New Rank Requirements

[mdutch]

Gern,

Not necessarily the case. There are several scouts/former scouts in my troop who do drugs. Many who do also drop out after they get to 1st class or so, thats probably why national decided it needed to be tackled early, and not stick it in some merit badge somewhere that the scout may never do.

Many scouts have problems that doing these rank requirements will really help. I just don't get what everybody's big problem with these requirements is.

[GernBlansten]

The problem is these requirements have nothing to do with rank. They might be very valuable and worthy but should not be tied to advancement. We might want our scouts to do them. Figure out another way to force compliance. Leave ranks to be what they were intended to be, a measure of the scout's journey.

[Aquila calva]

This is the first I am hearing about these new requirements. I think these are GREAT ideas. It is about time! There also need to be corresponding new requirements in the Cub Scout program. And the requirements should include a discussion of what abuse is, not just bullying. According to the Parents Guide in the front of the Scout book (page 6 in the 2005 printing) most sexual abuse occurs between the ages of 7 and 13. We need to start dealing with this at the Cub Scout age.

 

These requirements need to be part of the scouting program from the get-go. The information in the Parent Guide is very good, but it needs to be integrated into the whole program. These new requirements are a step in the right direction.

 

We need to help our children understand ever more clearly what it means to be friendly, courteous and kind.

 

Bravo, Boy Scouts!

 

___________________________________________

 

OK, now I will quibble about one thing. This new first class requirement should be included as requirement number 10 (not 12). The current number 10 should be number 11 and the current number 11 should be number 12, etc. And I hope that whoever is writing these also includes in the book text some clear and concise explanations of these new requirements so all Scouts, Parents and Adult Leaders will be able to talk about these things using the same language.

 

[Vicki]

I don't have a problem with these requirements either, actually. But then, I think there's a lot of adults out there who don't realize that the bullying (along with porn and all the other garbage out there) can now be brought right into your home and have an enormous, world-wide, reach. In a suburb of St. Louis recently, a girl (who admittedly had problems with clinical depression) committed suicide after a neighbor's child AND HER MOTHER started a MySpace hoax, creating a fictional boy named Josh who gained Megan's confidence, then turned cruel. In another case, a "friend" got the password to a Facebook page and changed everything on it. Then there's the well-known case of a "friend" who texted a lie that a girl had an STD which ended up displayed on the Jumbotron at a professional football game.

 

The more ways a kid hears about this and learns to recognize it, the better. As a parent, I have sometimes felt all alone out there, warning my guys. If they hear about it at church, at scouts, at school, etc., so much the better. If these new requirements help a scout leader get over his/her luddite tendencies and understand the world our kids live in a little better, great. The neighborhood bully is a lot bigger, nastier, and more dangerous than he used to be, largely because the neighborhood is a lot bigger, nastier, and more dangerous than it used to be. Our principles still apply, but we need to apply them to this new reality.

 

Vicki

[John-in-KC]

Gern,

 

1)They have everything to do with the mission and vision of the Boy Scouts of America.

 

2) Yes, EagleSon doesn't do drugs, but I had to have a long heart to heart talk with him a couple of years ago about porn. When he was pre-Cub and Cub age, the opening of casinos in our area, and all the colorful lights, made them attractive places to be. Temptations come from all manner of angles.

 

3) If we don't talk about these things, who will? Are we only to serve the Scout who makes the upper ranks, or do we try to make a difference in that Tenderfoot before he stops coming forever? I submit the latter.

 

If we're only here to serve the young people who are going for S-L-E, then I think we need to re-look the program overall.

 

My thoughts.

[Aquila calva]

"help a scout leader get over his/her luddite tendencies and understand the world our kids live in"

 

How observant! I'll second that motion even if it is a little on the "sharp" side.

[Vicki]

Aquila, I thought about that after I posted it and decided not to edit. Perhaps I should have, I'll admit, it's a little bit of a soapbox of mine (OK, it's a really TALL soapbox of mine) and sharp comments do nothing to persuade.

 

But the number of my well-meaning fellow Scouters who go on and on about the wonders of the outdoors (and I AGREE with them), but dismiss technology with a wave and a, "oh, that electronic stuff (not the word used), it's not like when I WAS A BOY" just make me sigh.

 

Vicki

[Scouter&mom]

I think adding them in as rank requirements will get the info out to the boys earlier. Those that need the info are more likely to get it this way, than in some "boring" required merit badge. Those boys that are being bullied may not stick around to do the merit badge. Internet bullying is not something that just occurs with "at risk" kids. My own son was very upset and concerned that others would see, when the teenage girl next door caught him carrying the garbage out in his PJ pants, took a picture and put it on her myspace page. These pants are loose and baggy and show less than his gym shorts and no more than jeans, but he was upset over her posting his picture in PJ pants and no shirt.

