Earned ALL 134 merit badges in protest to labelled too young for Eagle?

[King Ding Dong]

Why is it that any time some boy achieves something exceptional, there are so many that come out of the woodwork on this board and claim that something must be fishy even though they know absolutely nothing about the situation?

 

There are plenty of stories to be found about exceptional children achieving remarkable things in other endeavors…amazing athletes…genius boys and girls who are attending college when their age-peers are in middle school. Some people are just exceptional or achieve exceptional things.

 

All you folks looking down your noses from a position of ignorance are a bunch of knuckleheads.

That's the nicest thing someone has said to me all day.

 

I'm surprised he isn't being bashed for that sash.

[Stosh]

Doesn't prove anything other than he can sample a wide range of topics. I never put much stock in merit badges as a youth, and I still don't.I hope he continues on and holds more positions like PL, SPL, Guide, Instructor. Maybe towards then end of his youth involvement he becomes a JASM.

8 patrols? Your SPL has a "patrol" of PL's. Definitely a working POR! I hope your ASPL is active "PL" working with the "patrol" of other troop officers as well!

 

Stosh

[Basementdweller]

Why is it that any time some boy achieves something exceptional, there are so many that come out of the woodwork on this board and claim that something must be fishy even though they know absolutely nothing about the situation?

 

There are plenty of stories to be found about exceptional children achieving remarkable things in other endeavors…amazing athletes…genius boys and girls who are attending college when their age-peers are in middle school. Some people are just exceptional or achieve exceptional things.

 

All you folks looking down your noses from a position of ignorance are a bunch of knuckleheads.

Did you actually watch the interview before you start throwing stones Brew. The lad is far from a genius and was busy blowing his own horn at the accomplishment. His accomplishment is superior because in his words most of the other who earned it did it when there was only 50 merit badges......

 

I have met and shook the hand of two lads who both have earned All of the current merit badges. One is 16 and the other is 17 one is from Toledo and the other from Columbus Both of them earned all of the historic merit badges as well.

[Tampa Turtle]

I saw the video. The lad is a Life Scout and it looks like he has an SPL (maybe an ASPL) patch on so he must be participating to some degree. We got a boy like that--he was mostly home schooled. He ended up as ASPL. Needless to say a lot of Merit Badge Academies were involved. but ours is a good scout. We have another who has 100+ at 13 but will skip a campout to pursue his own MB goal...I got a problem with that...

[skeptic]

We likely are, as usual, missing some important elements of the story. If he has had the support of SM's, then who is holding him back from the Eagle completion? Does it have to do with leadership issues; if he is now SPL, he certainly appears on the verge? Is it that he simply has not gotten around to the project? As usual, the media jumps off half cocked on this without giving us the complete picture. At the end, they mention him being a freshman; that would make him ahead of peers in school as well, which supports some of "Brewmeister's" comments. Would be nice to get the broader picture; but hopefully he will finish up and continue as a mentor for others, as well as leadership for the palms.

[Baseballfan]

Agree Twocubdad.. Sounds like scout did a lot of busy work (or his parents did), but has he stopped long enough to learn & understand what scouting is all about. I am wondering how many of those meritbadges were done the right way, and how many were in watered down summer camp programs, meritbadge workshops, and mom or dad as the MBC..

 

He also makes it sound like if he didn't do this then he would NEVER earn eagle rank, I don't those slowing him down wanted to see was all meritbadges what they wanted was him to slow down and enjoy the process .. He totally proved he just doesn't get it.

 

Though I don't think it is right for someone to hold someone back with false rules when they decide to earn Eagle at 13 or whatever.. It is simply give him his patch, and I personally at this stage of the game, would not be impressed.. Now, if afterwards he stayed in and settled into enjoying scouting, he would then earn my respect, and if he high tailed it out with his badge, he is simply a paper eagle.. Nothing for people to make up rules from keeping him from doing it..

