Why does BSA do this?

[scomman]

I remember being a Scout in the late 70's and early 80's and remember having to do this test for Swimming also. It isn't as easy as it looks and just wearing a PFD does make it easier. I would love to try it in the current uniform pants and see if they rip or hold up to the test.

[Twocubdad]

Many moons (and pounds) ago, I was a Water Safety Instructor for the Red Cross. Back then, completing the Red Cross lifesaving course for your age level was a free pass to both swimming and lifesaving merit badges. Just show the Red Cross certificate to the merit badge counselor and he signed both blue cards.

 

There was more to survival swimming than just inflating your jeans. The idea was that most drowning victims never planned to get in the water. Not only did you learn to inflate your pants and shirt (long-sleeve, collared shirts are easier to inflate and provide better flotation), but the kids practiced taking wet clothes off in the water and we taught bobbing or survival swimming. It was a whole unit on what to do if unexpectedly tossed into to water. I don't recall anyone ever having a particularly difficult time with it and it was usually a part of the course we had a lot of fun with.

 

But I think the origin of this thread related to the BSA's maddening habit of changing things in mid course. Guide to Safe Scouting is even worse. I took the Health & Safety class in September and was told not to rely on the printed G2SS, but to check the Internet for current regs. What?!?!?

 

National needs to have enough forsight that when a new edition of the Scout handbook, G2SS or other major program element is published, it can be relied upon until the next printing.

[LauraT7]

i agree that it is confusing to have requirements change without some kind of warning or schedule -

but I also thing that the badges and rank requirements need some updating and evening out.

 

I don't know where they get the committes that update the badges, but why do they always have to make them longer and more complicated? for examples, look at what they've done to the cooking badge - its now about 4 pages worth of requirements!

 

I have nothing against the badges having different levels of difficulty - but so many of them are so heavy on writing and explaining - it's like sending the boys back to school! And if the point of badges is to give them exposure to a field of interest or hobby why are they so long and complicated?

 

My personal opinion is that there needs to be some easy badges and medium ones and hard ones. And that some of the more complicated subjects should be handled in tiers - like the differences between swimming and lifesaving. And whats wrong with having 3 separate badges for Downhill, Cross Country and snowboarding instead of one for snowsports?

[Compass]

Like scomman says, I remember the inflate the pants, etc. requirements being a Swimming merit badge requirement back in the 70's. It was pretty tough to do, even at 12 or 13 years of age.

 

I frankly thought this particular addition was excessive for an eleven year old. I was quite concerned whether all of our boys could do it at summer camp. One boy made excuses to be away at the time-- I think he didn't think he could do it and was trying to avoid public humiliation. Of the remaining boys, one-fourth came very close to not completing it, some of whom had been practicing swimming since January.

 

I am not against the activity, just the timing. It's just that an eleven-year-old with no upper body strength had a serious challenge completing it.

 

So, some can say that parents are dumbing-down the program, that kids are weak today, or other such views which may be true in a few situations. For those that believe this, dig out some handbooks of yesteryear. For example, where's that (easy) stalking requirement that I had as a boy? I compared my requirements then to today's, and today's is more challenging and (I think) better.

 

Like you guys, I do find it annoying when requirements, the Guide to Safe Scouting, etc. change overnight without notification or warning.

 

The worst story of this kind is the one I experienced summer before last. Went to summer camp. Some boys took Canoeing merit badge. Later, we were preparing to go to a canoe trip. Boys who took Canoeing said that they had been taught that they had been taught it was a RULE that you had to kneel, and that you could NEVER sit in the seat, and insisted in the strongest terms and manner that this was the situation. Interesting assertion. A rule that was not in any Boy Scout publication available to the public and Scouters at that time, including G2SS, Canoeing MB pamphlet, Whitewater MB pamphlet, and the BSA Health and Safety booklet. And we were using BSA canoes from a BSA camp. With seats. With seats so low that any one with a shoe size greater that 7.5 were going to have their feet locked under the seat if the canoe capsized.

 

Maybe its a RULE now. I haven't checked; we haven't gone Scout canoeing since and haven't taken the time to research it. I don't have a problem with rules, with the G2SS, or anything else. I just had a problem with the attempted enforcement of a RULE that had no public written document or source, and that the supposed (minimum, under the circumstances) increased safety such a RULE was to bring about that was totally offset by the existing conditions of the BSA canoes. What was the answer? Ignore the RULE at your legal liability peril, or enforce the RULE at the real physical peril of the boys who are highly likely to capsize, sometimes intentionally?

[scoutldr]

RE: the requirement to learn water survival skills...

A few years ago a young Navy sailor was blown off the flight deck of an aircraft carrier. The helo found him within 30 minutes...comfortably relaxing in the water with his inflated dungarees tied around his neck...a skill he had learned and perfected a few years before at Scout camp. I am a Swimming and Lifesaving MB counselor and BSA Lifeguard counselor. I have never seen anyone fail to complete this requirement. Some take longer than others and indeed I have spent a lot of their "free swim" hours in the deep end while they work on it. When they finally achieve a "thumbs up", the ear to ear grin says it all. Was it hard? Yes. Was it worth it? An unequivocal YES. For both of us. And if they are "flailing" the water, we to teach them to relax and conserve energy. I failed Red Cross Jr Lifesaving the first time...they had standards and it was not a "giveaway" certification. Did I quit? No. The next year I took and passed Sr. Lifesaving and a year later got my Water Safety Instructor. The point is, kids need to learn how to fail and how to pick themselves back up and get back in the saddle. Life is not kind to those who do not try.

[KoreaScouter]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think BSA changes requrirements in between the annual Requirements book publication. And, I've always been told to refer to the Requirements book for the current requirements.

 

After all, there are several versions of the current edition of the BS Handbook out there. Some have the old F9C, some the new F9C. And, the latest version actually has an enhancement...the rank requirements pages are actually referenced to the handbook pages they apply to.

 

KS