RE: So What Do You Do To make The Advancement Method Work?

[Eamonn]

I think of all the methods that we have advancement is the one that raises the most questions and at times is the method that is most misunderstood.

Sad to say it seems that there are a lot of adults who for some reason that I fail to understand are either pushing Scouts to reach Eagle Scout rank or going the other way and not supporting and helping Scouts reach their goals.

There is a lot of talk about reaching First Class Scout rank within a specified time and if there is an ideal age for a Lad to become an Eagle Scout.

So how are things going with the unit you serve? And what could we do to help improve the understanding of this method, if indeed it is misunderstood?

Eamonn.

[CNYScouter]

I do not know if the advancement method that is most misunderstood (IMHO its the patrol method but thats another thread) but I think that its the one method that is given more emphasis than the other 7 methods.

 

I have found that MBs are given too much importance in the program. I just left a program where MBs were taught every week and not much else. Even our monthly roundtables are focused on MBs. For the next 1-1/2 years, our districts roundtable schedule has nothing but MBs for training.

 

I just completed SM training and dont think MBs were mentioned once the whole weekend and yet leaders come back from this and all they can think about is getting scouts MBs.

 

I talked with a different Troops SM about this and liked his attitude on this If a Scout, after spending 3 years at summer camp earning MBs, cant take it on himself to earn the 7 or 8 MBs that he is lacking for Eagle they dont deserve the rank.

 

One of the biggest things we do as a Troop for advancement is to get our scouts to summer camp the first year. Our council has a very good program for younger scouts that allows them to do most of the requirements through first class during the week at camp. They take this for the day and it gives them the other halve to work on MBs.

 

Currently the Troop I am in offers MBs once a month during a Troop meeting. I would like to stop this and only offer them starting 45 min. before the meeting. I have seen that most of the Scouts in the Troop are not taking a merit badge during this time and are often left just playing Frisbee or just hanging out the whole time.

 

CNYScouter

 

 

 

[Bob White]

Since the scoutmaster is incharge of the advancement program I can not answer to what I do now I can answer to what I did as a SM and what I teach as a trainer and commissioner.

 

The advamcement method in scouting is not the goal or purose of the program it is a tool to achieve the three Aims and the Mission. The goal of scouting is not the Eagle Rank, the goal is to teach young people to make ethical decisions throughout their lives. If eagle Scout were the goal then we fail over 95% of the scouts in the program adn I do not believe that is true.

 

The Advancement Method is a program structure for adult leaders to use to have a program where, (through participation in troop patrol and individual activities) we are able to give positive recognition and rewards to scouts who exhibit the successful use of skills and healthy habits. Where we can teach the habit of continual learning and allow scouts to make self-determining decisions in a safe environment.

 

More later.

 

 

 

 

[Eagledad]

Hi All

 

Personally I think the Uniform Method is the most misunderstood method, but that is another thread I think we want to dodge for a while.

 

I give credit that BW started a good response on this subject. From the adults point of view, the Advancement Method is a tool for teaching life skills like setting goals and acting on a plan to reach those goals. If adults would focus less on awards and more on behavoir performance, the benefits of the Advancement Methods would stand out like a beam of light in the dark.

 

The problem Ive found while teaching is new Adult Leaders havent got the experience to see the growth and maturity from their son gains from seeking out and learning skills at his pace, not the parents. The adults havent yet experienced for their son, the actions required to advance are just as rewarding to their sons future as the award itself. So they instead focus on what they know works, the resume and stature.

 

This wasnt near the problem 25 years ago because society wasnt in as much a hurry to succeed as we are today. Todays parents want their kids to get it all by the age 16. Not just advancement, but the best grades, the best teams, the best musical instruments. Scouting was a program designed for the adults to follow the scouts waiting to guide their curiosity. Today the parents lead the way plowing away obstacles so their kids cruise to an easy adulthood. We tend to ignore the curiosity and dreams of boys and push them to be men way to early. We dont allow them to stop and smell the roses.