 

So give him his patch with all his meritbadges and see if he stays in and slows down.. I believe if he tries to turn those Merit Badges into palms, what he has left will force a slow down.. if Mr. speedy speeds off to other things.. Well, maybe those things can teach him what scouting failed to.

 

After becoming an Eagle Scout, you may earn Palms by completing the following requirements:

1. Be active in your troop and patrol for at least three months after becoming an Eagle Scout or after award of last Palm. (Eagle Palms must be earned in sequence, and the three-month tenure requirement must be observed for each Palm.)

2. Demonstrate Scout spirit by living the Scout Oath (Promise) and Scout Law in your everyday life.

3. Make a satisfactory effort to develop and demonstrate leadership ability.

4. Earn five additional merit badges beyond those required for Eagle or last Palm. (Merit badges earned any time since becoming a Boy Scout may be used to meet this requirement.)

 

PS.. Seriously how many scouts AIM for earning all 134 meritbadges? In my lifetime, I have met a total of zero.

my younger son is one. He will need to step up his pace a little if he is to be successful, but that is his goal.

[Baseballfan]

I see a homeschooler who spent most of his time working MBs. Not based on facts, just on similar circumstances that I've seen.

agree... I just can't fathom how a Scout who goes to a traditional school could possibly get over 100 merit badges in 3 years!?! I wish the kid himself would publicly talk about his experience!

[moosetracker]

Why is it that any time some boy achieves something exceptional, there are so many that come out of the woodwork on this board and claim that something must be fishy even though they know absolutely nothing about the situation?

 

There are plenty of stories to be found about exceptional children achieving remarkable things in other endeavors…amazing athletes…genius boys and girls who are attending college when their age-peers are in middle school. Some people are just exceptional or achieve exceptional things.

 

All you folks looking down your noses from a position of ignorance are a bunch of knuckleheads.

Brewmeister - Problem is that it is easier to earn the MB's in a program that was shortcutted, then it is to find a MBC that will run the meritbadge the way it was intended.. Yet if you are an athlete, your competitor will clobber you if you are all wind.. Same with colleges, if some high schools tossed out tons of 13 year olds that they say are college ready, they need more then the high school say so, they would need to pass a few federal tests and SAT tests that verify their IQ and ability to succeed at a college level. If all that fails, they still need to pass the college courses.. All BSA has got is "Once a merit badge is awarded, it can not be revoked even when you know the requirements were not fulfilled.

 

Problem is BSA rank system is very easy to cheat, and that alone makes something like this highly suspicious.

 

Then regardless of this, a boy just going down a checklist for a goal, does not mean he has gotten the real scouting program out of what they did. Because that is not the scouting program, Pick your nose up out of that merit badge book and learn to live life.

[walk in the woods]

Yeah, it's funny. I'm an Eagle Scout. I can't count the number of people who've told me over the years, "I could have been an Eagle but....insert lame excuse here." After high school I joined the Navy's Nuclear Power program, became a reactor operator, lo and behold, when people with any sort of clue about the program found out in conversation, I hear something to the effect of "I could have been a nuke but...insert lame excuse here."

 

The key word and tricky phrase from the article is:

 

"Carter said it's okay for some not to approve of what he's doing, just like it's ok for him to pursue a goal. "It doesn't bother me a bit. That just tells me they don't know me," Carter said."

 

Basically he's telling all of us he doesn't give a rat's hind-quarters about our opinions. That's the kind of character and confidence I'd like to see more young men develop.

 

[SSScout]

Oh it's not so unbelievable. Takes some planning, some denial of other activities (tv, video games, dance lessons, ) and some effort at finding the proper MBC and time limits ("be the Troop Bugler for three months")..Home schoolers are like that. Chemistry MB is a middle school curriculum. Astronomy is a two week science curriculum. American Heritage is History lined up! If Scoutson had been more attentive to things, and mom and dad had been more pushy , he could have earned the Citizenship in the Nation in a week instead of two months......

