First Class First Year

[evmori]

Actually, it's important a Scout earn each rank & retain what they have learned. If it takes 2 years for a Scout to earn 1st Class & he retains what he has learned, excellent! Our job (among others) is to make sure the opportunity to learn & advance is available! If a Scout advances to 1st Class in 18 months & retains nothing, what is the point?

 

We don't need more programs. We need to improve on the one we already have!

 

Ed Mori

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[SR540Beaver]

BW,

 

Honestly, I don't have a beef against FCFY. As many have said, if you are following the program and/or offer a good program, it isn't relevant. It will happen naturally. I believe it is the SPL handbook that has a schedule form for campouts. The activity resource book has it as well. If the PLC is planning the outing and following a format, skills are built into what you are doing.

 

Bob, set aside your 30 years of service and all of the training you have taken or taught. If someone throws the term "FCFY" at you, what comes to mind? A goal of making sure you advance your boys to 1st class within the first year?

[FScouter]

"A goal of making sure you advance your boys to 1st class within the first year?"

 

I can tell you what came into my head the first time I heard that term and saw the FCFY tracking sheet. It wasn't that it was MY goal to advance boys. Rather that it was part of my job to help the boys get there.

 

"OH"

"The boys ought to achieve First Class in a year. Hmmm."

"UH OH, most of our new boys are barely out of Tenderfoot and we're 10 months into the year already!"

"Gee, who needs what skill and let's see if we can work that into the meetings this month and our next campout."

"I hope nobody notices I haven't been attentive to my job!"

[Bob White]

"Bob, set aside your 30 years of service and all of the training you have taken or taught. If someone throws the term "FCFY" at you, what comes to mind?

 

Understand that I am answering your question as you asked it. What would I do? When I hear of a term or a recommended practice in scouting that I do not know I investigate it. I read, ask questions of those who use it, compare it to the methods of scouting, and if it is a recommended part of the program I use it and practice it until I get good at it.

 

This is not to say that everbody must do the same, I am simply answering the question that was asked of me of what do I do.

 

 

[Hunt]

"The boys ought to achieve First Class in a year. Hmmm."

 

I submit that even you have fallen into the trap. You should have said, "The boys should be able to achieve First Class in a year." This is the problem, as I see it--the idea of FCFY as a measurement, rather than a reminder of what the program should be like.

[FScouter]

It could be viewed as a measurement of how well Scouting is being offered by the adult leaders. My first impression of it was just that. Am I providing our boys a good Scouting experience? If they are not advancing, am I doing a good job as Scoutmaster?

[madkins007]

I like FScouter's last comment.

 

When we speak of child development, we often say a child should do such and such by age x. They should walk by 'a' months, talk by 'b' months, cut a straight line with scissors by 'c' years, etc.

 

The reality is that each of these things pretty much happen when they happen- usually within a range of so many months or years. Doctors and teachers are often beset upon by parents either bemoaning that their child has not accomplished some milestone on time, or bragging that they were early. Some parents even try to artifically accelerate the program to beat the stats for some misguided reasons.

 

Our Scouts are much the same. They will hit First Class in due and proper time... assuming a few basics. One of the basics is that we, as leaders, need to help ensure that opportunities for advancement, learing, practice, etc. are available.

 

Had the FCE been presented more along the lines of a series of guidelines for unit activity planning WITHOUT any hint about what rank a Scout 'should' be, I woulda been a lot happier with it.

 

[Backpacker]

BW

Now that you have attacked my post and others here as well, your last two posts were vague in content as to what points you were trying to make.

 

First,FCFY is not a bad idea as I stated in my post, but I agree with ED and others who state that if the troop is being run correctly that this will happen automatically for all the boys who really want it. I agree "you do not need to add things if you follow the methods and programs of scouting", to quote you BW from other threads.

 

I strongly encourage all my boys to get FCFY and give them ample opportunities to achieve that goal and most of them do, but that does not mean you turn your back on those who don't make it. All of us who have been through training and have taught should know that not everything in the scouting program is black or white and not every boy fits into the same mold. This do or die mentality of some leaders proves to me they do not truly understand the true mission or goals of scouting.

[FScouter]

There has been a good exchange of ideas and perspectives in this thread, but I see no attacking of posts. Let's please not start.

