Looking Forward to Wood Badge

[Eagle92]

Base,

 

I'd go ahead, turn in the ticket items as complete, and get your beads. If you don't want a public ceremoony, fine and dandy. But May I recommend a brief, stressing BRIEF, one at BnG, or a pack campout?

 

Why get the beads?

 

1)They do show you care about your kids. You may not have learned much at the training, but your purpose ( getting the "cred" to do things for your Cubs and the other packs in your district) is very worthy.

 

2) I'm willing to bet your ticket items involved your Cubs. Again it shows you care. And while the sentiment about WB may be that now in your district, attitudes change. One example: BA22 was one fo the most talked about activities for youth in my old council, and BA22 participants were very visable. When it changed to JLT, something was lost, and the attitude of youth training fell to the wayside for a few years. Then after 6 years, something resparked interest in youth training.

 

3)I've found the best way to get back at adversaries who put obstacles in your way, is to succeed at overcoming those obstacles. Those beads symbolize your attitude to "Illegitimi non carborundum," and will upset the folks who put that obstacle in your way. Trust me on that one.

 

I had a DFS who gave me a challening set of critical achievements. A third of the way through the year and after meeting or exceeding several, he deleted some (ones I exceeded), rewrote others to make more challenging (ones I had met already), and gave me a few new ones (my fav was the council event that I had 4 or 5 weeks to plan, organize, recruit, promote, and execute.)When the revised CAs were met, or exceeded again, it really steamed him up.

[Jay K]

Eagle92 and all;

That is why it is said, and I have found it to be true:

Living well is the best revenge.

[BDPT00]

And I'll just jump in again countering Voyageur's suggestion. I've seen both ways work fine, but even right here within this thread, people are conflicted about exactly what a ticket should look like. Going into a course with some ideas is fine, but to think ahead of time that you know exactly what your ticket is supposed to look like, I don't think is a wise idea. As

Voyageur said, things change and ideas come and go. I think one needs to be totally flexible and willing to climb new mountains. Absorb ideas from others. Where I agree totally is that writing a ticket can be very stressful for some. A deer in the headlights feeling is difficult when the page in front of you is blank. Being totally surprised by a ticket can be really tough, but I think being closed to new thoughts and ideas (visions?) defeats the purpose of participating in Wood Badge.

BDPT00

 

[Basementdweller]

Revenge.....that would imply that the district matters in my scouting activities or life.

 

They do not....

 

My boys are all that matter.

 

 

 

[Jay K]

Focus on Living Well. If you deliver a quality program, and you certainly seem to have the motivation, and you develop a strong unit, you will recover the joy of Scouting (which Wood Badge SHOULD have done.) That's "living well," and people will notice, not that you care. But you should achieve a better quality of Scouting life. Perhaps the next DE will be more simpatico.

[le Voyageur]

 

 

As I teach in Wilderness Risk Management - Plan your Plan, Work your Plan, but, Don't Fall in Love with your Plan...it's good advice that allows one to move from Plan A to Plan B when conditions begin to head south...it's why, were I to go through another WB course to have a ticket in hand ahead of time. I find not being prepared allows not only unfolding events, but people in general to take control of one's destiny

[jrush]

Basement, I think Kudu finished venting in the other "why WB stinks" thread.

 

I don't know why you want him commenting in this thread...the two of you both apparently had poor WB experiences, but for two very different reasons.

 

If Kudu (and many other Scouters, point of fact...I certainly agree with his concept) had his way, the WB course you were forced to attend would have had ZERO, versus little, applicability to you as a Cub leader. The GBB "real" patrol method of scouting doesn't even need Cub Scouting to exist, and quite frankly, under his "real" Patrol Method, Boy Scouting is better off without Cub Scouts. Why? Under GBB's "real" patrol Method, the adults are virtually invisible. Basically, you only need adults to handle background noise like the Troop Budget, CO stuff and do the SM conference and BOR. Boys do EVERYTHING else without adults, from signing off on requirements to supervising multi-night camping. That, quite frankly, makes Cub Scouting (where adults do virtually everything) a distractor...because you have to "untrain" up to 5 years' habits by both adults and boys the minute they show up in the Troop. Far better they show up fresh, with no misconceptions about the roles of the Scout and the adult.

 

WB is a corporate leadership and management course, which gives you the opportunity to see where you and the organization can both improve each other. It is to help you relate better to youth and parents, help you understand what is important to National (such as the required "diversity" goal), etc.

