"Scouting" Merit Badge

[SeattlePioneer]

How many plumbers versus how many Scout volunteers, do you suppose?

 

My interest in paid Scouting employment is secondary to educating Scouts on the variety of volunteer positions available and how to get involved with Scouting at the unit, district and council level.

[ScoutNut]

 

"The mission of the Boy Scouts of America is to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Scout Law."

 

This is something that we do from the moment they join as a Tiger, to when they age out at 18, or 21.

 

Even if you broadened the very specific, and narrow, topic, from just volunteering with BSA, to include volunteering in general, I do not feel that there is enough there to create a merit badge on, or indeed a reason to try.

 

Scouts learn about volunteering, and service, by doing hands-on service all through their Scouting careers. Scouts do not need to be "educated" on the volunteer opportunities of Scouting specifically.

 

[SeattlePioneer]

Hello Scout Nut,

 

 

In my experience relatively few unit leaders have more than a vague idea of district positions, responsibilities and activities.

 

The number of Scouts who understand that? Negligible.

 

>

 

 

And you stop there why?

 

In my experience, Scouting for adults encourages the development of the same character traits and values for adults.

 

Scouting certainly does tend to cut about 98% of young people off circa 18 or 21. That's the PROBLEM I would like to have a way to solve!

 

I can imagine myself writing up my own unofficial "Scouting" Merit Badge handbook and being a "Scouting" Merit Badge counselor for interested units and Scouts in my district. Those who complete the requirements would receive an unofficial "Scouting" Merit Badge upon completion of the requirements.

 

It might be interesting to find out if there were any interest in such a program and what Scouts might think of it upon completion.

 

 

[shortridge]

You might get one boy out of 100. Sorry, Seattle, but I just don't see the interest there except perhaps among camp staff members, senior Venturers involved with the VOA or COD, and OA leaders who already rub shoulders with a wider group of leaders and advisers.

 

The lack of younger adult leaders is a problem, sure. But this isn't an effective solution. If the existing adult leaders don't know and don't care about the behind-the-scenes roles at district and council, is it realistic to expect youth to, all for the promise of another patch?

[desertrat77]

SP, I think your concerns are spot-on, but I don't think the badge is the answer.

 

If volunteer scouters are the right caliber, scouts will want to follow in their footsteps.

 

If professional scouting was something other a perpetual Bob Cratchit twilight zone, more scouts would set their sights on that career path after college.

 

Sadly (and I'll try to be as diplomatic as I can), some vols and pros don't project an image that encourages adventuous scouts to say "hey I want to be a scouter like Mr./Ms. Smith when I grow up."

 

And for the many scouters that have the values, and character, and sense of adventure that encourages real scouting, I think many scouts look at them and think "I respect him/her, but dang, they are working like a dog and it doesn't seem like a heck of alot of fun."

 

So I think we need to attract the right adults to fill those positions. Then the scouts will see the natural progression from scout to scouter. But I don't think the badge will accomplish that. Many potentially good scouters are turned off by the Cadre Of The Self-Proclaimed Finest Scouters Ever that seem to have chapters in every district and council I've been in, red tape, and just the general idea of "do I want to be associated with the adults and activities of this organization?"

[ScoutNut]

>> >>"This is something that we do from the moment they join as a Tiger, to when they age out at 18, or 21. >>

 

And you stop there why? "

[shortridge]

Oh, I know a LOT of Scouts who want to be pros. But because their interest is real Scouting, not sales and marketing and finance, they look to the tiny handful of camp director, program director and ranger jobs out there - the ones even harder to come by than a DE's slot. On every camp staff of 50 people, there are 49 of them who dream about being a CD. (The other one person already has the job.)

 

But the odds are not in their favor. My council doesn't even post those jobs on the rare occasions they open up. It's all about who you know. And there's no career track for a camp pro Scouter, unlike for a DE.

 

If the outdoors was the emphasis of career Scouting, like with NOLS or Outward bound, we'd have young men knocking down council doors seeking full-time employment. But who wants to get burnt out worrying about COs and FOS when they could be at a freakin' camp????

 

I think the same could be said of volunteering after turning 18/21. You're probably not going to be trusted as an SM of your own troop, so you can sign on as an ASM and be treated awkwardly by boys, parents and fellow leaders. You could volunteer at the district or council level, but most of that is boring paperwork tasky stuff. There are few opportunities for young adults to involve themselves on the types of things they're interested in.

 

An alternative could be to develop a volunteer Instructor Corps, available to run programs at camp on weekends and at camporees. Some Canpmaster Corps do some of that.

[SeattlePioneer]

 

 

 

I've seen two really excellent DEs who are making fine successes as professional Scouters. One of them spent a good deal of his second third and fourth years as DE as the Camp Director for the council summer camp.

 

I see some DEs working really hard. I see others working smart, concentrating on recruiting volunteers to do a lot of the work DEs would otherwise have to do.

 

As a district membership chair since 2004, I'm an example of that. I was recruited by the DE to be the Membership chair and then groomed to take significant responsibility in managing the district's recruiting efforts.

 

At least in part because of that, the district has been more successful at recruiting and the DE has had to do less work.

 

My current DE works very hard himself, but has been less successful in getting volunteers to help get things done.

 

Which model is better ---- a very hard working DE who does stuff himself or a DE who recruits additional district leaders to help get things done?

 

 

 

[desertrat77]

SP, I'm tracking with you, and I agree that there are good DEs out there. My point is the DE jobs (and most pro jobs) seem deliberately tailored to be meat grinders. Regards of who is in the cubical, it's just not a very attractive job, even for the most dedicated scouter.

 

If we want to attract good candidates, who stay longer, we need to revamp the professional career path, not just provide familiarization to the status quo.

 

 

[SeattlePioneer]

Hello desertrat,

 

 

I'm opposed to brutal personnel practices, and I council's have a reputation of being unreasonably demanding of DEs.

 

Personally, one of my aims is to take some of the load off of my DE, and I think I help with that.

 

But the real answer to that issue is more volunteers who take charge of doing more stuff. Ideally, we should be able to run our programs with volunteers only, would be my theory.

 

So one of my aims is to find ways to attract and keep more district and council volunteers. Keeping more of our youth as they become young adults could be part of that, and the motivation for this thread.

 

When I get around to it, I've set a goal of calling fifty people on the new Scouting Alumni list in my district to see if I can find some new people to help out with our district program.

 

To some extent, Des make their own problems. If they are effective in recruiting, training and motivating district volunteers, their job can be a good deal easier. If they aren't, all the hard work in the world may not be enough.

 

 

[desertrat77]

SP, well said and a very worthy goal.