Mb Day Vent

[wdfa89]

don't want to completely rehash the MB day argument  I see both sides and can see some value for some badges if done right.  However, I just gots to vent about our council's upcoming NESA day event.  It will be in May, so nice weather.  It will be held at one of the council campgrounds so perfect opportunity to do outdoor related badges, even if they cant be completed.  Why, for the love of Baden-Powell would the council offer Programming and Digital Technology?  Really, come to a camp and spend the day inside on a computer! 

 

Or all 3 Citizenships for that matter. Law?  Disabilities Awareness? I would argue over half the openings are what I would call classroom/inside badges.  A camp in May should be nothing but outside badges.  I get council is limited by what they can get folks to teach, but if you cant do the event appropriately then don't have it.  Facility has a stocked lake, but no Fishing.  None of the water related badges (canoeing, rowing, etc)

 

anyway rant over.  very therapeutic  thanks.

[scoutldr]

Glad we could help.

[Gone]

Why, for the love of Baden-Powell would the council offer Programming and Digital Technology?  Really, come to a camp and spend the day inside on a computer! 

 

 

Because the $300k STEM van wasn't available?

[Stosh]

But what if it rains?  the NESA will be heroes!

 

If it doesn't rain, most of the boys wouldn't even notice.  If they weren't there for the MB's they'd be home in the room on the computer anyway.

 

I like the way you think Mozart!  

[Eagle94-A1]

Understand completely.  "ScOUTING IS OUTING!"

 

Going to play Devil's Advocate on the waterfront MBs. Betcha b/c it's a council level event, they need a n NCS certified aquatics director to run the show. Had our council commissioner approcah me about how many CS packs are using the brand new boating facility at the local camp. He was surprised when I said "None because the Guide to Safe Scouting doesn't let allow boating except at council events with a aquatics director."

[JasonG172]

Have you addressed with concern at all with them?

[qwazse]

But what if it rains?  the NESA will be heroes!

 

If it doesn't rain, most of the boys wouldn't even notice.  If they weren't there for the MB's they'd be home in the room on the computer anyway.

 

I like the way you think Mozart!  

 

Actually, a 1st year scout in my Sunday school class (troop on opposite side of town) noted that his older brother was going to "have to take" Cit. Nation at MbU, These boys are rather bookish -- good fits for digital technology, but even they caught on the the ridiculousness of it all.

 

Oh, and E94-A1, only 3/4 of "scouting" is "outing."  The other 1/4 is "sc".

[NJCubScouter]

So this is a one day event?  And I am going to guess that it really amounts to a few hours.  I do not see how you can possibly do any of the badges mentioned in one day.  (I mean actually doing all the requirements.)  Do they give out lists of prerequisites and make sure the Scouts did them before signing off on the badge?  Otherwise it is obvious that corners are being cut.  I know that Disabilities Awareness requires at least one "field trip," and it can't be accomplished at a campground.  (And the reason I know this is that my son's troop did Disabilities Awareness, over several troop meetings and a field trip.  It is the ONLY badge my son ever did at troop meetings.  It was kind of a special circumstance, because the counselor was a long-time active troop committee/BOR member who has a son with severe disabilities (who made Eagle) and in a way it was a chance for the troop to show some appreciation for her and get an MB at the same time.  And I can assure you that in that case, EVERY requirement was satisfied or the Scout did not get the badge!) 

 

I should say that I did once see a one-day merit badge program in which nobody got the badge unless they did all the requirements.  It was the Aviation MB and it was done at a local airport.  They sent out the prerequisites in advance (to be done on worksheets) and were very strict about the prerequisites.  The organizer assembled quite a good cast of guest speakers, and everybody learned some things, including me.  No corners were cut.  The program was a full day on a Saturday (but it seemed even longer than that because the seating arrangements for the "classroom" parts was the stone floor of an aircraft maintenance building.)

 

But that was an event focusing on one MB.  These "fairs" and "universities", which I have never attended, where they do multiple badges, don't sound like a good idea.

