New Definition of "ACTIVE"

[evmori]

Eagle732,

 

A Scoutmaster Conference is not a pass/fail requirement. It is a "participate in" requirement. Have one and you have to sign it off as completed.

 

And remember, it's Scout Spirit in his "everyday life" which includes Scouting but isn't limited to Scouting. You would be remiss if you didn't delve into what this Scout was doing while he wasn't at meetings and campouts. For all you know, he has been the equipment manager for a wheelchair basketball youth team which is Scout Spirit.

[Venividi]

"If you want to keep your older Scouts participation up to your standard, give them a program they WANT to participate in. "

 

Thus if the program the boys plan is one that some of the scouts do not want to participate in, lets take that planning away from them so we can give the non particpating scouts a program that they want to participate in.

 

I respectively suggest that sometimes people's interests change over time. And people choose to do other things with their time in keeping with their current interests. Just because some scouts choose not to participate does not mean that there is a poor program; they may no longer be interested in camping/backpacking/etc., or in leading others or planning in those endevours.

 

Lets congratulate those folks and wish them well in their new found love of theater/football/computer club/key club/hospital aide/ or wherever the new interest happens to be. And let them know that if they are still interested in scouting activities, and want to help plan activities that they are interested in, they are welcome back.

 

 

 

 

[Beavah]

If you want to keep your older Scouts participation up to your standard, give them a program they WANT to participate in.

 

Yah, give 'em a place where they can hang out, shoot da breeze, don't have to do any work or "babysit" younger lads, where they can bully a kid here and there. No commitment, no honor, no growth, but yeh get a really big award and party at the end, and everybody talks about what a great example of American Youth you are. Sounds about right.

 

All those pesky schools and sports and bands and clubs all expect lads to actually show up for the hard work of practice before they're even allowed to participate, let alone earn awards. They must not have any older boys, because havin' requirements is such an awful thing. Da only reason guys play basketball on the team is because they're forced to by big, mean, ugly adults. They should learn from us and give out Varsity Letters and Diplomas if a boy just registered for the club, and promised to do his homework but had other things to do and skipped out. That should help their membership numbers out, eh? Ours are doin' so well, after all.

 

The kinds of programs boys want to participate in are the kinds of programs that have high expectations, where they work hard, where they get good at stuff, where they can trust the members of the team to also be good at stuff. Where they are challenged, where they overcome, where they really achieve, and where only real achievement is honored.

 

It's just that showing commitment, working hard, those aren't natural things for lads. They have to be taught and learned, eh? We'd all like to be the stars of the game without goin' to practice, to be Honored by the Court without needin' to camp in the rain or really commit to leading a patrol. A smart lad will scam it if the adults in da program don't have enough vision or guts to actually teach him real values.

 

Shame on us if we're not teachin' 'em that commitment and service really matter.

 

Beavah

 

[Eagle92]

Beav,

AMEN!

[BrentAllen]

I, too, agree completely with Beavah.

 

I guess I missed the part of the training on how to deliver the program to a Scout you only see once a year. What do they call that - the Absentee Method? I don't think I want to take that training.

[BrentAllen]

Eagle732,

You may just have to suck it up and pass that one. I can offer you a suggestion that might help keep it from happening again.

 

In our Troop, if a Scout is going to miss a meeting or campout, he is required to let his PL know (a Scout is courteous). If he does miss a meeting without notifying his leader, the PL is required to call him and let him know he was missed, and ask him to please make sure he calls if he will be absent. At Troop formation for meetings, our Scribe records attendance and results of a quick uniform inspection, and gives me the tally sheet. If a Scout misses 4 meetings in a row without notifying his leader, he gets a call from me, the SM (haven't had to do this yet). I would call to find out what is going on with the Scout, why he is missing meetings, why he isn't calling his leader. He could have a very legitimate reason for missing meetings. If he doesn't, he will know by the end of that conversation that he needs to get his act together if he is going to be a member of our Troop. If that went on for another 4 weeks, I would most likely remove him from the charter - send him a letter explaining our action and refunding a pro-rated portion of his national dues.

 

Let me contrast that with a Scout who comes to me and says he is on a team or part of a production that has practices on the same night as our meetings, and that he won't be able to make Scouts for 3 months. I have no problem with that, other than he won't be able to hold a POR during that absence and we wouldn't count the time absent towards a rank requirement. I would wish him well in that effort, and welcome him back when he returns. I think that is fair.

[Scoutfish]

Brent, that's actually a great idea! You are setting te terms for holding, maintaining, and getting credit for aPOR, and without ignoring any given definition ( and argument) of active.

 

Sounds like you have a job description for a POR.

[Source]

SO by this new definition if a Life Scout is going to school full time and working 30 hours a week and can not make the meetings or most activities, if he stays in contact with the Unit Leader, then the SM can NOT turn him down for Eagle for not being active in his troop ? Correct ?

[Eagle92]

Yep. Scout has to call every 3 months. If no calls form the scout, then SM calls, gives him info on upcomign activities, and gives him 6 months to communicate back to SM. After that then he can be dropped.

[BrentAllen]

Source,

That Life Scout would have a hard time making Eagle in our Troop, assuming he hadn't already filled his POR requirement. We don't just give out PORs to Scouts who need one to fill a requirement, they go to the best Scout able to do the job. If a Scout misses most meetings and outings, why would the SPL be interested in asking him to help run the Troop? If there is a true hardship issue, I can work with him to find a solution. Short of that, if the Scout never shows up, none of the other boys are going to be interested in electing him PL, or have him fill any other POR.

[Source]

We are not talking about POR, his POR has been done LONG ago, he has been a life Scout for several years, infact he has gone well above and beyond until the last year or so, all he had left where a couple merit badges and his project. He is now done EVERYTHING, BUT it seems the BE ACTIVE IN YOUR TROOP is biting him on the rear now.(This message has been edited by source)

[nolesrule]

You have to be active for 6 months while a Life Scout. I would guess that if he was active while he held his POR, he was active for at least 6 months since his Life Board of Review. There's nothing in the wording of the requirement specifying it has to be the most recent 6 months or any other 6 months.

 

So if he's still registered with the troop, he's still eligible to work on advancements.

 

I was a Life Scout for slightly more than 5 years. I completed the Active requirement for Eagle and got it signed off in my handbook book 4.5 years before my Eagle Board of Review.

[Eagle92]

Like NOLESRULE, I too was one of those who spent more time as a Life scout than all other ranks combined. The active requirement can be met at ANY point during his time as a Life Scout, not six months prior to the EBOR.

 

My troop was very good and understood us older scouts, and I guess that's why we had a very good Leadership Corps/Venture Crew, now called patrol, when I was a youth and adult in the troop. The troop knew that school and in some cases work needed to come before Scouting, and worked with the older guys. We did a few activities geared towards the older scouts, and instilled in the older guys that yes they have a duty to teach and mentor the younger guys just like you were taught by the older guys.

 

What's interesting is that a few of us who had challenges our Sr. year, usually work related, had no problems being active once we got to college. heck I don't think I missed any meetings or trips when I was in college wiht the troop, save when I worked Summer Camp.

[upnorthmn]

I salute our Mormon overlords. No one seems to notice or care about their takeover, the 'I painted a curb/room or laid out a park bench' feeble Eagle projects. Why my own very Lutheran grandmother was baptised a Mormon after her death- As were victims of the holocaust, as well as Hitler himself? That's another intersting way of fudging the numbers.

 

www.mrm.org/prominent-people-baptized-by-proxy

[diogenes]

The forum for trolls is called "Issues and Politics". Go over there if you want to try to pick a fight. Your post has nothing to do with this thread.