Why Did You Leave Scouts ?

[oldisnewagain1]

An exit interview in Scouting?!!!

Every day Scouting sounds more and more like a Dilbert strip.

[Tampa Turtle]

19 minutes ago, oldisnewagain1 said:

An exit interview in Scouting?!!!

Every day Scouting sounds more and more like a Dilbert strip.

 

Edited March 15, 2018 by Tampa Turtle

[blw2]

[Tampa Turtle]

BTW we tried exit interviews too. They were as murky as the work ones. I think a good BOR feedback seems more useful.

[Southpaw]

I knew a troop that would hold Board of Reviews with every scout, every month, regardless if they where getting rank or not.  

They had a pretty good knowledge of the scouts and what motivated them.

[blw2]

well at least they think they did....

You can get a read a lot of times from a scout, but I'm not convinced in BORs that you'll always get complete answers and a full picture.....

In theory though, I think it's an interesting idea....

I would argue not really appropriate though to assemble a full board of MC's.....sounds more like regular SM conferences would be more in line as a good idea, IMHO.....

[Eagledad]

10 minutes ago, blw2 said:

I would argue not really appropriate though to assemble a full board of MC's.....sounds more like regular SM conferences would be more in line as a good idea, IMHO.....

I tried to have a little chat with the scouts as often as possible so they got use to friendly chit-chats about anything. It is a challenge with bigger troops. But I knew I was doing ok when the BOR leader told me that one of the scouts they were reviewing didn't even know when he and I had our SM Conference. I ran into this scout after lunch at summer camp and offered to buy him a popsicle. As far as he was concerned, it was one of our usual chats while enjoying the popsicle. 

I also tried to have the same kind of chats with the parents as often as I could. Usually when they dropped off or picking up their sons from meetings or camp. The scouts do all the work talking to the drivers and loading/unloading the gear, so that leaves me plenty of time to mingle. A good relationship comes in handy on those rare occasions when I have to talk about a challenging experience with their son. 

Barry

[ParkMan]

We do this in a BOR.  At the end of the board, we tell the scout that we are done asking him questions and would like his feedback on how Scouting is going.  We explain that it is quality control.

In the boards I sat it on, we seemed to get pretty good feedback.

While the Scoutmaster can gather similar info - it's good for the MCs to hear.  It provides for some objective adults hearing it too - brings more people into the discussion.

[blw2]

when I starting sitting on boards, they seemed to focus on teh canned questions.... I focused on questions about their opinion of the troop and ho it's going....what was working well, etc... I noticed as time went on others started asking those kinds of questions too.  I hope they still are now that I'm gone.  (I also hope they stopped the silly 'stand at attention before the board of Zod' thing they always did.... they never liked my attempts to change that one.)

[Eagledad]

The challenge with BORs is having a good group of members to man them. A canned list (as you call it) helps troops bring in parents without a lot of training. We tried to keep to BOR leaders trained so that they could guide the rest of the board members toward learning from the scouts experiences with the questions from the list. But it's a challenge.

I'm personally not a fan of BORs because their purpose is difficult to understand for the novice of scouting. There is a lot of confusion understanding the difference of checking to see is the scout is ready to advance and checking the quality of the program. And how to do that without using the big "R" word (retesting). The BOR is encourage to not fail a scout, but what if the program quality is so bad that the scout isn't ready? Shesh!

I've said for many years that if the main purpose of the BOR is a check on the program, the parents should be interviewed as well because they will fill in where their son doesn't give a complete picture. Otherwise let the Scouts do the BOR.

Barry

[ParkMan]

What's we've done to help with this is we've got a focused BOR organizer.  That person explains the concept to new parents and organizes a BOR such the either he/she sits on it, or another experienced person does.

That helps us make sure that it's never just new parents in the room with the scout.  One person who knows the ropes is always there.

It has also helped us dispel the notion that a BOR is about testing.  Sure, we have the Scout talk about accomplishments.  We also have him go over the oath, law, etc.  That latter is done so that we can have a conversation about how a scout presents himself.  A newer scout we can guide to be a better job and improve.  An older scout, who should know, we can talk with about making sure he is prepared.

I don't think we've ever failed someone in a BOR.  We might have told someone to come back if they are out of uniform.  But, our purpose is not testing.