no one shops and closing the trading post after the last camper left instead the scheduled staff departure. Try to explain the staff leave after the last campers do. This went on for two summers, until she was selected to work jamboree staff. She freaked out at the "long hours" she had to work, but had to remind her that she had the summer camp trading post open for longer hours, and that using sales stats, we could have cut 1/4 of the hours and still worked over 40 hours. As for academic credentials, I have been told that a national training director had 0 field experience, but a PhD in educational leadership. While there are a lot of good PhDs out there, there are also a lot of PhDs who have no real world experience, and their theories are not viable in the real world.

For the moment I am in. Middle Son is Life and Youngest is Second Class, and wants to be an Eagle after seeing Oldest Son's court of honor. Plus my Scouts need me., especially since we are a small troop and every active adult is needed. BUT, "always in motion, the future is." . IF BSA becomes "Family Scouting," we are gone. The last troop I was in turned into that, and it caused major problems that you can read about if your wish. Both sons involved in that troop were seriously affected by "Family Scouting," and I will not put the older two through that experience, nor have the youngest go through it. My family comes first. And I do not want my Scouts to have to deal with it. We had 1 Scout transfer over. The SM talked to me after my sons and their friend's SM Conferences, asking about the situation in the old troop, was it really as bad as they described it. And I said yes. "Family Scouting" is NOT Scouting.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-11-18/boy-scouts-aim-to-settle-95-000-abuse-claims-before-cash-crunch?utm_source=google&utm_medium=bd&cmpId=google

There is info out there. SCOUT'S HONOR by Patrick Boyle is one book. It is from 1994. so it is "old," but it covers the time period the lawsuit is coming from. That is the one I remember of the top of my head. I wish I had all my stuff from undergrad, cause I did a paper on this topic. Sadly the stuff I kept got thrown away after Katrina.