Earns Eagle but already has earned college degrees!

[RememberSchiff]

For those who like to hold back scouts from earning Eagle until they approach age 18, you will want to skip this.

 

15 year old California teenager, who already has two associate degrees, has earned his Eagle. He is currently working on his third associate degree while still attending a charter high school. He plans to transfer to UCLA to complete his Bachelor's degree and do graduate work at MIT! What no palms?

 

http://www.vvdailypress.com/articles/scout-46025-degree-teenager.html

 

Wow!

[Tampa Turtle]

BUT BUT BUT,,,I thought the idea to get the Eagle was for college application enhancement!

[Eagledad]

Who likes to hold back scouts from Eagle until they are 18? Strange!

[perdidochas]

Who likes to hold back scouts from Eagle until they are 18? Strange!

 

From what I can tell, a significant number of Scoutmasters discourage boys under 16 from gettin Eagle, they tell them to slow down and enjoy, etc. That said, my son got his Eagle in December of this year at age 15. He's having much more fun in scouts now (and he had a lot of fun before). Average age of Eagle now is 17. In the 1940s it was 14.

[Eagledad]

That is interesting. Average age in the 1940s was 14? I will have to ask my dad about that. I will admit the average age of our Eagles while I was SM was 16, but our guys were just busy with scouting stuff. A 14 year old Eagle in our troop is typically a nerd type of personality. Seems Ok to me because they still hang around until 18. Barry

[Peregrinator]

Average age of Eagle now is 17. In the 1940s it was 14.

 

There wasn't a service project required in the 1940s so that's no surprise:

http://scoutingmagazine.org/issues/0211/d-wwas.html

[scoutergipper]

It's pretty easy to get to Eagle at 14 if you use placeholder POR's. If you actually have to "actively" demonstrate leadership, there aren't a lot of 14-year-olds who can make it. Taking college classes is like completing Merit Badges - it's nothing like being an effective Patrol Leader.

[skeptic]

The first two Eagles in my troop, 1923 and 1924, were both 14 as well, one barely. Also, joining age was 12 until about 1940 (have to check the date). More things to distract them, the project, less actual personal decision making, and so on. All surely do have something to do with it. Still, if a scout really wants to, he can become an Eagle at 13 and actually meet the requirements. Most that do it "on their own" would likely compare to the one noted here. The only real concern I have with really young scouts reaching that plateau is their maturity and leadership skills; but most I have met that stayed involved going forward have been exceptional young men, and far ahead of peers in most areas. Unfortunately, there still are a few that really are very poor examples; and my experience is that they also generally DO NOT stay to contribute to their unit or any other scouting area.

 

One of our biggest challenges as leaders is to NOT lump scouts into general categories. They are all individuals, and they all have various levels of commitment, initiative, and intellectual ability.

[Eagledad]

It’s hard to know how troops might encourage their scouts to hold off on Eagle, but our program just didn't put a high priority on advancement.

 

We probably do put some emphasis on leadership development, but not so much on the leadership experience. There is a big difference.

 

I do know that scouts who transfer in to our troop from other troops say our program is kind of intimidating because our PLC takes on a lot more responsibility than their troops. They really enjoy our program, but tend to stay away from the big responsibilities.

 

The Eagle process does get in the way sometimes because our focus is on leadership development and patrol method, while families get anxious for advancement. They fear if their son doesn’t get it by 14, they won’t get it at all. We just tell them its all up to their son. We have plenty of Eagles, so I think we are doing OK.

 

Barry

[SM bob]

15 is a good age for getting eagle or a young 16. That being said our troop focuses on scout to 1st skills, during campouts and activities. After 1st class it's up to the scout. Not everyone wants to be in a POR. Some scouts want to get away from their hectic over scheduled life for a weekend a month. Eagle is not a participation award.

[Scouter99]

Wow!

Meh.

There were occasional teenagers in my community college classes, they were all home or private school kids. The first 2 years of college is nothing but high school all over again (in my case, even some of the same text books) so a teen with Associates degrees doesn't really impress me. For some overlapping reasons, many top tier schools are beginning to stop considering AP courses/scores as anything but placement tests rather than awarding college credit anymore.