Why Venturing?

[Bob White]

Exploring is now a part of Learning for Life a program which is separate form the traditional scouting program and is a service of the publications division of the BSA (Boys' Life and Scouting magazines). It has nothing to do with the Boy Scout division which is responsible for Boy Scouts and Venturing.

 

A scout can be a member of the BSA and of another organization be it Exploring, Civil Air Patrol, etc. and work on whatever awards any of those prganizations offer. Being a Boy Scout does not keep you from being in other organizations. If an organization wants to create an award that represents that the wearer earned the BSA's Eagle rank and put in on their uniform the BSA has no reason or authority to keep that from happening.

 

So a boy in a troop, a crew, and an exploring post can advance in all three programs.

 

Hope this helps,

bob White

[Fat Old Guy]

"Exploring is now a part of Learning for Life a program which is separate form the traditional scouting program and is a service of the publications division of the BSA (Boys' Life and Scouting magazines)."

 

The publications division? That's strange place to stick a program. I had been told that LFL was a subsidiary owned by BSA.

[ExplorerCaptainLafferty]

LFL is still part of the boy scouts. I have my Boy Scout registration card to prove it. I dont know about it being part of the publications division, but our charter, registration, and our council administration is all the same as regular BSA.

[Bob White]

That's not quite accurate.

Exploring is a part of LFL but not a part of Boy Scouts. It is an important distinction. LFL is a susidiary of the BSA. Boy Scouts is a division of BSA. The LFL and the BSA are separate non-profit corporations. The volunteers of the districts and councils who are registered to the BSA work with the traditional programs of Cub Scouting, Boy Scouting, and Venturing. They do not serve the needs of the LFL program.

 

The LFL is served locally from the Council BSA offices but the expenses of serving the LFL comes from a separate general fund. This is needed because the LFL can accept grants and funds that the BSA are not eligible to receive.

 

District and council administration of LFL is also separate. The activity committee, training committee, advancement committee and commissioner services among others service only the traditional programs. The biggest difference in the membership is that LFL members are not restricted by religious choice or sexual orientation. as in the traditional programs.

 

While the exploring program has a number of skill proficiences they can earn recognitions for they do not have a prograssive advancement program as in the traditional programs.

 

This is information is not meant to down play the quality or the importance of the LFL program. It is taking the ethical teachings of the scouting program and reaching youth that might otherwise not recieve the scouting program.

It has also allowed for the continuation of programs such as the Law enforcement posts that would otherwise have been destroyed by politically motivated groups.

 

I'm sure on the surface it might appear to Capt.Lafferty that we all one group because we are housed in the same building but the programs and the administration service that supports them are quite different.

 

Bob White

 

[NJCubScouter]

ExplorerCaptainLafferty,

 

The reason for my questions was that when I read your first post, I thought you might have meant that members of your Explorer post were working on Boy Scout ranks as part of their activity in the post. Your second post makes clear that you did NOT mean that. So everything is fine. I apologize for any confusion.

 

Speaking of confusion, I just checked my council's web site to see what THEY say about Learning for Life and Exploring, in light of some of the comments in this thread about how "separate" they are from Scouting. I was first surprised to see that Learning for Life was listed as a "district" on the web site along with all of the actual districts. When I clicked on the LFL "district," this is what I found (I have deleted the council's name to protect the innocent, or perhaps just the mistaken):

 

------------------------------------

Learning for Life/Exploring/ScoutReach

 

These areas are our Non-traditional outreach programs. The --------- Council is continuing its efforts in reaching all youth through many different formats. Our Learning for Life program is our curriculum base focus that is done during classroom time or after school. The other areas that are covered by Learning for Life is the career focus program aimed at middle and high school youth. Exploring in the council is made up of career focused opportunities. Law Enforcement stands out the most and is a prime area to direct any young adult interested.

 

There are many other career opportunities in exploring that are listed directly. ScoutReach gives those youth in our urban areas a chance to experience scouting that may not have been offered to them. In this program we eliminate any barriers which may be financial or lack of leadership. There are many opportunities to be experienced by giving a boy a chance of scouting.

 

ScoutReach also reaches out to the rural areas of the council and those geographical areas that are culturally sensitive.