 

I hope he finds (and deserves) the scholarship to the school of his choice. OR, invents the alternative to the internet.

[qwazse]

Why is it that any time some boy achieves something exceptional, there are so many that come out of the woodwork on this board and claim that something must be fishy even though they know absolutely nothing about the situation?

 

There are plenty of stories to be found about exceptional children achieving remarkable things in other endeavors…amazing athletes…genius boys and girls who are attending college when their age-peers are in middle school. Some people are just exceptional or achieve exceptional things.

 

All you folks looking down your noses from a position of ignorance are a bunch of knuckleheads.

Oh yeah. Checklists. I had one crew officer bragging about how she "just had to" get red carded her senior soccer season. I leaned over, gave her the cold stare, and moved my lips "N O". She was too busy too earn any bling from the BSA, but she never got worse then a yellow that season, and that's award enough for me.

 

So, a kid earning 2 MBs a week ... that's a checklist attitude I can tolerate.

[King Ding Dong]

Oh it's not so unbelievable. Takes some planning, some denial of other activities (tv, video games, dance lessons, ) and some effort at finding the proper MBC and time limits ("be the Troop Bugler for three months")..Home schoolers are like that. Chemistry MB is a middle school curriculum. Astronomy is a two week science curriculum. American Heritage is History lined up! If Scoutson had been more attentive to things, and mom and dad had been more pushy , he could have earned the Citizenship in the Nation in a week instead of two months......

 

I hope he finds (and deserves) the scholarship to the school of his choice. OR, invents the alternative to the internet.

Or in a few months he announces he has "finished" the internet.

[DuctTape]

Oh it's not so unbelievable. Takes some planning, some denial of other activities (tv, video games, dance lessons, ) and some effort at finding the proper MBC and time limits ("be the Troop Bugler for three months")..Home schoolers are like that. Chemistry MB is a middle school curriculum. Astronomy is a two week science curriculum. American Heritage is History lined up! If Scoutson had been more attentive to things, and mom and dad had been more pushy , he could have earned the Citizenship in the Nation in a week instead of two months......

 

I hope he finds (and deserves) the scholarship to the school of his choice. OR, invents the alternative to the internet.

The "end" of the internet: http://www.1112.net/lastpage.html

[Tampa Turtle]

"I could have been an Astronaut but was too unfit, had bad eye sight, and was lazy". Alas it is now too late. Too rub salt in the wounds my two 1st cousins were both Eagles in the Day (1970's) and both got into the Astronaut program. Now I see some folks who want it enough start targeting at an early age.

 

Agree badly written article/story.

[Brewmeister]

Why is it that any time some boy achieves something exceptional, there are so many that come out of the woodwork on this board and claim that something must be fishy even though they know absolutely nothing about the situation?

 

There are plenty of stories to be found about exceptional children achieving remarkable things in other endeavors…amazing athletes…genius boys and girls who are attending college when their age-peers are in middle school. Some people are just exceptional or achieve exceptional things.

 

All you folks looking down your noses from a position of ignorance are a bunch of knuckleheads.

Funny you should try to call me out on this basement since you were the first one to trot out the "it doesn't smell right" criticism, yet again. Without fail you are the first person to start chucking rocks the minute someone who you don't know, or some situation you couldn't have any way of knowing, doesn't live up to the standards of the perfect program that apparently only you can run. Frankly I'm sick and tired of reading your drivel that rarely, if ever, adds anything to the discussion, and from here on out you're just going to go on the old ignore list with the other knuckleheads so your ramblings don't clutter up my page any more.

 

To everyone else:

 

On one hand, this is a monumental task that obviously couldn't have been completed unless mom and dad were merit badge counselors who were pencil whipping the lad through the requirements.

 

But of course on the other hand, merit badges don't really prove anything because they ain't all that hard, it's a shame the boy ain't doing any real scouting, etc etc etc.

 

So…which is it?