From National: Official Name

[Buggie]

15 hours ago, Tampa Turtle said:

toxic masculinity

I know what the term means etc, but I can't help but to think of it in a different way. 

That funk cloud that slams into you when you encounter some boys. 

We had a lock in once and I had been doing the hourly room check along with another ASM, looking in to make sure all was well in the rooms. Now I don't have a sense of smell (hooray for anosmia!) and for one check we switched it up to checking different rooms. The other ASM came back after a while and proclaimed he nearly died from the smell when he opened the door where the boys were. And in typical fashion, all the men then had to go and smell it for themselves. 

[Eagledad]

15 hours ago, NJCubScouter said:

First of all, mazel tov, as they said back in the Old Country.  Second of all, this is why I have been a little surprised and perhaps a bit skeptical about the reports in this forum of current Boy Scouts being generally dead-set opposed to this.  Most teenaged boys I know would not be so upset about being "forced" to spend more time around teenaged girls.

True, but young males who matured through puberty also instinctively resist change. I agree the attraction to the opposite sex is very powerful, but the attraction can be entertained almost anytime and anywhere outside of scouting. Especially in this culture. The scouting experience  for each scout is personal, even a bit sacred. I would be surprised to see the older scouts so willing to give it up. I used to coached units (and still do on this forum) that when the adults go through a leadership change, dramatic program changes come from the young scouts who have not yet bonded with personal experiences. Appease the older scouts until they move on. Build the new program with the younger scouts.

Barry

[Gwaihir]

On 5/7/2018 at 4:40 PM, Hawkwin said:

I don't think there will a single first but many many firsts all on the same day - such is the nature of Eagle BORs.

from my understanding, this is the plan, to have all the first batch of girl eagles to get a special national court of honor.  seems like treating everyone the same to me. 

[Saltface]

20 hours ago, Gwaihir said:

from my understanding, this is the plan, to have all the first batch of girl eagles to get a special national court of honor.  seems like treating everyone the same to me. 

Do you have an online source for that?

[NJCubScouter]

20 hours ago, Gwaihir said:

from my understanding, this is the plan, to have all the first batch of girl eagles to get a special national court of honor.  seems like treating everyone the same to me. 

I guess it would be interesting to find out what kind of National recognition was given to Arthur Eldred in 1912.  His Wikipedia page says the approval of his application came in a personal letter from James E. West, and they had to delay the award of his Eagle medal because they were still designing it, so it seems there was at least some measure of extra hoopla for the first MALE Eagle Scout.

[Hawkwin]

1 hour ago, NJCubScouter said:

 some measure of extra hoopla for the first MALE Eagle Scout.

Ya, but how many Eagles did we have in 1912? Last year we had something like 56,000 - over 1,000 a week. I would assume that we will probably have a few dozen if not a few hundred girls that are all approved at the same time by the National Advancement Program Team. I would think that BSA would want to discourage Troops from trying to game the system by having a single first and instead simply confirm that all applicants during XXX period will be approved by the NAPT on the same day ; thereby reducing the rush to be the first to pass their BOR.

[Jameson76]

5 minutes ago, Hawkwin said:

Ya, but how many Eagles did we have in 1912? Last year we had something like 56,000 - over 1,000 a week. I would assume that we will probably have a few dozen if not a few hundred girls that are all approved at the same time by the National Advancement Program Team. I would think that BSA would want to discourage Troops from trying to game the system by having a single first and instead simply confirm that all applicants during XXX period will be approved by the NAPT on the same day ; thereby reducing the rush to be the first to pass their BOR.

Looks like 23 in 1912

For those wondering, the big jump in 1973 (almost 47,000) was the result of the impending changes for the much hyped changes to scouting rolled out in 1971 (sound familiar).  Did not attain that number again until 1999

The updates  in 70's changed the number of merit badges from 21 - 24, took out camping and cooking, introduced skill awards, and had my personal favorite recommendation within the scout book, that if you are out on a hike and get lost, to find your way you ask a policeman...urban scouting at it's pinnacle

More detail

https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2017/03/01/number-of-eagle-scouts-per-year/

[ParkMan]

9 hours ago, Jameson76 said:

Looks like 23 in 1912

Interesting stats.  Thanks a lot for sharing them.

In addition to their only being 23, I have to imagine that it wasn't quite the big deal back then.  It was still a pretty new program gaining traction.

[rmeints]

On 5/12/2018 at 12:51 AM, ParkMan said:

Interesting stats.  Thanks a lot for sharing them.

In addition to their only being 23, I have to imagine that it wasn't quite the big deal back then.  It was still a pretty new program gaining traction.

