Changes

[SR540Beaver]

Ed,

 

I know it ain't supposed to happen, but our district does allow Webelos to participate in our Camporee. Not a separate program, but actually compete in the compititions. They camp in the same site as well. Heck, they've even started allowing Bears to attend. It is used as a recruiting effort with direct hands on experience with the troop from beginning to end. I thought that was great when my son was a Webelos. Now that we are part of a troop, I don't. I'd like to see it as a direct competition event so the boys can work hard and prepare their skills. As it stands now, the competition part of it is all skewed. The Scouts have no control over how well they will be able to perform in a competition because all of a sudden they have a huge number of Webelos involved who are not prepared. There is no incentive for the Scouts to hone their skills for Camporee. Our district also holds Webelos Woods which is a teaching/doing competition and recruitment for Webelos put on by Scouts. The Webelos get to camp with a Troop and get to check them out for possible crossover. We shouldn't be diluting Camporee when we have Webelos Woods for recruitment.

 

Korea,

 

I thought Eamonn and I were long lost broters seperated at birth. It appears I now have another brother out there. I ditto everything you said about moving from stone tablets to the computer age. My pet peeve is visiting a unit's website and there is absolutely no contact information. None of the adult leadership's names, phone numbers or e-mail addresses are there. Another thing they skimp on is information about where they meet, what day and what time. Hey, a website can be a great recruitment tool if you'll let it be.

[SWScouter]

I would like to see the whole BSA program bumped up to what it use to be age wise. Don't let boys join Cub Scouts until the second grade or age seven and do not let the boys join Boy Scouts until age 12 or the completion of the sixth grade.

 

Hey acco40, when did boys have to be 12 to join Boy Scouts? I joined at 11 in 1971; man you must be really old.

 

SWScouter

[NJCubScouter]

SW, this is from http://www.troop97.net/bsahist1.htm#bsdiv

 

Age Range. The upper age limit for Boy Scout troops has always been 18. For almost 40 years, the entry age was 12. The BSA lowered the entry age to 11 in 1949. In 1972, the entry age was slightly lowered again, to 10-1/2 if a boy had finished Fifth Grade. In 1988, the age limit was further adjusted to allow a boy to join either at age 11, or upon completion of Fifth Grade regardless of age, or upon earning the Webelos Arrow of Light award; in 2004, this requirement was clarified to set the minimum age at 10.

[SWScouter]

Yep, really old...

 

Thanks for the info NJ.

[NWScouter]

Cub Scouts started out in 1930 with a 9-year-old age requirement. Then Boy Scouts dropped to 11 they went to 8 years old. In the late eighties when the two Webleos program started they changed to grade based joining requirement.

[NWScouter]

That is two year Webelos program not two Webelos. Sorry about that.

[NJCubScouter]

SW, that whole article (actually 3 different sections linked together) is very interesting, at least to someone who was in Scouting long ago (1960s and 70s in my case), then was out for awhile and back in for just the past few years. I remember a lot of those changes being made and it is interesting to see when some of them were un-done.