Requirements Book

[PETAL_MS_SCOUTER]

 

I just purchased my first requirements book in a couple of years. The 2002 book I purchased said it was current through the end of the year. Some of my old books were good for a two or three year period.

 

Why the change? Is this a scam to make us buy a new book every year?

[Bob White]

Petal_Ms_Scouter,

 

No scam but a major update is in progress. Over the next 4 years nearly every Merut Badge booklet will be brought up to speed with modern information and techniques. That will mean most will also undergo requirement changes. After that you can expect most to remain stable for awhile, except for the computer merit badge which, because of the dynamic nature of the industry, may need almost constant updating to remain current.

Bob

Bob

 

[MomScouter]

If all of these badges are going to be updated, this can be a big expense for a troop to purchase all of the new books. While keeping up to date is a good thing, it would be nice if National came up with an idea to make the changes less costly for troops. The changes are available for free on the USSCOUTS website, but this does not include the entire pamphlet.

[OldGreyEagle]

In my experience, changes to the program seem to occur annually, but to different parts of the program. When my son was working towards star, one of his Eagle required merit badges (Safety) was taken off the required list. So, while it counted as an elective badge he had to earn another Eagle required one.

 

Getting an updated requirement book every year is not a bad idea for the Troop Library. As for the changes, I dont mind them, they show the Program to be dynamic and

willing to change to be up with the times. And as a learning experience, what could be more real life than having the rules change on you?

[yarrow]

I don't run a troop so I don't buy the requirement book any more I just use the stuff online. Meritbadge.com keeps up-to-date.

[Chippewa29]

As far as keeping all the books in the troop library, I don't feel that is necessary. Of course, keep current copies of all the Eagle required and other popular merit badges. If a Scout wants to work on, say, Architecture (My troop has never had a Scout get that one in 19 years), the troop can then purchase the book or the Scout can purchase the book and donate it to the troop when he is done (it won't kill him to wait for a week or two to get the book). As time goes on, the troop library will grow.

[FScouter]

I carry the requirements booklet in my Scout breifcase. Many times a kid will ask "What do I need to do for the XXX merit badge." And I've always got the answer. For $3.50, I get a new booklet every year and pass on the old one to another person.

[Bob White]

Mom Scouter,

Keep in mind that many of the merit badge pamphlets haven't changed in several years. But it is necesarry to keep current with information in order for the MB to be useful and meaningful to the scout.

 

Many posters have pointed out that MB and advancement requirements are aavailable on line. However these are just the requirements. It is important that the scouts have the MB pamphlets because the information required to meet those requirement are in the pamphlet. Without that information the scouts are at a great disadvantage.

The material is not available on the internet only because it is copyrighted. The BSA pays a lot of money to develop these materials and the sales of these books help to cover the cost of that development.

 

Bob

[KoreaScouter]

You're right, there's no substitute for the actual pamphlets. In fact, my son has bought personal copies of many of them, especially the 3-month badges such as family life and personal fitness, or the complicated ones such as E-science, so he's not monopolizing the troop's copy.

 

On having the most up-to-date requirements at your fingertips, here's another technique, for those of you who may be as geeked-out as I am with a Palm Pilot or similar PDA. Get a document converter, convert the meritbadge.com requirement sheets into Palm files, and squirt them into your PDA. The document converters will convert Word files, HTML pages, text files, just about anything, and there's one less book you have to carry around. I also have a lot of other Scout-related stuff in there, including the GTSS, Scoutmaster minutes, skits, advancement records, etc...really comes in handy when a requirement changes mid-year.

 

 

[sctmom]

I bought my son the requirements book so he can look through it and get an idea of what the different badges are about. I think this will help him know more than just looking at the name. He seems more likely to go after one if he sees the requirements and thinks "that's not too hard, I can do that." Then when he chooses one to work on, he can borrow the troop copy of the MB booklet or I will buy some. I did buy him a copy of the First Aid booklet. That is a good one to have for himself.

 

[LongHaul]

Our troop has a practice which has the boy purchase the current merit badge pamphlet and when he earns the badge the troop will purchase the book, if usable, from the boy at the full price. This alows us to update our library slowly. With the new revision blitz this will mean our library will be "out of date" most often but the revisions most times do not preclude using an old copy for most imformation. A new "requirements book" should be obtained by the Sm and the Advancment Chair each year.