David CO

I don't mind being on the news. I have held public office, so I have been in the newspapers plenty of times. It doesn't scare me. I do, however, mind being misquoted or having my position mischaracterized by a politically biased or sensationalistic press. I would never throw an employee or volunteer under the bus just to avoid the glare of the press. Never.

I don't think so. Except for the potential privacy issue, I think this whole thing is just plain silly. We move kids from den to den, and patrol to patrol, all the time. It's like a teacher moving a kids desk or a principal changing a kid's classroom. It is no big deal.

This was very slanted reporting. I think the most important question is whether or not cameras and filming were allowed at the event. Is this really about a cub scout's pointed questions, or is it about a mother's unauthorized filming of a cub scout event and posting it online? I would have no problem with a unit booting a family for violating their policy on photographic and video privacy.

It sounds like you not only disagree with the adult leaders, you also disagree with the patrol leaders and most of the scouts. You have become the odd man out.

I strongly disagree. It sounds to me like the adult leader did exactly what he is supposed to do. Brian didn't say that the adult scout leader interfered during the activity. He said that the scout leader talked to him that night. Brian didn't actually answer the question, did he? My impression is that the PL was there. PL may have been one of the boys playing in the field. Brian also doesn't tell us if the adult scout leaders had observed his handling of the matter, or if they were acting on second hand information. I wasn't there, but I am inclined to think that they would not have allowed the boys to build and operate a catapult without adult supervision. I certainly wouldn't. Brian is a 15 year old kid. If his adult leaders think he mishandled the situation, my suggestion for Brian would be to listen to them and heed their advice.

This topic sounds very familiar for some reason.

I agree. I wasn't thinking of the movie portrayals. I was talking about the biblical Jesus who hiked across deserts, climbed mountains, and sailed a boat in a raging storm. I don't like to interject religion into most scouting discussions, but my unit has a very clear mission statement which explicitly identifies Jesus as the inspiration and primary role model for our scouting program. He is our ideal of manhood and manliness.

I see Jesus as the roll model for men and manly behavior.

No, if anything, I am guilty of understatement.

This is not nearly so obvious to those of us on the losing side. It is a lot like holding someone up at gun point and then asking them to politely disagree on who owns the contents of their wallet. I do agree that we should not use foul or profane language.

Is it possible to remove the old chinking on one side only? I helped replace the chinking on a few log cabins at our church camp. There was no separate outside and inside chinking. Like the logs themselves, the chinking went all the way from the outside surface through to the inside surface. I wouldn't have thought it even possible to remove and replace just the old chinking on one side of the cabin without damaging the rest of it. We knocked out and replaced all of the old chinking. If I were the beneficiary, I too would have assumed they were replacing all of the chinking. I suggest that the scout go back and complete the job to the beneficiary's satisfaction.

Is that a BSA requirement?

Are you talking about the stuff we initial in the handbook?

I am not aware of any waiting period in the merit badge requirements. We sign off right away.

The -1 was a mistake. Sorry. You are absolutely right. I wasn't suggesting that leaders should disregard the advancement standards. There is no rule saying that scouts must earn their eagle in middle school. If they are experiencing problems with retaining info, they can simply wait a year or two, and put off advancement until they grow out of it. Our job as scout leaders is to reassure the boys that they will grow out of it.

Nope. Retention has nothing to do with caring. Kids who are experiencing retention difficulties are just as likely to forget things that they care about, even in their favorite activities, like scouting and sports. It drives coaches nuts. This is why some exceptional athletes, like Michael Jordan, could do poorly as underclassmen and then blossom by senior year.

You are talking as if you think they have a choice in the matter.

The behaviors that some people will associate as immature, are actually an indication of budding maturity. Lack of retention is one of them. Children start puberty earlier than they did 50 or 100 years ago. Behaviors that are associated with stages in puberty, like retention difficulties, which used to be seen mostly in freshmen and sophomores in high school, are now being displayed in middle school. When I was a kid, it was the underclassmen in high school who were the airheads. People told jokes about it. Kids usually grew out of it by junior year. When you have been in this game for a while, you come to understand that not all behaviors in children are a matter of personal choice.

I had to roll my eyes during the part where he was talking about the unanimous decision. Outside of Cuba, where does anybody see a unanimous decision.

I'm a middle school teacher. Welcome to my world.

I actually knew that interesting tidbit of information. One of my college textbooks on Physical Education described the differences in attitudes and customs in PE classes around the world. That was 40 years ago, so I didn't know that this is still a current practice. No, we don't do that.

Welcome to the former scouter club. I stepped down this past summer, and I don't regret it one bit. It was time. In a few months, you will probably be thinking less and less about the reasons you stepped down. They won't matter anymore. Enjoy the extra time and have a good life.

True. Nobody is forcing CO's to recharter. Nobody is forcing members to re-register. Nobody is forcing donors to donate.

There is a big difference between the scouting programs in England and those in the United States. We have Chartered Organizations, they don't. A Chartered Organization in the United States can run an in-house co-ed youth program all by themselves. Many CO's already do have other co-ed youth programs. Mine does. Boy Scouting was a unique program. The Boy Scout program was attractive to the CO's because it was unique. It wasn't something the CO's could easily duplicate on their own. My CO already has a co-ed youth group. We don't need co-ed scouting. My CO already has a family ministry. We don't need family camping through scouting. Scouting is becoming a less unique organization with little to offer the CO's except a duplication of the in-house programs many of them already have. Yes, I have seen the photos of co-ed scout groups in England having fun in their activities. They look just like the photos I have of our youth group and family ministry having fun in their activities. I don't need scouting to duplicate that.

There is a point when this culture of total inclusiveness becomes a conduit for outright bigotry. We are there.