Questions about Electives

[mjengels]

I have questions about the electives section of the Bear Book.

The elective has a,b,c,d you have to do all of those to earn 1 elective correct or does A count as 1 b as another?

 

Another question it says you can count acheivements as electives if you DO NOT use them for your badge. So say you have a,b,c,d,e and needed a,b,c to earn the sign off and you did complete d and e do those count as elevtives or does it mean you need to complete a whole nother section that had nothing to do with your badge.

I hope this makes since.

Thank you

[ScoutNut]

Each activity (a,b,c,d,etc) is a separate activity. If you do 10 activities you earn an arrowpoint.

 

Unused parts of achievements that were used for the Bear badge may NOT be counted toward Arrow Points. So, in your example, the activities d & e would NOT count as electives. For electives, you can only use achievements that were not used at all, in ANY part, toward rank.

 

For example, you must complete 3 achievements, out of 5, in Country for rank. You use #3, #6 & #7 for your 3 rank requirements. You can't use any of the activities in #3, #6 or #7 for electives. You can, however, use all of the activities in # 4 & # 5 for electives. This would be a total of 8 activities with only 2 more needed for an arrowpoint.

 

 

[johndaigler]

Hi, mjengels,

 

Good answer ScoutNut. I was about to take 6 extra paragraphs to say the same thing - Thank you for saving me from myself!

 

The only thing I'd add is that Cubs can get credit for doing an elective activity more than once - as long as they show growth and increased challenge - and,of course, meet the standard of "Do Your Best".

 

jd

[Cubmaster Jerry]

ScoutNut, I believe that you can use unused parts of requirements for arrow points. For example, in Bear requirement 5, it states 'Do four of the following' (out of the five). If the scout does a,b,c,& d for this requirement, that means he did not do requirement e. He can do this and it will count towared one of his ten requirements for an arrow point.

 

Here is info I found online regarding this.

http://www.geocities.com/~pack215/arrow-points.html

 

CMJ

[johndaigler]

Sorry, CMJ, but the Cubs can't use the unused pieces of Bear Badge Achievements. The Bear Cubs are told this on pp. 6 and 180 of their handbook.

 

jd

[ScoutNut]

The wording was clarified in the last issue of the Bear Handbook to specifically eliminate Bear achievements used for rank from electives.

 

 

 

[Herms]

ScoutNut is correct the new version of the Bear book allows you to use, unused achievements for arrow points. From what I've heard they will be doing this for Wolf also, but as of now it has not changed.

 

The newest version of Packmaster software has the new change incorporated so that if a Bear completes extra achievements they are automatically credited. Gotta love technology!

[mbscoutmom]

Is there a newer edition of the Bear book than 2003?

[Cubmaster Jerry]

Thanks for that clarification guys. Checked my copy of the Bear Handbook, v.2004 and there it is! Did that change? I haven't been a Bear leader for about 5 years but could swear that it used to be that way. Or maybe I just took it for granted and extended what I knew about the Wolf program into Bear.

 

Though, in the end, does it make a difference? What's the point? I think I would prefer to include those unused Achievement Requirements than allow a scout to complete an Elective requirment multiple times and have that count.

 

Jerry

[johndaigler]

The thing I like about repeated electives is the demonstration of growth, -- and the boys creating, accepting and overcoming, a challenge they set for themselves. I think it gives the boys a real-life demonstration of what we're all about. And the boy usually gets that he's showing he's growing up and able to improve upon his last effort.

 

I understand Jerry's comment -- and I like the idea of showing effort in a different content/context area. I think both situations show that the boy is growing.

 

jd

 

 

[SoDakScouter]

This just goes to show that I should read the new version when we get it. Last Century, when I was a Bear Den Leader, we did count unused achievement points in Achievements that were used for Bear Badge. I was doing that now, again. Now I find out that I am not supposed to do that. Guess the boys will learn another growing up fact of life, admit when you make a mistake.