Merit Badges (old/new) with strange requirements/additions

[Horizon]

Yep - had to kill the chicken. That and the wild plant salad are two of my best memories from summer camp.

 

The idea of the chicken was to figure out how to kill it, clean it, and SAFELY cook it. Great exercise, even if it was not an actual requirement.

 

I would LOVE to do that with my current troop, but I would need to start with teaching them how to humanely kill a chicken.

 

Note - you can't hang em.

 

(Lord forgive me for the giggles I get when I recall this - it was cruel, but still makes me laugh).

[Stosh]

A 4-H gal raised a turkey for a project and when done, donated a 45# turkey to a troop in our council. It wouldn't fit into any oven so they built a tripod cooker at camp and barbequed it whole in this thing. Took all afternoon, and when all was said and done, the troop treated everyone in camp for dinner. It was excellent!

 

At a Civil War reenactment some civilian brought a half dozen chickens for the soldiers to forage over the weekend. In the Federal camp, most of us knew what to do with these live chickens, but those in the Rebel camp pretty much had a bad experience that lasted throughout the whole next week.

 

No many moderns know anything about food processing. Scouts seem to be the only program that makes the effort. Hunting and fishing isn't just for sport. You caught it, you clean it, you cook it.

 

Stosh

[OldGreyEagle]

I did the silent swim, not sure if it was for lifesaving or swimming, swimming I guess. Not sure what practical value being able to swim silently has unless, unless, nah, can't be that...

 

The floating in ones clothes was done in our "Class A" field uniform. Then again, back them it was cotton twill and as I remember it worked quite well.

[Kudu]

moosetracker writes:

 

Does anyone else have memories of merit badges that had (or have) requirements that made no sense?

 

How about the Camping Merit Badge alternatives to, um, CAMPING: designed so that Eagle Scouts need never have walked into the woods with a pack on their backs?

 

3. Take a bike trip of at least 15 miles or at least four hours.

4. Take a non-motorized trip on the water of at least four hours or 5 miles.

6. Rappel down a rappel route of 30 feet or more.

 

Try to imagine a world in which these alternatives to the backwoods were added to all of the "Turn Scouting Into School" Merit Badges like Personal Management:

 

"Track your actual income, expenses, and savings for 13 consecutive weeks, or ride your bike around for four hours."

 

"Explain to your merit badge counselor the concepts of simple interest and compound interest, or rappel 30 feet."

 

"Demonstrate to your merit badge counselor your understanding of time management, or float downstream for four hours eating cupcakes."

 

Yours at 300 feet,

 

Kudu

http://kudu.net

 

[moosetracker]

That would be odd Kudu. But you had me curious enough to look up the exact wording.. You kind of took it out of context. The whole requirement reads as follows.

 

 

9.Show experience in camping by doing the following:

 

a. Camp out a total of at least 20 days and 20 nights. The 20 days and 20 nights must be at a designated Scouting activity or event. Sleep each night under the sky or in a tent you have pitched. You may use a week of long-term camp toward this requirement. If the camp provides a tent that has already been pitched, you need not pitch your own tent.

 

b. On any of these camping experiences, you must do TWO of the following, only with proper preparation and under qualified supervision:

1. Hike up a mountain, gaining at least 1,000 vertical feet.

2. Backpack, snowshoe, or cross-country ski for at least four miles.

3. Take a bike trip of at least 15 miles or at least four hours.

4. Take a non-motorized trip on the water of at least four hours or 5 miles.

5. Plan and carry out an overnight snow camping experience.

6. Rappel down a rappel route of 30 feet or more.

c. Perform a conservation project approved by the landowner or land managing agency.

 

 

So this is not an either/or so that they can replace camping, this is a while camping you need to do two from this list. Does it mean they can get away with car camping "YES".. Can they use cabin camping.. "NO"..

 

But most of the ones you did not find offensive

 

1. Hike up a mountain, gaining at least 1,000 vertical feet.

2. Backpack, snowshoe, or cross-country ski for at least four miles.

5. Plan and carry out an overnight snow camping experience.

 

Could be done with car-style camping rather then backpack-style camping with a day hike/snowshoe/cross country.. The Snow camping whether car camping or backpacking means planning, prep-work, and some camping skill though. The only one that is Backpack is if they choose one of the 3 options in option #2.. "Backpack"..

