Immediate Recognition or wait for the paperwork?

[JMHawkins]

There can be a certain virtue made out of the scout not getting the badge that same night. The recognition process can be drawn out and built upon. The night (or day, could be at a campout, right?) he earns it, he gets a hearty verbal congratulations, hand shake, and recognition during closing ceremonies.

 

"Congratulations to Joe, he passed is Board of Review for 2nd Class tonight. Good job Joe, and to the rest of the Cobra patrol as well." Big round of applause for Joe.

 

One or two weeks later, at closing ceremonies, the SM or SPL calls Joe up to recognize him again and hand him his rank badge.

 

"Last week, Joe finished all his requirements for 2nd Class. Joe, here's your rank badge, wear it with pride, you've earned it." Another round of applause for Joe.

 

Then at the next CoH, Joe gets recognized yet again for his achievement. Rank achievements ought to be big deals, so making a huge fuss about them is appropriate.

 

 

[Beavah]

So a Scout is Trustworthy unless he wants something right away, then he cheats and lies to get a badge for someone under false pretenses.

 

Well, if yeh don't like da replacement badge thing, there's always just "please give us your old badges" or good ol' EBay to pick up the initial stash.

 

But if yeh feel that national's need for paperwork is more important than a boy's need for recognition (and his right to wear his proper badge of rank at the next event for all to see), then I can't help yeh. Like Eagle92, my experience with da ScoutNet records across multiple councils is that they've got an average failure rate of well over 10% when it comes to showin' proper advancement records for boys, even when the paperwork is correct and timely.

 

So it just doesn't seem like a priority for most councils or national's IT people either, eh? And that's as it should be. Keep da focus on the stuff that really matters to the boys. That's what being Trustworthy really means.

 

Beavah

 

[BSA24]

> the advancement chair (the arbiter of "new rules") tells Scouts,

> at a Board of Review, "okay,... from here on out you're going

> to be expected to actually participate

 

But that is not the role of the Advancement Chair, and they are not entitled to say such a thing. The Advancement Chair doesn't decide if a requirement is met. The SM does that. The SM makes that decision.

 

The AC only decides if the records are updated properly and everything signed off properly. They make sure the BOR happens, but their only role in the BOR is to review all paperwork and ensure all requirements are met.

 

This is a problem in a lot of troops. Advancement Chairs think they are in charge of all advancement. That's not correct. They are in charge of the Administration of Advancement. Their job:

 

* Make sure there are BOR's

* Help get BOR's set up for boys

* Keep records updated by advising the Troop Scribe to update them

* During BOR ensure all requirements have been properly signed off

 

The AC does not decide if the requirement is met, just that it was logged as completed properly.

 

 

 

 

[Beavah]

Yah, that's sorta right, BSA24. But if everyone's on the same page, includin' the Scoutmaster, I don't see why the BOR chair can't make that statement on the part of the group. Remember, under da G2A a boy is entitled to a BOR whenever he thinks he has met all the requirements. Signatures aren't mentioned anywhere that I recall, those are just an optional record keeping tool.

 

So a BOR is actually da final arbiter of advancement, at least for T21, and it may well be an AC as board chair makin' that determination (since to advance it has to be unanimous).

 

Again, not at all a problem if everyone is on da same page. This is how yeh go about tightening up requirements when they have gotten too lax. That happens sometimes, eh.

 

Beavah

[IM_Kathy]

my sons troop does not keep a stash. when a boy completes his BOR a form is filled out and the boy will recieve his badge at the next meeting. If the advancement co. can't make it to shop we have a couple of other people that will do it for him, but he works in town of shop so just takes a different direction to stop by and get. same goes for merit badges

 

cards for rank and MB and parent pin gets done at COH

[Papadaddy]

"Immediate recognition" or "immediate gratification"? Isn't that one of the things we rail against on this forum? The need in today's culture to "have it all NOW"? In my mind, immediate recognition can mean that the boy is "recognized" as having passed his BOR during the meeting closing, with a round of applause or a good ol' scout cheer. Our council has always required an Advancement Report to purchase rank badges and pins...and to purchase "extras", we have to submit a AR stating that is a "multiple" or "replacement" (as in for extra uniforms). And it annoys me when a badge IS presented, and 6 months later, it's still not on the uniform. Apparently we care more about "immediate recognition" than the boys do...just my observation.

[qwazse]

First off, do y'all realize how little boys care about this?

Second, there is no requirement in the the BSHB that says "wait patiently while your council verifies your progress.". so wether you are down to the minute with badge distribution or if it takes a month or two because you are in a backwater somewhere, you are no less trustworthy to the movement.

Third, I just filled a report for the first Bronze award our crew has ever earned (yes, it's been 6+ years), gonna stop and get it today. Feeling' proud.

[Lisabob]

I agree that for the most part the boys don't care all that much, but we should still strive to be timely. They do care a bit more under certain conditions:

 

1. Younger/new scouts are more interested in getting that patch sooner than later

2. Scouts who are about to age out might like to actually wear that patch on their uniform before they are no longer youth (not necessarily just Eagle I'm talking about, here)

3. It depends on how long the delay is going to be. A week? That's not so bad. Til the next CoH? That could be a mighty long time.

 

As for Scoutnet records, I'm convinced of gremlins in the system. We just reviewed one of our older scout's records (again) for the second time in about 6 months as he gets close to finishing Eagle requirements. Things that were right 6 months ago were wrong this time. Things that were corrected 6 months ago didn't "take" and needed correcting again. Things that were entered just last week - some are right, some are wrong. Of course any adult who has been around for a while knows that's not an unusual experience and we all just shook our heads and moved ahead with the corrections (again). Kinda freaked the scout out, though.

 

 

 

 

[Roadkill Patrol]

We award advancements at the weekly troop meeting following their advancement date. We do live in a rural area and have no problem getting our patches without traveling 80 miles to the scout shop. This is how our advancement usually goes:

 

Monday troop meeting - scout has BOR at end of meeting or turns in MB card. BOR committee given advancement report form (34403) to sign once they approve the scout for rank. BOR committee enters information into Troopmaster and hands signed form to me.

 

Monday night when I get home - I enter the information into the online internet advancement system.

 

Tuesday morning - I email a copy of the internet advancement report, along with the signed advancement report form to our scout shop. We put money on a BSA gift card to purchase our advancements since we can no longer maintain money on account with our council.

 

Wednesday - I normally receive the patches in the mail. At most, I receive them Thursday.

 

This has worked well for us to get advancements in time for the next Monday troop meeting and award them.

 

At the court of honor, we honor all of the scouts earned MB's and advanced in rank since the last COH. For rank advancement we give the scouts the rank pins and we give them the parent pin to pin on their parent.

 

The only time we wait a short period (2-3 weeks at most) for advancement is between summer camp and the next COH to award all of the MB's earned during SC.

[Engineer61]

I don't see the big deal...instant recognition is not the norm in adult society...most of the time you don't get recognized at all for your work, except for your paycheck...so why teach it in Scouts?

 

But ... doesn't this requirement for instant recognition/gratification fall suspiciously close to the "American kids are spoiled" thread?

 

Just askin.

[mdlscouting]

From a Cub Scout perspective, I would say give them the Physical item (Badge/bead/etc.) as soon as possible, and recognize them at the next pack meeting.