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

[perdidochas]

Mixed emotions on this latest discussion. As someone who deals with teens and college students with no involvement in Scouting, I can see the difference. And I do believe part of it is some of the "paper pushing" MBs. BUT I think that there may be ways to incorporate aspects of these MBs in the 'Outing" portiong of Scouting.

 

Take budgeting for example and Personal Management. Apply it to weekend and HA trips.

My son used a campout he had planned as part of Personal Management.

[boomerscout]

Having fun in the woods is great stuff. However, one purpose of Scouting is to develop the mindset of approaching adulthood. It may seem a long way off, but some of us are slow learners.

 

For this reason, Personal Management is one of the more important merit badges on offer. Way too many families are living paycheck to paycheck (or worse), yet their homes are chock-a-block with the latest bling. If they had learned the rudiments of budgeting and planning, they may have been better able to weather the economic storms that appear in all our lives. The only change I would make to Per. Mgmnt. is to show how to balance a checkbook and what happens when you're overdrawn.

 

100 mb in 3 years? That's 3 per month, so doable with good PERT and CPM skills as some mb only take a day even if done correctly. Even more impressive, though, would be 40 - 50 merit badges plus the Hornaday Medal.

 

(Wow! This site seems to work a lot better!)

"For this reason, basketball players should learn the rudiments of budgeting, planning, and how to balance a checkbook. "

Ha-ha-ha! Your version of basketball seems to be a lot different than what I played in school. We just wanted to stomp the other team.

 

The basis of Scouting is education: PLs teaching the newbies their knots, troop guides shepparding them to first class, and lets not forget the instructors. Otherwise, going "camping" resembles recess -- run around all day, play baseball or touch football, eat out of a can; not much Scoutcraft because no-one taught them in a mini-classroom setting ahead of time. Once you get out into the field you can practice what you've learned by actually lashing that tower because you know ahead of time what supplies you need to bring with you.

 

It may well be that no-one in your troop needs Personal Management. Everyone pays their full annual dues on time, everyone has a full kit of gear because they didn't spend all their Xmas money on an overpriced jacket, High Adventure is never a problem because they've learned how to plan and save for long-term goals.

 

If your Scouting doesn't have enough Outing, that is a whole different area of concern.

 

What are my fondest memories of childhood Scouting? Several trips to the Boundary Waters. How did I prepare? Attending Red Cross canoe school in a school building (canoes in the school pool did look funny.) Another fond memory was learning the various home repair merit badges. Many of these were learned in union halls so the masters and journeymen could make better use of their time; there were no fluff overs with these guys. Why fond? Because while my college classmates were stuck with min wage jobs and unholy bosses, I was making 2-3 times as much doing the simpler handyman jobs while setting my own hours.

Sure, we did canned food drives, used clothing drives, litter pickup, color guard -- these all created nice endorphins. But, my best memories were based on what I learned in classrooms.

[boomerscout]

Mixed emotions on this latest discussion. As someone who deals with teens and college students with no involvement in Scouting, I can see the difference. And I do believe part of it is some of the "paper pushing" MBs. BUT I think that there may be ways to incorporate aspects of these MBs in the 'Outing" portiong of Scouting.

 

Take budgeting for example and Personal Management. Apply it to weekend and HA trips.

Moose:

It's not that hard. In October the PLC tells everyone summercamp will cost $250. They tell everyone they need to save $25 per month or $6 per week. Here's the gear list; go to Scout shop and price it out; talk to the others about cheaper sources. Here's the fundraisers we've planned between now and then.

Even pricing out the foodlist for the upcoming weekender would be good training. Compare prices at Grocery A with those of Grocery B.

For info on loans and credit cards, send them to the nice lady at the bank. For stocks and the stock market have them take Junior Achievement. Whoops, that would be in a classroom

[Kudu]

Having fun in the woods is great stuff. However, one purpose of Scouting is to develop the mindset of approaching adulthood. It may seem a long way off, but some of us are slow learners.

 

For this reason, Personal Management is one of the more important merit badges on offer. Way too many families are living paycheck to paycheck (or worse), yet their homes are chock-a-block with the latest bling. If they had learned the rudiments of budgeting and planning, they may have been better able to weather the economic storms that appear in all our lives. The only change I would make to Per. Mgmnt. is to show how to balance a checkbook and what happens when you're overdrawn.

 

100 mb in 3 years? That's 3 per month, so doable with good PERT and CPM skills as some mb only take a day even if done correctly. Even more impressive, though, would be 40 - 50 merit badges plus the Hornaday Medal.

 

(Wow! This site seems to work a lot better!)

That's how the human brain works: When we combine two things that have nothing to do with each other, the brain forms connections.

 

So if we take the basketball out of basketball, and replace it with the school subjects that Boy Scouts hate, then adults who hate basketball will be attracted to the sport, start singing "Back to Gilwell," and get all weepy about their fond memories of budgeting, planning, and balancing basketball checkbooks.

 

Boys who hate homework will quit basketball and join Boy Scouts.

 

I call that a Win - Win!

[Brewmeister]

Having fun in the woods is great stuff. However, one purpose of Scouting is to develop the mindset of approaching adulthood. It may seem a long way off, but some of us are slow learners.

 

For this reason, Personal Management is one of the more important merit badges on offer. Way too many families are living paycheck to paycheck (or worse), yet their homes are chock-a-block with the latest bling. If they had learned the rudiments of budgeting and planning, they may have been better able to weather the economic storms that appear in all our lives. The only change I would make to Per. Mgmnt. is to show how to balance a checkbook and what happens when you're overdrawn.

 

100 mb in 3 years? That's 3 per month, so doable with good PERT and CPM skills as some mb only take a day even if done correctly. Even more impressive, though, would be 40 - 50 merit badges plus the Hornaday Medal.

 

(Wow! This site seems to work a lot better!)

I think it's always been clear where you are coming from here--learning how to corral a runaway horse is a skill that is still relevant to the mission of Scouting, whereas personal management is not. That view will continue to shape your outlook of course.

[Kudu]

Having fun in the woods is great stuff. However, one purpose of Scouting is to develop the mindset of approaching adulthood. It may seem a long way off, but some of us are slow learners.

 

For this reason, Personal Management is one of the more important merit badges on offer. Way too many families are living paycheck to paycheck (or worse), yet their homes are chock-a-block with the latest bling. If they had learned the rudiments of budgeting and planning, they may have been better able to weather the economic storms that appear in all our lives. The only change I would make to Per. Mgmnt. is to show how to balance a checkbook and what happens when you're overdrawn.

 

100 mb in 3 years? That's 3 per month, so doable with good PERT and CPM skills as some mb only take a day even if done correctly. Even more impressive, though, would be 40 - 50 merit badges plus the Hornaday Medal.

 

(Wow! This site seems to work a lot better!)

I don't recall the term "corral" in the 1916 requirements.

 

Why is it that people like you, who believe that Scouting needs things like "missions" and personal management, insist on screwing millions of boys out of the Scoutcraft program guaranteed them by an Act of Congress?

 

Why can't you do both?

 

Spend ten (10) minutes (minutes) on how to help in case of runaway horse (which all red-blooded American boys would want to know), and ten (10) months (months) on personal management (which all red-blooded American boys hate, have always hated, and will continue to hate until the end of time)?

 

Personal management classes belong in high school basketball, not Scouting.