 

That changes your examples to..

 

"Track your actual income, expenses, and savings for 13 consecutive weeks, while rideing your bike around for four hours."

 

"Explain to your merit badge counselor the concepts of simple interest and compound interest, while rappeling 30 feet."

 

"Demonstrate to your merit badge counselor your understanding of time management, while floating downstream for four hours eating cupcakes."

 

Time management While the floating & cupcake eatting is very hard to do.. You must make sure you don't run out of cupcakes before you finish you floating trip!..(This message has been edited by moosetracker)

[Kudu]

moosetracker writes:

 

You kind of took it out of context.

 

No, the "context" to which I refer is Baden-Powell's Boy Scout program.

 

To his understanding of Scouting, NONE of our Camping Merit Badge "camping" requirements would count as "camping" for the purposes of what we Americans call "advancement."

 

In fact he defines organized summer camps ("canvas towns") as the very opposite of Scouting.

 

moosetracker writes:

 

Could be done with car-style camping rather then backpack-style camping

 

Exactly: "While on a Webelos III campout, drive to a mall and repel 30 feet down a climbing wall" (or drive to a 1,000 foot hill and climb it). But I wonder how many malls allow cupcakes to just repel down without first climbing up the wall.

 

What we refer to as "car-camping" is known in Baden-Powell's program "static camping," where Patrols set up 300 feet apart so as to teach younger Scouts the skills they will need to participate in what Bill Hillcourt called a "Real" Patrol.

 

But the only "nights of camping" that count as "camping" in Baden-Powell's program are Real Patrol outings.

 

moosetracker writes:

 

The only one that is Backpack is if they choose one of the 3 options in option #2.. "Backpack."

 

My point exactly. To Baden-Powell, "Scouting" is measured by backwoods "Journeys" and "Expeditions" starting with a 15 mile Journey for First Class, 20 for Bushman's Cord, and a 50 mile Expedition (200 by horseback) for King's Scout.

 

See:

 

http://inquiry.net/advancement/traditional/journey_requirements.htm

 

That is what "Scouting" is: "scouting" through the backwoods.

 

Mind you, these are unsupervised Journeys before the invention of backpack waist straps and lightweight equipment.

 

moosetracker writes:

 

But most of the ones you did not find offensive

 

Oh? I find them all "offensive," including the 4 mile Wolf Cub trip from which Camping Merit Badge is designed to spare our tender-footed Eagle Scouts.

 

So Camping Merit Badge does not take the "outing" out of Scouting, but (by Baden-Powell's standards) it does take the "scouting" out of Scouting.

 

When I gain a hundred pounds and get paid a million dollars a year to be Chief Scout Executive, I promise to treat the schoolwork Merit Badges (all of which drive red-blooded American boys away from Scouting) with the same contempt with which we now treat "camping" in Camping Merit Badge:

 

"Demonstrate to your merit badge counselor your understanding of time management, OR float downstream for four hours eating cupcakes."

 

Yours at 300 feet,

 

Kudu

http://kudu.net

 

[Oak Tree]

Ok, I looked over my dad's handbook, and there are a lot of things I'd personally find very strange to have in today's program.

 

Just the names of the badges sound strange for some of these. It's not so much unnecessary, just very different.

 

Automobiling: Scout has to pass a driving test.

Corn Farming: Grow a patch of corn of not less than 300 square feet.

Farm Home And Its Planning: present a drawing plan of sewage disposal for a country home.

Farm Mechanics: Demonstrate how to adjust and actually operate one or more of the following farm machines: [7 choices] as used on the Scout's home farm. (pretty much requires the Scout to have a farm.)

Farm Records and Bookkeeping: 3. Make out a bill of sale for the following to Jones Produce Company, Chicago, Illinois. ... 1 Cockerel for breeding purposes...

6. Explain what records are needed in making out an income tax report for his State or Federal Income Tax.

Fruit Culture:3. Prepare and demonstrate how to use the following apple or other fruit tree sprays: (a) dormant spray; (b) bud spray; © calyx spray.

