Helicopter Scouter-ism Goes Nanotech

[desertrat77]

C2,

 

I'm tracking with you on the first point. Got that the first post.

 

The second, the college admission issue, I'm still not sure what you are talking about, even after your amplification.

 

As the original, self-admitted lazy guy who didn't want to google and then plow thru some stale academic screed in my off duty time, I was hoping you'd get to the heart of the matter in Post 1 so we'd have a good discussion.

 

I applaud your eccentric style, but please consider brevity and clarity as friends.

[Callooh! Callay!1428010939]

"Such drama!"

Thanks brother. ...and FWIW, I wasn't suggesting that there is an official nationwide system that mandates the discipline the poster was worried about. But it's apparent that in the poster's neck of the woods there is some sort of system be it within policy or without that... oh never mind - I will follow your sage advice:

 

"Here's an idea - get real... go take some boys camping."

 

That is, of course, exactly what you were doing when you posted it from your Blackberry during that brief period when you were hiking through an area with coverage right?

[qwazse]

One would be surprised at how much time "off trail" is involved in taking youth camping. So, I wouldn't doubt that in some way FS was doing just that.

 

Since I was party in derailing C!C!'s post, I'll come back to topic. There are parents who try to "game the system" -- partly out of lack of faith that their boy can make this trail on his own, partly out of a conditioning to domineer, partly because of a culture clash with a new troop and its traditions. There are also parents who "bump into" controls that a committee has in place to help boys advance decently and in order. There are some committee's that are officious and others that are outright belligerent.

 

Telling one parent from the other or one committee from the other is impossible this side of the web. So we're, in different ways, telling folks to "play nice."

 

As to concerns about impostors, it happens. Not so much on job/college hunts, but in more casual ways. For example, an 18 year old may be unwilling to admit he did not get his Eagle in spite of completing his project and all but one merit badge. Then when a scout, playing a "collect the signature" game asks him to sign the Eagle square he caves under the peer pressure. True story, and yes I did confront the young man discreetly after I heard about it. I pulled the "don't sully my badge again" card. I did not have a grand tribunal, but others may have.

 

Bottom line: I don't care about the value any college or Armed force or employer puts on the badge. I do care about the value I put on it. Therefore, I will act accordingly and hope that I don't come off sounding abrasive in the process.