Two Changes: How would you give input?

[John-in-KC]

Venividi,

 

Thank you, kind Sir!

 

I also asked for TWO ideas. Why? Two makes you get to what really matters to your heart and mind. It takes little effort to give a laundry list. It takes a bit more to think about just a couple ... and say a few words about their importance.

 

Thank you to all so far.

[ASM857]

If I had my way

1) I would make Star & Life have specific leadership goals. Too many parents say well he was a patrol leader for the right time, and unfortunatley at our troop the commitee caves and awards rank.

2) I believe we need to have or profesional staff evaluated by scouters, they do a good job but sometimes they worry more about the Charter Org than whose leading the boys

 

YIS

Doug

[Venividi]

My two blue sky ideas:

 

1) Create 2 tiers of methods - primary and secondary. Put advancement in the secondary tier.

 

2) Reposition scout camps from primary focus on MB's to primary focus on outdoor adventure.

[scoutingagain]

I know I had my two but I changed my mind on one after reading the thread on the school vrs play thing. I would like to see MB Universities, Colleges etc. outlawed.

 

SA

[FireKat]

May not be program but seems to impact it.

A new way for professional staff to determine productivity.  The method now seems to foucus too much on numbers not quality to the scouts.

[derf56]

There are two things I feel will help the program. One, I have to agree with many of you that we have to get rid of the merit badge mills and bring back what summercamps should be for, fun and adventure. second, I think the age limit for Scouts should start at 10 years of age. Most cubs by the second year of webelos are bored and need somthing new. Most of what they do for the arrow of light they have to do over again after they join scouts. Boys at 10 years need what scouting will give them.

[CalicoPenn]

My two - though one of them is a two parter because they are related - hope that's ok.

 

1) Bring back time in rank to advance from Tenderfoot to Second Class and from Second Class to First Class, and change time in rank back to 6 months from First Class to Star. Let's give the Scouts a chance to grow into their next rank.

 

2) a) Eliminate "mandatory" Merit Badges for Eagle (or any other rank) - let the Scouts choose the 21 Merit Badges they wish to earn, so that they are based on his interests. (Not suggesting that the Merit Badges themselves be eliminated, they should remain in the pool of available badges, just suggesting they not be mandatory).

b) In place of the "mandatory" Merit Badges, bring back "Skill Awards" based on most of the "mandatory" Merit Badges, perhaps not as detailed but designed well to cover the material. Make it a requirement that one must earn 2 "Skill Awards" for every rank from Tenderfoot to Eagle - that covers the 12 "mandatory" Merit Badges (though I would combine the three Citizenship MB's into 1 Citizenship SA, giving room for a Cooking SA and one other). The 12 Skill Awards I'd suggest would be: First Aid, Camping, Cooking, Citizenship, Swimming, Personal Fitness, Communications, Environmental Science/Conservation, Family Life, Lifesaving/Emergency Preparedness, Pioneering/Orienteering, & Wilderness Survival. I'd not bring back the belt loops, instead, I'd suggest a small triangular patch - about the same size as a Merit Badge, that could be worn just like a Merit Badge.

 

Calico

[John-in-KC]

OK, folks,

 

Blue Sky period is closed.

 

Now, take a look at someone else's idea. You can simply agree with it, amplify it, OR...

 

IF you choose to critique it, THEN explain why.

 

"It's a stupid idea." doesn't explain why...

 

Let's see what of these ideas made us think...

 

AS FOR ME...

 

I like Ed's comments about mandatory training, but the follow-along is both the content and the trainer have to pass the "not a waste of my time" test.

 

One example: This weekend at Scout Camp workday I sat through a half hour safety class covering ergonomics. The training itself was literally read from the slides. What got us going was the cross-discussion ... between a lot of trades and crafts people who had real stories to tell of unsafe actions and their consequences. Real people with real stories made this training good.

[evmori]

OK!

 

I don't like Calico's idea of getting rid of the Eagle required MB's. If this is done, one boy could choose 21 of the easiest MB's while another could chose 21 of the toughest! That doesn't make for a level playing field.

 

I do think Cooking should replace the vanilla MB Family Life as a required MB.

 

Ed Mori

1 Peter 4:10(This message has been edited by evmori)

[eagle90]

I totally agree with making Cooking a required merit badge.

 

I disagree with lowering the age for Scouts to 10 years old.

1. Most scouts (and their parents!) are not ready for it.

2. The age range from 10 to 18 is too great to have a comprehensive program.

 

Dale

[local1400]

Derf is right about kids being bored by the time they reach Boy Scouts. I blame this on Tiger Cubs, start them too young and after 5 or 6 years, yes, they're ready for something else. No Tigers in my day and I stayed in until I was 17 (and yes, we had video games then too, the old Atari 2600).

[CNYScouter]

Instead of lowering the age for Scouts to 10 perhaps WEBELOS can be split with the first year being run by the Pack and the second year run as an offshoot of Troop program.

 

Earn the WEBELOS badge as part of a Pack and the AOL as part of the Troop.

 

Back when was involved with a Pack I noticed that the WEBELOS dens that were run like a Cub program usually had very few crossovers and the Dens that were run more like a Boy Scout patrol had almost every Cub crossover into a Troop.

 

It just seems that even with training my Cub Leaders dont understand Boy Scouts and thus dont really understand how to run a WEBELOS den.

 

I see a large number of Troops with adults hanging around long after their sons have aged out and don't want to the Cub program.

 

Running a WEBELOS den would be a great place to utilize them.

 

[John-in-KC]

As for me, I came up into Boy Scouts before "skill awards." I only have a MB sash.

 

Skill awards came around just as I moved up to Exploring. I think if we re-look the tasks themselves, and the STANDARDS associated with them, we may get what I think is the intended effect: Real learning.

 

Of course, I'm also a product of my enviroment, and for 30 years that was a Taylor-like application of task, condition, and standard.