This stellar Boy Scout has legions of merits

[littlebillie]

Mark, now I'm moving away from generalities (GENERALLY speaking, most boys DON'T get every merit badge) and stepping back to the specifics. Specifically, this kid.

 

This kid's got cystic fibrosis - read, probably gonna die young. This kid's got diabetes - read,early nerve damage and shortened life span.

 

Put them together and throw in asthma - I say God bless this kid if this is something that was important to him to get done in his probably limited time on earth. He set himself a goal, with less assurance than most of us that he'd see it through - and he reached it. And ya know what? Even if he skidded over half of them - I'd say that this goal IN ITSELF is pretty admirable, considering the strikes against him. Consider the goals of other kids his age - getting to the next video game level? Or tagging the most buildings with grafitti?

 

Do I KNOW this is on his mind? Nah. Do I KNOW he's gonna die early? No more than you know about an Amish kid doing oil changes, I'd guess. But I can build the same kind of limited case as others, and since the article mentions these ailments, I have some kind of basis, I think.

 

So in THIS case, and to THIS kid, I say, good on ya, mate! And God bless...

[Bob White]

Mark, you ignore the fact that he did't just go out and pick these merit badges up. Adults passed him on the requirements. If the adult that actually met, talked, worked with, and tested the scout, approved him for the MB who are you to say that he did not earn it, or that he did not learn from the expwerience?

 

The fact is you don't know. You are guessing based on your personal opinions and bias without a single shred of specific evidence concerning this scout or any other scout who accomplished the same feat, at whatever age he was at the time.

 

Memory is not a requirement of the BSA once the merit badge has been earned.

 

Bob White

[evmori]

If the Scout doesn't remember what he learned when he earned what's the point?

 

Ed Mori

Scoutmaster

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[Twocubdad]

Ed, I'd have to guess he learned a heck of a lot. You seem to be of the opinion that the only way he earned all the MBs was by cutting corners and therefore didn't learn much. Until I know different, I'm going with BW's view that he followed procedure and met at least the minimum requirements for the badge. At that level, he learned as much as any other kid completing any given badge. But in the bigger picture, he learned volumes more about a variety of subjects most kids never even approach. Even if the depth of study of some of the badges wasn't what you and I might expect, he sure as heck made up for it in the width of what he has learned.

 

Long term, maybe all he learned about Woodcarving is that it is a waste of time and good lumber. That's mot a bad lesson to learn!

[evmori]

Twocubdad,

Consider what this Scout had to do to accomplish earning all 119 merit badges (see mk9750's post). Consider his medical condition. Take into account his time in school and sleeping.

 

Were corners cut? I can't say for sure but given the above I would say yes.

 

mk9750,

Excellent post! Thanks for doing the math!

 

Ed Mori

Scoutmaster

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[littlebillie]

well, as long as we're just making guesses about stuff, and offering up opinions about a kid we've never met, let me jump in, again.

 

this boy and his family and his Troop and his friends and his counselors may all very well know that he's running against the clock. AND I'll guess they all know that this is/was something important to someone who won't have a lot of time on the planet to do quite so much as the rest of us...

 

God forbid, but if there's the least truth to this scenario, I'd say EVERYone was encouraging the boy, and working with him, etc. Is the kid's goal to learn something to take along with him into a long life? Nah - it's to get through something so he can he'd set and met a challenge before time runs out...

 

And IF there's any truth to this, then God bless everybody who helped this kid along. This may not be what Scouting's all about to most kids, and that's probably good - but I also think that Scouting needs to be something special for special needs kids, too.

 

And for this special kid, it really has been.

 

 

[Bob White]

"If the Scout doesn't remember what he learned when he earned what's the point?"

 

The point is that memorization of MB information is not the purpose or goal of the program. If, from his experience in scouting, he learns to make ethical decisions based on the values of the Scout Oath and Scout Law then his time in scouting has been successful regardless of his rank or merit badge count.

 

Bob White

 

 

[dancinfox]

First, if the young man has earned all these badges and his Eagle, then it's a done deal and who are we to judge. As Bob White has said, he has met the requirements and was passed off. Also, the idea of the merit badge program is to give scouts an opportunity to get a taste of different aspects of life. If the purpose was to totaly retain everything you learned, then the merit badges should take six months to a year to learn. I don't see anything wrong with a scout earning all the merit badges. Even if he spent all his time scouting, is that all bad. I was into sports in school and my friends were scouts. Would I do it over, I don't know, but I think I would be more involved in Scouts if I had to do it over again. (Thank God I don't.)

