If Scouting were left up to the Scout

[shortridge]

I'm far from Scouting age and don't have a pipeline into the youthful mind. But here's what I see the core changes as being:

 

>> Challenges of skill, not rote bookwork. If a boy was designing the list of Eagle-required MBs, it would include Orienteering, Backpacking, Wilderness Survival and Small-Boat Sailing over Family Life, Personal Management and the Citizenships. FL and PM, in fact, wouldn't even *be* badges.

 

>> A practical, rugged, BDU-style uniform, one that you can wear to go crawling in the mud, toss in the washing machine and forget about it. Patrol patches, troop numbers, position/rank badges, and that's it.

 

>> No indoor "troop meetings." In fact, no "meetings" period. Adventures, treks, missions, projects, hikes, expeditions ... everything focused around getting outside regularly.

 

>> As few adults involved as possible. No troop campouts where ASMs outnumber the boys.

[desertrat77]

Shortridge, I think you hit a bullseye, spot on.

[Eagle92]

Short,

 

I gotta disagree with you on the indoor meetings. That's where the learning of skills and planning for the monthly fun stuff comes in. So there is a purpose to it.

 

 

BUT those weekly meetings DO need to have some fun outdoor games in them

[desertrat77]

Eagle92,

 

I'm a little surprised at your last...surely scouts can learn skills and plan things at outdoor meetings?

[Platypus96]

I think shortridge is pretty close here. Orienteering and wilderness survival should definately be eagle required. If nothing else, I think it would be much harder to become an eagle scout. It is the adults who want their kids to put eagle on college applications and executives who want eagle scouts in newspapers that make the requirements easier. Any eagle scout I know who is worth his salt would say that he is disappointed in some people who hold the rank. I personally would make inclusion in the OA a requirement. If your peers don't think you are an honor camper or a leader, then why should you be allowed to wear that badge?

[Eagledad]

More focus on Patrol Meetings and less on the Troop meetings. I could see it becoming one Troop meeting a month with two or three patrol meetings a month.

 

Barry

[Eagle92]

'Rat,

 

I admit I'm a native "Y'at" from "Nawlins" and hate the cold. So sometimes those indoor meetings on a cold day are a benefit

 

EDITED: meetings do not need to be indoors, but IMHO a scout meeting, whether on patrol level or troop (I know many troops combine both these days) does need to occur so that the Scouts are prepared to work as a patrol to have fun on the monthly activity, preferably a camp out of some sort, but I can live with a hike, major service project taking several weekends, or fundraiser.

 

END OF EDIT

 

 

'Dad,

 

The biggest problem I see with what you propose is the BSA's current focus on NSPs and other 'age appropriate" patrols. In the old mixed scout patrol model I grew up in, the older scouts could mentor the younger ones in the same patrol. But with the trend to NSP then regular to Venture, I see challenges that need to be overcome. Not impossible, but overcome.

 

(This message has been edited by Eagle92)

[desertrat77]

Eagle92, I'm on board with you 100 percent, just couldn't resist!

[Eagle92]

No problem and sorry if I took it the wrong way. Also another factor to think about with outdoor meetings: daylight. My pack is set up in which Monday nite is CS nite. All the dens meet at the same time and same place. I've been working on the outdoor stuff while I can: physical fitness and games, bike safety, and cooking have been the last three meetings, and can tell you with it getting dark earlier and earlier, it's getting more challenging.

 

I've tried den field trips, but unless they are on a Monday and in town, few attend. I tried to get the den to do a hike at the local scout camp 20 minutes away twice, and a visit to a historic site also 20 minutes away, and had few scouts show up. Fow whatever reason Monday is Cub Scout Nite.

[Eagledad]

>>The biggest problem I see with what you propose is the BSA's current focus on NSPs and other 'age appropriate" patrols.

[Engineer61]

I'm pretty confident that without Parents pushing kids into Scouts, there would be no Scouting by the boys.

 

Too much else to do.

[desertrat77]

Eagle92, my horseplay aside, I agree there is value in having meetings indoors...even in warm climates, it can get chilly when the sun drops below the horizon, depending on season. Then there is the safety factor, etc.

 

The indoor stuff should strictly be a staging area for doing outdoor stuff, then to clean and store gear after. When a troop starts spending more time in the meeting room than the outdoors, trouble is ahead--conflict, declining numbers, etc.

 

Engineer: I think if the BSA re-focused back to its time-honored and successful formula of "outdoor adventure" then it could compete quite well with sports and other clubs. As long as scouting is stereotyped (and sometimes rightfully so) as a passive, indoor, badge-earning movement, while wearing baggy overpriced uniforms, it will indeed continue to struggle against other interests.

(This message has been edited by desertrat77)

[shortridge]

Yeah, I knew when I wrote the no-indoor-meetings line that it wasn't practical. It's not in my area, at least - we don't get a lot of snow, but it gets really darn cold and dark in the winter. But I think it should be the goal. There would certainly be a lot more planning sessions for full campouts conducted on weekend winter hikes. You can make assignments, develop program schedules and coordinate stuff just as easily clustered around a warming campfire as you can at a folding table with metal chairs at the VFW post.

 

If skills are taught and practiced only indoors - first aid, compass use, knot-tying - then they become just oddities and curiosities, divorced from the real-world environment where we have to use them. Tying a clove hitch to start a lashing on a signaling tower is much different from tying a clove hitch on a broomstick in the church hall.

[Platypus96]

Its pretty funny that this is coming up now, because me and a few of my friends recently began a troop. We convinced our parents to quit our troop, in which the scoutmaster was becoming very overbearing, and start a troop that is truely boy-led, from the very beginning. So I'll just let you know how things work for us.

 

Troop Meetings: Every other week. In between troop meetings are patrol meetings, which are used to plan patrol outings and service projects. Troop meetings are used to plan troop campouts and have interpatrol competitions. We're already practising for camporee(the troop we left won the past two years. We want to beat em this year)

 

Campouts: Planned and run by the PLC. The adults do make reservations for the trips, but the kids decide where we are going. We show up, set up in separate patrol sites and then help the adults set up their site. WE're only a month old, so we havn't done any backpacking yet, but we have plans for it.

 

Uniforms: Full uniforms to all troop activities. What do you know? Not all kids hate it so much.

 

This program is attracting kids. We started with 9, now we're at almost 20, and our three adult leaders are up to almost 10. They don't do much, but they just like to be able to mentor kids who really want to be there. Our ASM's include chapter advisors and district executives who want to get involved at the unit level again. A few members of our summer camp staff also volunteered to be ASM's to lead high adventure trips. When kids make the program, people notice, and they respond.

 

Engineer, there is nothing me or my frineds enjoy more than camping. If not for scouts, we would still be saving money to pay to go camping on the weekends.

 

Kickin' It Old School

[desertrat77]

Platy', your perspectives are great, and congratulations on your troop's success! Wish you all the very best.