Scout to First Class in 12 month program/schedule

[Hedgehog]

Isn't this the responsibility of the PL/APL team in the patrol?  After all, if the PL is signing off on the advancement, shouldn't he be aware of where the boys are at in their progress?

 

 

Yes.  The PL / APL / TG and Instructors are the "older scouts" I'm talking about.

 

Actually, it is the responsibility of the scout.

 

 

And yes too.  But with younger scouts, they sometimes need encouragement and guidance from older scouts to be resonsible for themselves in advancement and other areas.

 

But 

[Eagle94-A1]

"First class/first year (FC/FY)" was an emphasis program of the BSA 10-15 years ago...not sure if it still is.  The theory was that most scouts drop out before they make First Class, so if we got that patch on their shirts as quick as we could, they would be locked in.  Not sure if that was the case or not.  My advice with a new troop is to get them to Summer Camp and enrolled in the first year camper program, where they will work on T-2-1 advancements.  Let the fire ignite naturally, and not on a set schedule.

 

OPERATION FIRST CLASS, which morphed into FIRST CLASS/FIRST YEAR became the suggested policy on August 1st 1989, when they took away the time requirements for Tenderfoot, Second Class, and First Class ranks. They also did a lot of other things too when national revised the Scouting program that year, i.e. youth could no longer sit on BORs,  Skill Awards were gone, Leadership Corps became the venture crew which is now called a venture patrol, etc.

 

Yes, the argument for pushing a Scout to get First Class in a a year is retention. stats do show that. but What I mentioned at the time, and still do, is that the stats do not take into account a lot of other factors. The biggest factor is having an active "hiking and camping" troop. BP said it best, "Advancement happens as naturally as a suntan, it's something that just happens in the outdoors."

[perdidochas]

OPERATION FIRST CLASS, which morphed into FIRST CLASS/FIRST YEAR became the suggested policy on August 1st 1989, when they took away the time requirements for Tenderfoot, Second Class, and First Class ranks. They also did a lot of other things too when national revised the Scouting program that year, i.e. youth could no longer sit on BORs,  Skill Awards were gone, Leadership Corps became the venture crew which is now called a venture patrol, etc.

 

Yes, the argument for pushing a Scout to get First Class in a a year is retention. stats do show that. but What I mentioned at the time, and still do, is that the stats do not take into account a lot of other factors. The biggest factor is having an active "hiking and camping" troop. BP said it best, "Advancement happens as naturally as a suntan, it's something that just happens in the outdoors."

 

I agree. The key to retention is not that the Scouts get First Class in a year, but that they have the opportunity (due to a robust outdoor program) so that they can get theoretically get First Class in a year. 

[Beavah]

Yes, the argument for pushing a Scout to get First Class in a a year is retention. stats do show that.

 

Yah, some of us old and feeble remember that revision, eh?   I reckon there were lots of scouters beatin' their heads against the local deciduous or conifer tree muttering "correlation does not mean causation".    Most boys in Boy Scouting dropped in their first year (still true).  Most boys who made First Class stay in scouting through Life/Eagle/Age 18 (less true now, I believe, but very true back then).   Solution:  If every boy makes First Class in the first year, we'll fix the dropout issue!

 

Fail.

 

As everyone who has ever led a group of lads into the field knows, boys who made FC were the lads "into" scouting.  Boys that drop in their first year are boys who usually aren't that committed to begin with, or who are strugglin' socially/physically with da transition.   Shovin' FC emphasis at 'em doesn't help a lick, and dumbing down FC makes the program less appealing to the lads who are into it.

 

Beavah

Edited July 1, 2016 by Beavah

[TAHAWK]

Not the new requirements, but should give you a start: http://www.pioneeringprojects.org/NCS/staff/1stYear1stClassREVISED2006.pdf

 

The people who put this plan together mean well, but listen to Stosh and Beav.

 

 

It's not school.  It's the anti-school.

 

 

It's not regimented.  It's individual - driven by the Scout's interest, not adults.

 

 

The goal is the Scout learning for himself as much as possible.

 

 

Further, according to B.S.A. for 85 years and in 2016, Scout skills are to be primarily learned by doing in the patrol  through the effort of the Scouts in that patrol..  

 

"The patrol, not the troop, is] the place where boys learn skills together and operate a mini democracy"

 

 

"Patrols will sometimes join with other patrols to learn skills and complete advancement requirements. [emphasis added] . . . At other times they will compete against those same patrols in Scout skills and athletic competitions."

 

To the extent that the troop is more, the patrol - the fundamental unit and site of Scouting - is less.  NOT good.

[MattR]

Me thinks we scared him off.