Just my two cents.

Dancin

[SagerScout]

I'm in the camp that says good on you to this boy.

 

I am wondering how much adaptation of requirements was given for cycling, hiking, and camping. My son, who only has asthma and NOT c.f. (thank you God, we thought he had it for a while as an infant and it scared me to death), has problems with the physical rigors of these and a few others. I know that alternate badges are offered for Eagle for those who cannot meet the requirements of a badge - but that would mean he hasn't earned them all.

 

Just curious. It does not seem out of line for him to have earned all the other ones, since I imagine time management is critical to him in a way that the rest of us can't conceptualize. I would guess he doesn't watch much TV.

 

[Marty_Doyle]

I remember reading about this Scout in a BSA religious newsletter. That article was longer, and among other things had his parents telling about how difficult summer camp and the troop's fifty mile hike had been fir him because of Jed's ailments, but that their son wouldn't let himself be pulled out of camp or the hike. Finished 'em all. He has also been elected to OA, goes around Utah talking to other troops and Scouts and got into college at 17.....sounds like an over achiever who has the Scouting spirit.

 

Since there are over a million Boy Scouts in America, maybe this boy is the "one in a million" who could do it, and do it right.

 

I'm not going to Utah anytime soon to check his credential. Don't see the need. I did tell my Webelos I den about it, and they were impressed, and a little more excited about Boy Scouts ......

 

Should Scouters be so cynical? You all aren't from

New York City, are you?

 

[evmori]

Bob,

I agree with your post. However, there could be a flip-side. What if all a Scout learned was to whine & complain till he got what he wanted without learning a thing? I'm not saying this happened in this case. Wouldn't that be a disservice to the youth as well as the program?

 

Ed Mori

Scoutmaster

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[packsaddle]

OK, I share some of the skepticism and doubt expressed here. And I have learned a new term, "pencilwhipping" (I hope I have the correct meaning). BUT, it IS possible and until I see evidence to the contrary, I give the boy the benefit of my doubt and a verbal pat on the back. I have never seen anyone even come close to doing this, most of mine take years just to complete Env. Sci., for that matter almost any 500 word composition for any badge. But it is possible. My question is...can you really fit that many badges on a sash? Without using the back side?

Rooster7, it must be spring, you've come out of hibernation.

[Bob White]

"What if all a Scout learned was to whine & complain till he got what he wanted"

 

First he is too young to be a Scoutmaster Sorry I couldn't resist.

 

Actually it would seem your concern and your contempt is not with the boy, but with the Scoutmaster who signed his scout spirit requirements as he advanced. A scout who whined and complained to get his way has not lived a life or made decisions based on "helpful, courteous, kind, or cheerful" and should not have been advanced with those traits.

[evmori]

Bob,

Once again you assumed wrong! 1st of all, I have no contempt with or for anyone. 2nd of all, Scout Spirit was never a concern! My concern was that some of the merit badges he earned might have been rubber stamped and therefore this Scout learned nothing about those badges. I will state once again, if he can't remember what he learned, what was the point! I realize memorization is not part of earning merit badges but is a Scout doesn't retain what he was taught or studied then all he did was "collect" not earn the badges.

 

You seem to forget the obstacles he had to overcome. The number of badges, the amount of time he had available to complete them, finding a counselor for all them and his medical conditions!

 

If in fact he did earn & not "collect" all the badges, I applaud him.

 

Ed Mori

Scoutmaster

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[scoutldr]

OK, Scouters, don't we have better ways to spend our time than to sit around casting aspersions on the honesty of a young Eagle Scout, Scouters and a District Advancement Committee that we don't even know and have never met? Is that very Christian, Jewish, Islamic or Scout-like?

 

To the young Eagle, I say, Good Luck, God Bless and welcome to our ranks! You took an oath on your honor to "do your best" and to be "Trustworthy". I have no doubt that you did exactly that.

 

Now let's focus on keeping our own back yards a little cleaner.