[Stosh]

What about the practice of MB Alley at Jamborees?  - and I wonder how many of the scouts there have their Blue Cards signed by their unit leader?  And this is how National promotes MB's...?

 

The whole MB program could use a "do-over".

[Troop185]

"But that was an event focusing on one MB.  These "fairs" and "universities", which I have never attended, where they do multiple badges, don't sound like a good idea."

 

Years ago, when my son was a Webelos (he is 39 now), our district had a merit badge day.  The original idea was to have this at the end of September, so the scouts with partials merit badges from summer camp, could find a counselor to finish the badge.  It became a joke.  Scouts would come home with 3 or 4 merit badges in one day, without doing any previous work on the badges.  Our district finally did away with it.

 

I work out there for about 5 years, as an Athletic Merit Badge Counselor.  The scouts had fun working on the requirements, but I think I only signed off on one scout, in the 5 years, and he has almost everything done before he seen me.  You need a track & field area, pool, etc. to complete the requirements, and we were at a Boy Scout Camp. 

 

The year my son was a Webelos, I drove home for lunch, and took him, and two other Webelos back with me.  I told the Webelos, all wearing their Webelos Uniform, to walk around and see what the Boy Scouts were working on.  Just for future reference, when they became Boy Scouts.  They were gone for about two hours.  When they came back, my son said, "Aren't you going to congratulate us, we all earn coin collecting merit badge!"  I

 

It seem that the 3 Webelos, sit down at the table with the counselor, and some Boy Scouts.  My son was into coins, and answer a few questions.  The other Webelos kept quiet.  The counselor gave everyone the merit badge!

[RememberSchiff]

Do-over, reboot, accountability?

 

Maybe some (most?) of our MBC's should appear before Fulton County Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter who is currently sentencing Atlanta school teachers.

 

Edited April 21, 2015 by RememberSchiff

[moosetracker]

I can't see the Disability Awareness at a day event, but our camp offered it at a week long camp, to complete it you needed to work at it more then your 1 hour a day class time. Easter Seals has a cabin that houses disabled youth for camping..  The youth taking the class worked with them in various ways, I don't know all of what but my son took it and talked of helping them during their swim class and some outdoor activities, so they didn't stay cramped indoors for the entire MB course.

[Gone]

@@NJCubScouter, in my area we have MB events that last a day. Scouts are told to complete the "prerequisites" at home which are usually the two time consuming requirements. The MBC teaches some or most of the rest. He/she then sign off on the WHOLE badge if the scout attests to having completed those other requirements.

 

I've seen all Citizenships, Cooking, First Aid and even Wilderness Survival signed off in a day without any hands-on work by the scouts or even any outdoor work. Our SM is supposed to sign these cards and hand out these badges? Our only recourse is to report th event and each counselor for not following the MBC training and the GTA. Other than that we have to award these. It's criminal.

Edited April 22, 2015 by Mozartbrau

[pargolf44067]

I really think these MB Midways (or colleges or whatever you call them) have become popular because of the idea of parents wanting their kids to earn as much as they can as quickly as they can.  We have a MB Midway for our district (now Council wide) and we advertise it as a troop because we are nagged about pushing it by our district and council folks.  We had a boy from our troop this year that showed up with MB cards that weren't signed by our SM.  A couple of counselors wouldn't sign off until he went and got the SM signature.  The troop has an established procedure about getting blue cards and he circumvented that.  He also walked up to our UC who was working the event as a volunteer, not a counselor, and was upset when they said that they weren't there to do Merit Badges.  The parents followed both he and his brother around through the entire day (one of the boys is in HS) to try and make sure people signed off.  Then he came up to our advancement chair at the urging of his father to get all these MBs recorded as earned without the proper signatures.  The boys was stunned when our advancement chair made him get the signatures before we would record the MBs as done.

 

Again, I tend to blame overzealous, helicopter parents for these issues.

[Gone]

I blame the district and councils and MBCs too. They know darn well the system is being abused and yet they continue to promote them. Why? To increase rank advancement stats pure and simple.