 

My first question was "WHERE CAN WE FIND THE BSA OFFICIAL ANSWERS?" What are "THE three R's?" I know lots of words that start with R that could apply to personal safety and I know more than three things you shouldn't do on the internet. Requirements book (when the new one comes out) will only list what the requirements are. New Handbook is not scheduled out for a long time.

[Aquila calva]

Scouting Youth Protection resources are all listed here:

 

http://www.scouting.org/pubs/ypt/resources.html

 

An explanation of the Three Rs of Youth Protection can be found in the front of every newly-purchased Boy Scout book. This is in an attachment to the scout book and is called How to Protect Your Children From Child Abuse: A Parents Guide.

 

The big problem is that this removable attachment is too often taken out and easily lost.

 

The Three Rs are Recognize, Resist and Report. These are used as they relate to various forms of abuse, but they also work when trying to deal with bullying behavior. I am convinced that many Americans just dont know what bullying behavior is. What starts out as fun and games sometimes turn quite nasty. A lot of us just dont Recognize it, much less Resist and Report it.

 

Here is a link to the version for Boy Scouts in English (this is also in the list at the link above):

 

http://www.scouting.org/pubs/ypt/pdf/46-015.pdf

 

 

[Scouter&mom]

Aquila,

Thanks for the source. I'll admit that I have no clue where the booklet from my son's Handbook is.. and that it has been years since I even looked at it. Yes, I keep my YPT course current.. and I have looked at the booklet in the Tiger book briefly last year, and the one in the Webelos book the year before.. I am aware of bullying and abuse and my son and I have had several discussions relating to both.. just not connected to reading his handbook.

 

 

[Gold Winger]

Actually, it isn't that much different than when I was a boy (1960s).

 

> You don't tell secrets to people that you don't know

> You don't get into cars with strangers

> You don't take candy from strangers

 

People have been writing rude things on bathroom walls for decades and hanging up embarassing photos of people on school walls ever since Eastman invented the Brownie camera.

 

With requirements like this, I can see 1st Class going the way that thing have gone with GSUSA. Boys will say, "I thought that we were going to go camping but instead all I get are 'conversations' with my parents about bullys, internet safety, girls. This is boring, I'd rather play video games."

 

[Aquila calva]

The issues may not be all that different than they were in the 60s (and before) but our UNDERSTANDING of the issues is quite different. We now know at least a couple of things about abuse that we didnt know before (or that we just didnt want to admit before). These are outlined in The Parents Guide at the beginning of the Boy Scout book. Please, EVERYONE, read it again, and again and again.

 

THIS ISNT ABOUT STRANGERS! Its about people we KNOW and about people our CHILDREN know.

 

Children are most likely to be molested by someone they know and trust

 

Eighty to 90 percent of sexually abused boys are molested by acquaintances who are nonfamily members.

 

These statements are found on page six of The Parents Guide found in the front of every Boy Scout Handbook under the heading Sexual Abuse.

 

I repeatThese new requirements are GREAT!!! And it is about time!! They are steps in the right direction.

 

And, yes, I would rather be taking a hike with the troop than talking about these issues!!!! And, yes, I grew up in the 60s, too. I became a Boy Scout in November, 1961. And I like to think that I know more now than I did back then.

 

[OldGreyEagle]

Heck, maybe if people had talled more about sexual abuse in the 60's, I would have reported the priest who molested me and my brother and we could have stopped him rather than allowing him to continue screwing up children's lives

[Gold Winger]

Fine but it shouldn't be tied to advancement which is supposed to be skill related.

 

In any case, the modern way of dealing with bullies is anti-advancement. Scouting skills are about dealing with problems and solving them on your own. Now, the appropriate way to deal with a bully is to run to momma and hide behind her which only makes the problem worse.

 

I know a woman who has been raising her grandson. The problem is that she is worse than any two mothers put together. In middle school, the boy was picked on by EVERYONE. Boy, girls, nerds, thugs, it didn't matter. Why? Gramma set him up. She talked to him in the third person when he was in the eighth grade. "Now, don't be late because Memaw is picking you up after school." At camp it was, "if you have to go pottty at night, come get Memaw so you won't be afraid." I'd see them at the pool and she'd hover wherever he happened to be swimming. He'd do a lap and she'd talk to him like he was four. "Good boy! Memaw is so proud of you, swimming all that distance." OF COURSE HE GOT PICKED ON.

[Vicki]

Interesting, GW. First it's "going the way of the GSUSA," then it's "running to momma and hide behind her." I've known at least as many fathers who helicoptered as mothers (and I guarantee you neither my father nor my mother helicopter over either of my sons - my DH is the one who asked my folks not to allow my sons to climb too high in the trees in their back yard after he saw a picture of them in aforementioned trees - I told him he had to ask, I wasn't having anything to do with it).

 

Looking at the insert in my Scout handbook, it doesn't specify which parent, it just says "A child must feel comfortable telling his parent" - a thread that runs through the material.

 

Vicki