Pigeon Raising: 1. (a) House at least two flock units (viz., pairs of pigeons), ...

 

Here's killing a chicken...

Poultry Keeping: 2. Understand, through experience, rearing, feeding, killing and dressing birds for market.

 

Taxidermy: 3. (a) Present a satisfactory specimen of a bird or small mammal mounted by himself

Zoology: 5. (a) Keep a young animal such as a squirrel...for at least three months.

 

As for the zealous addition of requirements in today's list, I'm going to go with the overkill of safety requirements. Anything that's already required for First Class doesn't need to be repeated in merit badges, and these are mostly recent additions.

 

Some safety requirements are fine, when they are specific to the badge -

Radio - Explain the safety precautions for working with radio gear, including the concept of grounding for direct current circuits, power outlets, and antenna systems.

 

But so many just seem like some zealot with a word processor did a lot of cutting and pasting:

 

Basketry: 1. Describe precautions you should take to safely use basketry tools and materials.

Astronomy: Describe the proper clothing for safely making observations in cold weather. Tell how to safely observe the Moon. Explain first aid for injuries or illnesses, such as heat and cold reactions, dehydration, bites and stings, and damage to your eyes that could occur during observation.

Rowing: Show that you know first aid for and how to prevent injuries or illnesses that could occur while rowing, including cold and heat reactions, dehydration, contusions, lacerations, and blisters

Golf: Show that you know first aid for injuries or illnesses that could occur while golfing, including heat reactions, dehydration, blisters, sprains, and strains.

Hiking: Show that you know first aid for injuries or illnesses that could occur while hiking, including hypothermia, heatstroke, heat exhaustion, frostbite, dehydration, sunburn, sprained ankle, insect stings, tick bites, snakebite, blisters, hyperventilation, and altitude sickness.

Fishing: Discuss the prevention of and treatment for the following health concerns that could occur while fishing, including cuts, scratches, puncture wounds, insect bites, hypothermia, dehydration, heat exhaustion, heatstroke, and sunburn.

Geocaching: Discuss first aid and prevention for the types of injuries or illnesses that could occur while participating in geocaching activities, including cuts, scrapes, snakebite, insect stings, tick bites, exposure to poisonous plants, heat and cold reactions (sunburn, heatstroke, heat exhaustion, hypothermia), and dehydration.

Canoeing: Show that you know first aid for injuries or illnesses that could occur while canoeing, including hypothermia, heatstroke, heat exhaustion, dehydration, sunburn, insect stings, tick bites, blisters, and hyperventilation.

Small-boat sailing: Explain first aid for injuries or illnesses that could occur while small-boat sailing, including hypothermia, dehydration, heat reactions, motion sickness, cuts, scratches, abrasions, contusions, puncture wounds, and blisters

Motorboating: Explain first aid for injuries that could occur while motorboating, including hypothermia, heat reactions, dehydration, motion sickness, insect stings, tick bites, and blisters.

 

etc.

 

Also the addition of "with your parent's permission" in requirements - aren't all of the badges done with your parent's permission?

Art: 4. With your parent's permission, visit a museum

Geocaching: With your parent's permission, go to www.geocaching.com.

Journalism: Read (with your parents permission) an online news source [it's very odd here about which things they don't say this for - visit a television station, watch a national news broadcast, talk to a newspaper executive - and the things they do state you need your parent's permission for - read an autobiography, anything on-line.]

Pottery: With your parent's permission, do ONE of the following: (a) Visit the kiln yard at a local college © Using resources from the library, magazines, the Internet (with your parent's permission), [yep, twice in one requirement]

Composite Materials: With your parent's permission and your counselor's approval do ONE of the following: Visit a company that manufactures or repairs products made with composites.

Coin Collecting: With your parent's permission, attend a coin show or coin club meeting

 

Someone is clearly terrified of kids going on the internet without their parent's permission. Also, visiting museums. Other uses don't follow quite the same obvious pattern - it could be a pretty odd list of what things you can do without your parent's permission, and which ones require it.

[HerpetologyScout]

Yes, but when you are splashing around inflating your clothes, what do you do with the chicken?

