Merit Badges and Summer/Winter Camp

[qwazse]

I am not sure I understand the parent perspective of "paying good money with nothing to show for it".

 

Here is why I am confused. Let's say parents and Scouts have 2 options:

 

Option A is Boy Scout Summer Camp

Option B is a non-scout summer camp.

 

If Scout Camp ceases to be a merit badge factory the claim is they don't want to spend good money and not get advancement so instead they will go to a non scout camp. Why choose a non-scout camp where there is nothing to show for it?

False dichotomy. Other summer camps dole out trophies, ribbons, patches, and certificates. Kids love them.

[DuctTape]

False dichotomy. Other summer camps dole out trophies, ribbons, patches, and certificates. Kids love them.

Thank you for the insight. So if mb factories were curtailed (to be in line with the GTA) and a Scout camp provided other trophies/ribbons/patches then the issue could be resolved?

[mashmaster]

False dichotomy. Other summer camps dole out trophies, ribbons, patches, and certificates. Kids love them.

I see other camps that my neighbors send their kids to and the differences are incredible.  They cost $1000's, the kids sleep in air conditioning.  Most of all they are more like week long parties, no learning or specifically no learning to do for yourself.   It is a blast for them but I also see that many of the same kids expect things to be given to them and can't bother to be courteous.  

 

My choice is to send my kid to Scout camp.

[qwazse]

I see other camps that my neighbors send their kids to and the differences are incredible.  They cost $1000's, the kids sleep in air conditioning.  Most of all they are more like week long parties, no learning or specifically no learning to do for yourself.   It is a blast for them but I also see that many of the same kids expect things to be given to them and can't bother to be courteous.  

 

My choice is to send my kid to Scout camp.

I've seen all kinds.I always did church- and scout- camp as a kid. Sometimes two of each in a summer. My folks never went on vacation, so for me it was a no-brainer. I vividly remember an older camper at church camp patiently teaching me to bat a wiffle ball. Meant the world to me. He was also a scout in my troop, but I don't recall seeing him at camp all that much. (But in my day, being in a different patrol radically diminished your contact with another scout.)

 

Mrs. Q and I priced out other camps, and concluded that, aside from scout camp and the occasional music festival, we could do better for the money we would otherwise spend by catching up with family in various parts of the country.

[1tree]

This is a bit late, but...

 

I think a lot could be accomplished by pushing camps to make classes longer and set maximum student-instructor ratios. For that matter, they should also remove all endorsement of camps offering completion of badges a scout simply can't complete. For instance, Cooking MB simply can't be completed in a summer camp experience.

 

Unfortunately there are too many who put too much emphasis on advancement. The ideal is that advancement occurs as a side effect of the experiance.