[FScouter]

From the advancement chapter of Scoutmaster Handbook, regarding First Class Emphasis:

 

"The requirements for Tenderfoot, Second Class, and First Class provide a Scout with a solid grounding in the skills that will allow him to take advantage of Scouting adventures. He will be able to enjoy the Scouting program to its fullest. That success and the satisfaction he is finding in his troop and patrol activities can solidify a boys commitment to Scouting, and help him set his sights on the ranks of Star, Life, and Eagle. A boy who advances to First Class within his first year in Scouting has a better-than-average chance of eventually becoming an Eagle Scout.

 

There are many ways that troop leaders can motivate new Scouts to make their way to First Class. One of the most effective is the new-Scout patrol With the help of an assistant Scoutmaster and a troop guide, members of a new-Scout patrol can often advance to the First Class rank over the course of a year.

 

The First Class Tracking Sheet is an effective means of recording each boys progress and encouraging his continued advancement.

 

This all there is to FCFY and First Class Emphasis. Seems simple enough.

[dsteele]

FScouter, thank you for going back to the source.

 

The way I read it, there's a lot of flexibility there. It's up to the troop to provide the opportunities so a Scout can earn First Class in the first year. The reason, according to my reading of the text, is not the earning of the badges, but the aquisition of the skills needed to enjoy the outdoors in earning the higher ranks.

 

I'll leave the sleeping dog of the NSP to lie sleeping . . . but I did notice it said NSP was "One" of the best method and not the "only" method (of getting Scouts acclimated.)

 

Just my interpretation of writing that seem open to some interpretation.

 

Unc.

[Bob White]

No post or poster was "attacked" by me in the making of this thread. Please be accurate in how such words are used. Such terms do nothing to advance the discussion of the topic but give a suggestion of trying to pick a fight which I want no part of.

 

I wrote only in reference to the topic and comments made regarding it. To say my post was vague is a personal opinion not a fact. To respond to post with references from a BSA resource is hardly an attack.

 

I am confident that the moderators are acutely sensitive to the contents of my posts and would have acted promptly had it not been appropriate.

[evmori]

I like the way hunt put it. When FCFY becomes "we gotta do it this way" then there is a problem. If it is used as a reminder then FCFY serves as purpose. And isn't the purpose of Scouting to help boys make ethical decisions? Not advance at lightening speed!

 

Ed Mori

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[acco40]

Earning 1st Class rank in one's first year is a goal. A highly achievable goal for an enthusiastic Scout who is a member of a troop with focused troop meetings, monthy outings, good leaders (adult and youth) and a supportive committee. Also, (I'll take the BSA's word for it), Scouts who earn FCFY are more likely to stay in the program and earn Eagle than those who don't.

 

The problems with setting a goal (either by the Scout, the patrol, the troop, or the national council) is that for those who don't make or meet that goal sometimes get defensive. The problem with the BSA's postulate is again, it doesn't show cause and effect. My hunch is that boys who earn the Eagle rank are more than likely to have earned FCFY. Now, a well structured program that has advancement as one of its methods (ring a bell anyone?) helps a boy achieve the real goals - character, citizenship, as well as mental and physical fitness.

[schleining]

FCFY is a highly attainable goal.. and goals that are attainable are good goals for the Scouts. It assists in the success of the advancment METHOD.

We just had 3 of our Scouts earn First Class. They did it in 1 year and another will earn it next month (1 year and 1 month). The point is the program our Troop offers (which is in line with the BSA) moves a Scout along the trail to First Class so he does complete it in 1 year. Nothing is given to the Scout, but if he is active and participates and stays on top of HIS advancement than he will finish FC in FY. It is a natural thing.

I agree that if a Scout does not complete FC in a year or 18 months, than he will probably not stick with it... Advancement is not hard, but it takes the Scout to stay on top of where he is. He needs to make decisions that allow him to progress thru the ranks.

Just like picking merit badges for Summer Camp. The Scout needs to decide weather or not he wants to earn merit badges that set him up for advancement or is he just going to have fun and take basketry every summer. That is not a bad thing, I am just saying it is part of the decision making we are helping teach.

Getting off topic...so I'll close.

 

Jerry