 

What can a unit do to promote the advancement method? Insure the environment encourages the scout to advance at his pace, not the adults. Teach the adults the value of their son setting goals and timelines and then independently acting on those goals. Make the scouts handle all phases of advancement from teaching the skills to presenting the awards at the end of the meeting. Dont really on summer camps and MB colleges for your troop advancement program.

 

Going long, sorry.

 

I love this scouting stuff.

 

Barry

 

[NIscouter]

I assist our advancement ASM in our troop. We have looked at many areas to assist the boys in advancing, but try not to make it the all consuming focus. We have talked about having BOR for boys that have not advanced in during a set period of time (1 year or so) to review thier experience with the troop. We also try, during each BOR for advancement,to ask the boy if they have put toether a plan for reaching the next level. We advise them to review all the activities in thier lives and try to set a reasonable goal for reaching the next level. We try to remember that it is the journey, not the destination, that is important.

[Bob White]

Ok so how to make it work. I think in large part it is to put the purpose of the method into the forefront and not the glamour of the rank achievement.

 

The purpose of the advancement method is to reinforce the use of positive skills and behavior that the scout learns both in and out of scouting. The skill o the leaders part is to give little notice to the wrong behavior and to focus on the expected positive behavior then rewarding that trait once the scout shows that he understands its use and applies it correctly.

 

Too often we focus on the end award when the real growth takes place in the way we teach and test and not it the presentation of the badge.

 

Way to much is made of scouts being pushed by parents. Far more are rushed through ranks by leaders. Too much is made of the difficulty of doing MB outside of meetings. The purpose of the meeting is to stimulate the interest in learning. For the most part, doing MBs in troop meetings is a result of a weak program not the sign of a strong one.

 

Under the scouting program methods the scouts are introduced and informed of merit badge oppportunities and then allowed to choose their own advancement path. A boy who leaves scouting at 18 as a Star or Life scout, who has chosen his own road and made his own plans and goals, is a far better success story than the boy who is spoon fed his Eagle path through a series of merit badge focused meetings and summer camps.

 

Choosing to try and attain Eagle is far more valuable to a scouts personal growth than having it thrust upon him as so often happens.

 

(More later)

[SeattlePioneer]

Oooohhhh. LOTS of good commments on this thread.

 

 

Eagle Dad's observation that pressure for advancement was different 25 years ago is supported by my own recollections. I was SM of a troop twenty odd years ago, and I don't recall that the idea of First Class in One Year was discussed as a desireable Troop goal or objective. Now it seems to be a very widespread expectation.

 

Frankly, I tended to be unhappy back in The Day with how fast the Scouts were advancing. But when they did advance, they had learned the skills and practiced them thoroughly as a general rule.

 

In particular, I remember one Scout who wwas stuck at the Ternderfoot rank because he was afraid of swimming. He had a physical handicap, but his parents assured me that it didn't prevent the boy from learning to swim ---the primary barrier was the boy's own fears about swimming.

 

I remember he was reluctant to even walk out on the dock at summer camp.

 

The Troop liked to go swimming at a pool, and did so every couple of months. So this Scout got encouragement to swim, and saw the fun other Scouts were having.

 

This went on for several years.

 

The last outing I was on with the Troop before I left, I was really pleased to see this boy swimming along with everyone else. He had decided to overcome his fears and take swimmming lessons, and recognizing that advancement to Second Class was more satisfying than any Eagle advancement.

 

These days, I buy into the general aim of supporting advancement to First Class in a year. As I understand it, boys who do so are more likely to remain in Scouting. I'm pleased to say that the opportunities to do so are abundantly available in the Troop program, but few boys are accepting the responsibility to advance or willing to teach and sign off requirements for junior Scouts.

 

What I've done is to go through Scout Handbooks after outings and sign off requirements that I've seen the boys complete.

 

That tends to leave a checkboard pattern of unmet requirements that are a barrier to advancement, with most requirements met but one or two not completed.

 

I like Nlscouter's suggestion to use a Board of Review as a way of identifying requirements that boys need to complete and to counsel and encourage them on completing those requirements. It would be a way of re emphasizing to the Scouts that advancement is supposed to be their responsibility. Very good idea.

 

 

 

Seattle Pioneer