------------------------------------

 

Now, it sure sounds to me from this description that LFL is a council program. OUR curriculum based focus, it says. (I think the council needs to hire an English teacher or someone to edit the web site for grammar, too.) When they get to Exploring, its a bit more ambiguous. IN the council, not OF the council. But its placement in the same paragraph would still lead one to believe that this is fact a council program.

 

And then the part about ScoutReach surprised me too, they list it as a "non-traditional" program. I thought the BSA was using the traditional/non-traditional terminology to mean those programs that maintain the "membership standards" that we like to discuss in the Issues and Politics topic, i.e. Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, Venturing, Varsity Scouts, and those that do not have those same membership standards, i.e. Learning for Life and Exploring. As far as I knew, ScoutReach was a program to get boys (and I guess girls over 14) into the TRADITIONAL Scouting programs in areas where recruiting has become extremely difficult due to demographic factors, i.e. urban and some rural areas. So why is ScoutReach being referred to as a "non-traditional program."

[dsteele]

NJ --

 

Good questions and good observations.

 

National has pushed for a more clear separation of the subsidiary programs of Learning for Life meaning LFL and Exploring. Technically, the local council administers the programs of the subsidiary corporation within its boundaries. They have separate charters, but usually the same executive board and officers.

 

Scoutreach, as you point out very succinctly, is Traditional Scouting delivered in ways that aren't traditionally done. Many get so confused with that concept that it becomes easier, although less accurate, to describe what amounts to a different delivery of the same programs as "Non-traditional."

 

I would also agree it sounds like your council's web site is semantically challenged.

 

DS

[packsaddle]

I am learning a lot about this topic, although it did seem to stumble a bit in the beginning. This is important to me because I am about to jump ship to help lead a Venture unit. I am not even sure the charter has been prepared or approved. But the distinctions I am reading certainly are confusing to me and I am evidently not alone. Dsteele, is there a concise guide to all this anywhere that I can borrow, buy, or copy? I guess the better question is, what documents do I need to bone up on? And finally, does anyone know the derivation of that phrase, 'bone up'?

[dsteele]

Packsaddle --

 

If you don't already have one, you should purchase the leader's guide for Venture Leaders (I forget the exact title) through your Scout Shop.

 

Don't worry about Learning for Life -- Venture Crews are traditional Scouting units and work like packs and troops (in structure as it were with a CO, committee, etc.)

 

The Leader's guid will be very helpful in assisting you with your understanding of the program and how it should operate.

 

Also, check out the bsa national website www.scouting.org and do a search for Venturing on the web. There are several very good pages about the program and about specific units.

 

I can't help you with your question about "bone up." But someone like OGE may be able to shed some light on the topic.

 

DS

[OldGreyEagle]

http://phrases.shu.ac.uk/bulletin_board/6/messages/554.html

 

 

try this for Bone Up origins

[packsaddle]

Thanks Dsteele, I haven't signed the application yet but that comes soon. I think we're still in the formative stages for the Venture 'crew?, post?' Anyway I'll get the Leader's Guide. It is comforting to hear that this is similar to the Troop, maybe I won't have so much new stuff to learn.

OGE, I knew I could count on you. Those are intriguing explanations. I had heard of some baseball players 'boning' their bats and thought that, perhaps, that was related. I have always wondered what possible good it did to rub a bone on a wooden bat but perhaps the 'polishing' effect...? Or it could just be a good luck ritual.

[OldGreyEagle]

I think baseball players "Hone" rather than bone bats, in any case usually it invovlves sanding them, no it doesnt make them any harder, but then they can tell where on the bat the ball hit if the bat is all smooth. Least thats what I heard.

[purcelce]

This thread has been interesting...

Made me think back to when I first saw Explorers and was and Explorer.

 

My first contact was as a Cub Scout. Local post were Indian Dancers and they performed at a Pack Meeting. I also remember running into a few Explorers who were with the Cop Post in town.

 

I joined up with an Explorer Post that was into to TV Broadcasting. That was a neat summer. I got to play cameraman at the SummerFest for the local cable public access channel. Only stuck with Exploring for about a year.