Cub Scouts - Bears - Achievement v.s. Elective

[Pack2]

I need some input here.

 

In the Bear's program, under achievements, to me it looks like scouts can take credit for an sub-acievement for either the Bear badge or towards an arrow point. I have some parents signing off for both, Bear badge credit and arrow point credit (ex. Johnny went to the zoo and to the park, two different times so I signed off twice).

 

To me after reading the Leader's manual, they may take credit for either-or. Arrow point credit may be used for extra achievements not used towards the Bear badge.

 

Do I have any agreement on this one or opinions??

 

I would like Scouting to be educational by having the Scouts take credit for multiple opportunities under different topics. I don't want it to become a "badge factory."

[Twocubdad]

A boy may not repeat an advancement he has completed as part of his Bear advancement and use the credit a second time for an arrow point. "Any achievement requirment that you complete to earn your Bear badge cannot be used again to earn Arrow Points." (Bear Book, pg. 159.)

 

In your example, if he visited the zoo (Achievement 5d) and used that requirement to complete Achivement 5 AND counted Achievement 5 as one of the 12 needed to earn his bear, then visiting a nature park cannot be used for an arrow point.

 

On the other hand, if 5d was not used toward his Bear (because he completed the other four requirements under #5, or because he didn't use any of #5 towards his Bear) then it may be used for arrow point credit.

 

I also don't think that it is allowed for Bears to repeat an elective for double credit. Right now, I can't find a specific reference in either the Bear Book or the Leader Book, but I believe that is the case. Tigers are permitted to repeat electives toward earning Tiger disks, but I think that is an exception.

[Pack2]

Thanks Twocubdad!

 

You found the page I was looking for in the Bear book. I was looking all through the front of the book to no avail. I also noticed that on page 159 it says that no arrow points are to be awarded until the Bear badge is earned. That's news to me.

 

As far as repeating electives more than once, there are about 5 of them in the book that can be repeated, such as Elective 17e dealing with Repairs. Each time a new repair is done it counts as another completed requirement. There are a couple more like this but unfortunately I don't have my list in front of me at the time.

 

Once again, thanks for your help.

[acco40]

As with Wolf, no arrow points can be earned until the rank badge is earned.

 

What I found with Bear, it makes a difference what requirements you count toward Bear and what are counted toward arrow points. The grouping can make the difference. When I was a Bear den leader, I applied all of the requirements I could toward Bear first. There is excellent freeware tracking software for Wolf, Bear and Webelos which make the tracking of advancement very easy. Send me a private email and I can email you a Bear spreadsheet if you wish.

 

As with repairs, I believe some of craft requirements can be counted multiple times. For example, if the scout makes a three totally different crafts, you can count that requirement three times.

[Twocubdad]

Yeah, that those couple of electives can be repeated for credit supports my thinking that the rest cannot.

 

There's nothing that says a boy can complete electives prior to receiving his Bear badge, he just can get the arrow point until then. We frequently have boys who get their rank badge and a couple arrow points at the same time.

[sctmom]

Pack2, you've got it right. There are a few things like making masks and art that are electives that can be done more than once and counted each time. It's great if Johnny goes to the zoo a lot, but only one trip can be counted toward his Bear Badge or as an elective.

 

I found it best to not try to figure out what achievements to count as an elective until AFTER the Bear badge has been awarded.

 

Often by the time a boy receives his Bear badge he does have enough electives to also receive his gold arrow point. He can receive both in the same ceremony. He can work on electives before receiving his Bear Badge but just can't receive the arrow points until he has the Bear.

 

[LauraMO]

"As with Wolf, no arrow points can be earned until the rank badge is earned."

 

Per the Wolf handbook (pg 9), "Completing electives for Arrow Points generally should wait until after he has earned his Wolf badge, and he cannot receive Arrow Points until he has been awarded his Wolf badge. He might, however, find some electives that he could be completing before he earns the Wolf badge."

 

In short, a Cub may earn the electives while simultaneously working towards his Wolf badge; he just can't receive the Arrow Points until he's been awarded the badge.

 

"There is no limit to the number of Arrow Points a boy may earn." CS Leader Handbook, pg 20-6.

 

There are a couple of freeware spreadsheets available for tracking Achievements & Arrow Points. I prefer the one from Pack 38 because I can give a Cub multiple credit for Arrow Points earned (e.g., learning to count to 10 in various foreign languages). The freeware from Pack 615 is great for tracking belt loops & pins, but as far as tracking electives, it will only let you put an "X" for an elective earned instead of a tally & so you don't get an accurate total of Arrow Points that a Cub has actually earned.