 

LOL!

I'm glad I wasn't drinking milk when I read that!

 

-=-

 

I use to be a lifeguard and in lifeguard training, we had to do it as well, sans training. The scenarios where it actually could come in useful are rare, in most cases when you fall in water fully clothed, you want to strip and get to shore. I could see it being useful if, say, you were taking a fairy ride to commute across a body of water and something happened.

[HerpetologyScout]

Geocaching: Discuss first aid and prevention for the types of injuries or illnesses that could occur while participating in geocaching activities, including cuts, scrapes, snakebite, insect stings, tick bites, exposure to poisonous plants, heat and cold reactions (sunburn, heatstroke, heat exhaustion, hypothermia), and dehydration.

 

I do not geocache but I have accidentally found several geocaches (initially as a muggle) while looking for Reptiles and Amphibians. Geocachers tend to hide them, and the places they hide them are often homes to rattlesnakes, skunks, bats, etc. so I can understand the emphasis on safety.

[NC Scouter]

I am deeply concerned about the lack of a first aid element among the requirements for the Reading merit badge. Paper cuts can be nasty, and having picked up my sons' school backpacks I know that muscle strain could be an issue, not to mention eye strain ... The list goes on.

 

And Scholarship ..., well never mind; the risks of that badge deserve their own thread.

[desertrat77]

NC, you raise good points, these issues are alarming. Perhaps National can field computer based training modules, and require completion before any scout attempts reading, scholarship, and the citizenships...especially the dreaded 500 word essay for environmental science. Perhaps it deserves its own CBT.

[TAHAWK]

The first aid requirement for Wilderness Survival (and many other MB's) is fairly strange. Read it carefully. It unambiguously requires the candidate to "show" first aid for(and how to prevent) injuries or illnesses "that could occur in backcountry settings." Examples follow, but examples do not limit the generality of the requirement. Passing that requirement should only take 100's of hours. Let's see, how to prevent and give first aid for Bubonic Plague? (Which occurs in the backcountry of the U.S.) Hantavirus? (ditto) Gun shot? (ditto) Now tell me each candidate passes the same requirements.

 

Requiring a candidate for that same merit badge to recite survival priorities in a pre-determined order is entirely strange. (Let's see. The boat is sinking. Start a fire and gather water.) The priority will be set by the situation.

 

As for the chicken caper, the Wilderness Survival Merit Badge was once a primitive living MB authored by the leading U.S. expert in that sort of "survival," Larry Dean Olsen. The candidate was required to demonstrate "a knowledge" of how to use animals for supplies. "The meat is the part most commonly used." "While still warm, the stomach and intestines and bladder should be cleaned of their contents, leaving only the outer wall. This can then be used as a water bag of food-storage pouch." Four pages dealt with traps and snares. So killing, processing, and consuming a chicken was not even slightly strange.

[AK-Eagle]

Just last night we had a Swimming MB session in the local pool. I watched one of the youngest scouts as he struggled his way through clothes inflation his face clearly showing the phases he passed through. Excitement in trying something totally new, concern/terror that he might not be able to do it, surprise wow it works, and finally triumph as he completed the swim.

[desertrat77]

AK-Eagle, that's a great story, thanks for sharing it. The scout will never forget.

[clemlaw]

No chickens were harmed when I got Wilderness Survival in about 1975, but at least one cow was greatly inconvenienced. I got a lump of ground beef, which I believe was on the menu back at camp if I had been enjoying the regular menu that night. Nobody asked how you would find hamburger in the wilderness. It was assumed that the ground beef was taking the place of the animal that we would catch in our snare. As I recall, I made kind of a grill with green sticks and held that over the fire.

 

The live chicken would have added an interesting twist. But it's not really adding to the requirements, any more than being required to make a meal of ground beef isn't adding to the requirements. That's just the material that happened to be provided to do the requirement.

 

As for the "silent swim", I did ask my MBC what the practical application of this was. He said, very earnestly, that the only one he could think of was "escaping from enemy prison camp during time of war." I had independently come to the same conclusion before I asked him.

 

IIRC, this was the only time that the Dog Paddle was an approved stroke, since it can be done relatively quietly.