Adults Earning Eagle (Or: When More Outdoor Activities Were Required).

[qwazse]

@@qwazse I'm sure the NESA has all your answers. Given the focus of Scouting for Boys I'd be really surprised if B-P gave much lip service to adults in scouting other than reminding them to stay out of the way.

Excellent suggestion, @. Although public information seems to be sparse. Here are two paragraphs from (http://www.nesa.org/PDF/58-435.pdf page xvii) that speak to that period ...

 The 1948 requirements also spelled out in more detail what else an Eagle Scout candidate had to do. Rather than just having a six-month record of “satisfactory service†as a Life Scout, he now had to work actively as a leader in his troop’s meetings, outdoor activities, and projects; do his best to help in his home, school, place of worship, and community; and take care of things that belonged to him and respect the property of others. These seemingly innocuous changes, which remained in place throughout the 1950s, foreshadowed the next major step in the Eagle Scout Award’s evolution.

 

And in a sidebar on the same page:

 One other change was made in the postwar years. For four decades, adult leaders had been allowed to participate in the advancement program, but that practice ended in 1952. After that year, all requirements had to be completed by the Scout’s 18th birthday. Starting in 1965, an exception was made for overaged Scouts with mental disabilities, an exception that now applies to Scouts with other permanent disabilities. Disabled Scouts can also, in some situations, pursue alternative merit badges to those required for the Eagle Scout Award.

 

These paragraphs seem to capture the felt need to do scouting differently in the US. But, the detailed discussions leading up to the matter may very well be un-digitized or possibly lost to history.

 

It's very easy for us to take a philosophy promulgated throughout our youth and adult scouting career, and project in onto someone who lived two generations ago. It's harder, but much more interesting to contrast how we view a thing today against how it was viewed in the past. This may or may not help us currently, but prepare us for future discussions about youth development and leadership.

[Peregrinator]

@@qwazse I'm sure the NESA has all your answers. Given the focus of Scouting for Boys I'd be really surprised if B-P gave much lip service to adults in scouting other than reminding them to stay out of the way.

Young adults would have been Rovers (something else the BSA never really promoted and did away with in the 1950s).

[Gone]

 

These paragraphs seem to capture the felt need to do scouting differently in the US. But, the detailed discussions leading up to the matter may very well be un-digitized or possibly lost to history.

 

It's very easy for us to take a philosophy promulgated throughout our youth and adult scouting career, and project in onto someone who lived two generations ago. It's harder, but much more interesting to contrast how we view a thing today against how it was viewed in the past. This may or may not help us currently, but prepare us for future discussions about youth development and leadership.

 

I was just re-listening to the Green Bar Bill tapes from the 80s where he spoke to that boys of one scout troop about his association with B-P. He discussed his time with him from 1920-something until he was asked to write the PL handbook and then the other guides. In listening to him again, it was fun to hear his focus on the boys' part of the program and the adults' part of the program; specifically the SM.

 

I don't recall offhand but I don't think he addressed advancement and adults. I could be wrong. Each time I listen/watch to those videos I pick up something new.