First Class Requirement 10

[Troop24]

Please let me apologize from the outset if this has already been discussed but I have been unable to find any reference to it.

 

I have a question about First Class requirement 10. It simply says to invite someone who is eligible to join or rejoin Scouting. Is it adding to the requirement to actually have the invitee attend a meeting? If the Scout explains that he has invited his friend to attend the troop meeting and that he explained to the new potential Scout the benefits of Scouting but the boy does not want to attend a meeting does that mean he did not invite him?

 

 

[dg98adams]

Most times I think the Scout had a friend show.....it's 50/50 on getting them later.

 

To get beyond the "verbal", the Scouts created a post card with a picture of a cool troop event and used that. If the invitee did not want to come after getting the card, trust the Scout to extend credit.

 

 

[OneHour]

I have so far viewed it as ... an invitation to join or rejoin scouting. That means it can be verbal, email, voicemail, phone, smoke signals, semaphore, texting, blackberrying, blueberrying, sign language, ... or any other means of communications. Outside of that ... whether the boy attends or not is not part of the requirement. Of course, I, as a scoutmaster, would love to see the potential scout there so that we can give our part of the message. This should not be a part of the requirement. It is additional requirement (to me). Several folks asked me, how would you know that the scout has done what he said that he had done? My answer ... a scout is trustworthy! Most of the times (so far) a new boys would show up.

 

1Hour

[Oak Tree]

We definitely do not require that the invitee shows up. I would say it is indeed adding to the requirement to require that. I normally ask the boy whom he invited. Quite honestly, I'm just as happy if the invitees don't show - we seem to be growing plenty fast as it is.

[SequoiaWDL]

This is the one requirement standing between my son and first class. He has invited some classmates from Jr High....with some responses ranging from a polite "no, I'm too busy' to replies of ridicule.

The troop guides have the expectation that he bring a potential scout to a meeting. How hard could it be? So does the scoutmaster. My son broached the subject on a backpacking with the CC, and he seemed to have a different view (I wasn't a witness, as I tend to lag behind). This is a sore spot for the boy, especially since he's been sitting on this for six months....

[evmori]

It would be adding to the requirements to require the invitee to attend a meeting.

[DeadSkunk]

A sugestion: Have your son email an invite to his friend. Ask him to print the response and submit it to his SM.

 

 

[bnelon44]

He just needs to invite him.

 

By the way, in 1911 there was a similar requirement and the Scout actually had to get someone to join the troop and you had to teach him the requirements for his Tenderfoot badge (in 1911, you weren't officially a Scout until you earned Tenderfoot).

[scoutingagain]

I agree that the invitee does not have to show up to a meeting or scout function to be considered invited and the mere invitation would be sufficient. That being said, in absence of the invitee showing up, I don't think it's unreasonable for an SM or other person authorized to approve of advancement to ask for a copy of an e-mail, letter or invitation documenting that a scout has invited a friend to join or rejoin.

 

SA

[sherminator505]

Ed is exactly right in stating that imposing the expectation that the invitee attend a meeting adds to the requirement.

 

Personally, I question the value of this requirement. I think that the selling points of the program being offered should be what draws boys in. To blatently rip off a movie line, "if you build it, they will come." If you have a properly functioning troop and your Scouts are having fun, then you will have boys wanting to join and participate. Otherwise not.

 

If you have Scouts who invite their friends to join and their friends are not coming in, that says more about the quality of the program than the sufficiency or persuasiveness of the invitation.

[evmori]

I agree that the invitee does not have to show up to a meeting or scout function to be considered invited and the mere invitation would be sufficient. That being said, in absence of the invitee showing up, I don't think it's unreasonable for an SM or other person authorized to approve of advancement to ask for a copy of an e-mail, letter or invitation documenting that a scout has invited a friend to join or rejoin.

 

That would be adding to the requirement. If a Scout says he invited his neighbor Billy the requirement should be signed off as completed.

 

I, too, question the value of this requirement the way it is currently written.

[Gunny2862]

While I see the possible value of requiring a youth to attend having received an invitation for the inviting Scout to receive credit...

One cannot control the actions of others. A boy might resort to offering a premium (bribing) a friend to attend in order to receive credit.

 

A more balanced prospective action might be to change the requirement for the Scout to invite x number of youths where x equals the number of contacts that on average yield a new Scout joining the Troop. This still puts an action that the Scout is in control of (issuing x number of invitations) while yielding a result National would favor (gaining new Scouts thru peer to peer recruiting). And doesn't require the Scout to be held to complete a Task most adults would have an issue with, actually getting someone else to attend a meeting.

 

In the same vein, on the adult side I propose that the youth requirement, if it required the invited to attend would pretty much mirror the following mythological adult example: New requirement to become a Scoutmaster, , "Invite a non-Scouting friend to become an Assistant Scoutmaster and both the prospective SM and ASM achieve Trained Status in each position before taking the Scoutmaster post." Watch Troops fold left and right.

[sherminator505]

I am still wondering why this is a requirement for advancement. If the end goal is to get more Scouts to join, then we already have a recognition for this. It is called the recruiter strip. Now, are we ready to require the Scouts to earn the recruiter strip in order to make First Class, or are we better served by making the recruiter recognition a bit more meaningful?

[Troop24]

Thanks for the responses everyone. Now I just have to figure out how to convince the SM that he is adding to the requirement. He will not accept anything short of meeting attendance for this. We are a pretty small troop and I think he his trying to bolster our numbers through youth led recruiting. But forcing their hands is not the way to achieve it. Like some here have pointed out we have to deliver a fun program that the boys want and they will encourage their friends to come visit all on their own.

[evmori]

Ask the SM to show you in writing where the Scout is required to do anything more than invite someone to visit his unit.