Becoming the first Eagle Scout was absolutely a big deal. When Arthur Eldred was announced as the first official Eagle Scout there were letters of protest from at least two other scouts (who ended up being the second and third official Eagles). It made national news. Arthur's Eagle Board of Review was conducted by James E. West, Dan Beard, Ernest Seton Thompson, and Lord Baden-Powell himself, who just happened to be in New York as part of a nationwide speaking tour. Arthur passed with flying colors, but he was put through his paces for several hours, including having to start a fire with a bow and two pieces of wood.

[ParkMan]

1 minute ago, rmeints said:

Becoming the first Eagle Scout was absolutely a big deal. When Arthur Eldred was announced as the first official Eagle Scout there were letters of protest from at least two other scouts (who ended up being the second and third official Eagles). It made national news. Arthur's Eagle Board of Review was conducted by James E. West, Dan Beard, Ernest Seton Thompson, and Lord Baden-Powell himself, who just happened to be in New York as part of a nationwide speaking tour. Arthur passed with flying colors, but he was put through his paces for several hours, including having to start a fire with a bow and two pieces of wood.

Wow - interesting history.  I'm surprised a new organization became that visible so quickly.

[desertrat77]

1 hour ago, rmeints said:

Arthur passed with flying colors, but he was put through his paces for several hours, including having to start a fire with a bow and two pieces of wood.

[Rmeints, my sarcasm below isn't directed at you, but at the status quo of the BSA today....]

So those grand gents, including BP himself, grilled Arthur for several hours.  And--gasp--they RETESTED his scout skills!   The horror, the horror.... Didn't Arthur already have a card or a piece of paper showing that he was signed off on those skills, thus exempting him from any future retest should a bunch of old mean guys demand it?  What about his feelings?  What about his stress level?  Surely they provided him regular breaks and a compassion puppy.  Perhaps a cry room?   Did his mother intervene and threaten legal action?  So the board didn't just look at his documentation the day before, shrug their collective shoulders, and say "well, he's technically meet all of the requirements, I guess we have to pass him."

No.  The board put Arthur through the wringer, and he passed with flying colors.

How the world has changed.

Edited May 17, 2018 by desertrat77

[The Latin Scot]

Well, there had been a number of similar organizations appearing all over the country in the years prior to the BSA's founding - the Woodcraft Indians, Sons of Daniel Boone, etc. The Boy Scouts of America simply conglomerated the majority of them into one organization, giving it an immediately large starting population already. Such groups had been making headlines too with the success they had been having and the good it was doing for boys across the nation, so by the time Eldred was ready for the first Board of Review, Scouting was already square in the public eye. 

[ParkMan]

21 minutes ago, desertrat77 said:

[Rmeints, my sarcasm below isn't directed at you, but at the status quo of the BSA today....]

So those grand gents, including BP himself, grilled Arthur for several hours.  And--gasp--they RETESTED his scout skills!   The horror, the horror.... Didn't Arthur already have a card or a piece of paper showing that he was signed off on those skills, thus exempting him from any future retest should a bunch of old mean guys demand it?  What about his feelings?  What about his stress level?  Surely they provided him regular breaks and a compassion puppy.  Perhaps a cry room?   Did his mother intervene and threaten legal action?  So the board didn't just look at his documentation the day before, shrug their collective shoulders, and say "well, he's technically meet all of the requirements, I guess we have to pass him."

No.  The board put him through the wringer, and Arthur passed with flying colors.

How the world has changed.

Yeah - wouldn't be such a bad thing if we challenged scouts more today.  Perhaps a day will come that we'll once again recognize the value of challenge for the Scouts.  

[Oldscout448]

The amount of pride in any accomplishment is directly proportional to the amount of effort expended in achieving it. 

I still remember pacing  back and forth waiting my turn outside the room where the troop committee held its monthly boards.    Every scout in the troop was always tested on something.  Almost always it was our weakest skill.    It seemed that the  committee actually asked our patrol leaders about us.  Sneaky old adults that they were!    If we failed and I mean totally failed not just struggled a  wee bit we were kindly asked if we felt that we truly deserved the rank.   If we answered no we were asked to let them know when we thought we were, and they would meet with us as soon as possible.     As scouts we understood that in our troop badges were awarded for showing mastery of the skill not just a passing acquaintance.     That's why we wore them with such pride.   We were all  rather very disdainful of the troop down the road which had quite a number of scouts who wore Star or Life patches and couldn't light a fire  on a hot dry day without an entire box of matches,or tie a bowline without the handbook  and several tries.    

We loved the merit badges that were challenging like shooting, pioneering, wilderness survival,  archery. or lifesaving.  Fingerprinting?   Bah !

Lets Make Scouting Fun Again !

 

 

Edited May 17, 2018 by Oldscout448