What happens when a scout is held back at school?

[The Blancmange]

Yes, this needs to be an individualized decision where a boy had trouble in the cub scouting program, but I think the presumption should be in favor of advancement. A boy who failed a grade is likely to be embarassed by that fact. Why embarass him further by having him "fail" scouts as well? I've seen boys who struggle in school but excel at and really enjoy scouts. The cub requirements are clear - grade OR age are all that is needed to advance. Earning the prior badge is not even required. It's troubling that a "district trainer" would not understand such a basic concept and instead make stuff up as he/she goes along.

For the sake of arguement, let's flip the question: little Johnny was allowed to skip a grade, so can he skip a level of Cubs (to be with his classmates)? If Billy is a genius and is in 7th grade at age 6, can he join the local Boy Scout Troop? - Apples and oranges - the cub requirements are simply age OR grade, while the boy scout requirements consider more possibilities ("Be a boy who has completed the fifth grade and be at least 10 years old, or be 11 years old, or have earned the Arrow of Light Award and be at least 10 years old, and be under 18 years old.") Clearly your hypothetical 6 year old doesn't qualify.

[Lisabob]

Nope, the 6/7 year old isn't going to make it into boy scouts until he meets the minimum age requirement, no matter how many grades he skips.

 

But we also have had cubs who had skipped grades and who skipped a cub year too. So for example we had a boy who joined a troop at barely age 10, who skipped 4th grade. He (his mother) are serious over achiever types and this boy went from a bear to a second-year webelos. He did all of the webelos program in the 10 months from June at the end of his 3rd grade year to March of his 5th grade year, and then crossed over with the rest of his Webelos II den. Worked for them at the time. It might not have worked for a lot of other kids though.

 

In that situation I think the potential drawback is less noticeable at the cub level, and a lot more noticeable at the boy scout level (early on). The leap in expected maturity and independence from cubs to boy scouts is tough enough on many kids, and probably harder still if they're on the really young end.

 

 

[IM_Kathy]

cubs does have grade and age requirements - we were told to use which ever best fits with the individual boy in question.

 

boy scouts though does use age requirements - mainly in the fact that everything must be earned by the age of 18. if a child is held back in scouts because he was held back in school he will basically lose a year as a boy scout in the end.

 

My son has a very early birthday - he already knows he has 9 months less than the other boys who crossed over with him.