 

If one is basically "forced" to take it in order to put on programs, I can see where there would be some resentment toward to course. But, you resenting the course due to actions of your District and Council leadership is just as misplaced as Kudu blaming the course for not teaching William Hillcourt's "real" patrol method...which I compared to someone blaming the gun for the actions of the mugger who stole your wallet at gunpoint. I'd be pissed too if the DE told me I had to take WB to put on pinewood derby for my Pack...but I would blame my COR for not telling the DE to go pound sand versus blaming a 6-day course that has the core goal of improving both the adult leader and the organization.

 

WB "is what it is". It's a leadership & management course with a centralized syllabus and decentralized execution. It could be better, it could be worse. If you have an actual critique of the course syllabus, that's fine...just don't blame it for the actions of the Scouters.

[Eagle92]

Base,

 

Not revenge, as that implies you doing something deliberately to them in retaliation. That is not what Scouting is about, and IMHO that would negate all the good work you do.

 

Rather it is showing them that you are not going to let them control you, you are going to achieve your goals, and you are not going to let them get you down.

 

Ok they placed an obstacle in front of your goal of providing a great program for your Cubs and those in your district. Fine, you take it on and meet it head on and follow through. If they want to change the game after obviously proving that you are 100% for the kids by meeting their challenge to get WB, then that is their problem.

[Basementdweller]

Oh rush.....

 

I am an ASM and a Crew leader.....I have been acting SM for the last couple of weeks SM has been ill.

 

So I do more than just cub scouting.

[LeCastor]

To follow up on my original post...I have registered for Wood Badge, paid in full and am super excited about training in August of this year.

[Jay K]

LeCastor:

Have the best time. Enjoy your patrol, make contacts, and persue your ticket goals with the enthusiasm that is evident here.

I wish you all the best in this endevour. You can look at my "Wood Badge Horror Story," and yet, I count it as a valuable experience, and still value and interact with the friends I made.

[Kudu]

LeCastor writes:

 

"I have the Scoutmaster's Handbook 3rd Edition by Hillcourt and I've read both volumes."

 

I did that too, and it will help you recognize what little does remain of Green Bar Bill's Wood Badge.

 

I've been told that the Patrol Hike is still there in some vestigial form (like a human appendix for which nobody knows the purpose).

 

Some Councils still space the Patrols Baden-Powell's 300 feet apart.

 

Most likely none of the Cub Scout Staff will suggest that you take either of these two essential elements of Hillcourt's "Real" Patrol Method home to your home unit.

 

But now that you have read more about the Boy Scout Program than most Wood Badge Staffers, you can see past their office management theory, and from personal experience then integrate Patrol Hikes and 300' Patrol Campsites into manageable Patrol Adventure on your Troop's monthly campouts and/or backpacking expeditions.

 

Good luck!

 

Kudu

 

Two Volume Scoutmaster's Handbook 3rd Edition by Hillcourt:

 

http://preview.tinyurl.com/83xh448

(This message has been edited by Kudu)

[AvidSM]

Imagine a restaurant that fires its kitchen staff every night - including the head chief. Then it rehires some, but not all of them the next day not including the head chief. The menu is the same, but the recipes might vary somewhat.

 

That's pretty much what a Council does with a Wood Badge staff. It is desired that it is made up of one-third new staff members. It has to be diverse, with people from different scouting backgrounds and positions. A different Course Director runs it every time.

 

The best staff members are good teachers and have excellent people skills. They must also have some experience with the scouting program, especially the Troop Guides.

 

I am on staff for a third time this year and I can say from experience that some people who get on staff are real idiots. But this was balanced with the attitude that the participants were our customers, and that they were always right.

 

Please, dont let the turkeys get you down! Go into the course with a positive attitude there is nothing wrong with that. But if you find that you are having an issue or a problem during the course, say something to somebody!

 

 

[KC9DDI]

I'm not sure what to think of Scouting's advanced adult leader training program, if having "some experience" with Scouting is listed only as an afterthought for staff qualifications...

[Kudu]

KC9DDI writes:

 

"I'm not sure what to think of Scouting's advanced adult leader training program, if having "some experience" with Scouting is listed only as an afterthought for staff qualifications..."

 

You just don't get it, do you KC9DDI?

 

Expecting Wood Badge Staffers to be experienced would discriminate against Den Leaders, who then use their awesome Staffer resumes to join the safety and training committees that prohibit Boy Scouts from using the Real Patrol Method.

 

Its all about "diversity"

 

Yours at 300 feet,

 

Kudu