Number of Merit Badges

[Eamonn]

scoutldr.

You bring up a lot of good points.

While there is prove that something was not working : Boys coming home from summer camp with Family Life merit badge, with no prep done before.

We as the District Committee, and the District Advancement Committee have the responsibility to approve and review the District Merit Badge List.

It was the feeling of the Advanccement Committee to set the five badge limit, which is also the limit set by the council Advancement Committee.

We as a district, went one step further, adding that the appiontment was only good for one year and had to be renewed annualy. Just as an Adult Leader is, when the unit recharters.

While we can not dwell in a negative past or control, what was done. We do want to move towards a positive future. I want the Scouts in my district to have a list that is up to date. Where the people on it are knowledgeable about the subject that they are the Counselor for and will follow the requirements to the letter.

In discussions that we had, we thought that it would be great if more boys went "Out Of Troop" in order to work on a merit badge. While we could do nothing to ensure that this would happen. It was our feeling that we would be giving the Scout, more Life Skills, if he had to make an appiontment with someone, that he didn't really know, and present or work with that "New" person.

In my own humble opinion,I wish that there was as much effort put into the requirements of reaching the rank of First Class, as these units put into churning out meaningless Merit Badges.

To prove my point,My wife has a very good friend, who has two sons in one of these Troops, One of them phoned the ASM, asking if he could do the Dog Care merit badge, the boy had spent some time doing all the paperwork.

The ASM, answered the phone, asked the boy if he had a dog.The boy said yes.

Bring the Card over and I'll sign it.

The mother, is also a Merit Badge Couselor for the Dog Care Merit Badge, but didn't want to show any favoritism.

Needless to say she got me on the phone, at my office, and was not very happy.

 

[KoreaScouter]

Sometimes I don't understand people. I think we can all concede that there is no upper limit on the number of MBs one person can be a counselor for, as far as National's concerned. But, if one person is counseling 42 badges, what does this person have time to do, besides meeting with Scouts for MBs?

 

Isn't there some merit in Scouts meeting with qualified adults who represent a cross-section of the community, not just registered leaders with whom they're already acquainted?

 

I wonder if the districts that rely almost exclusively on already-registered leaders to fill MB counselor lists, concurrently complain about poor community support/understanding. What better way for a business leader, pilot, or doctor to understand the value and impact of Scouting than to meet real Scouts? Are we partially missing the boat here?

 

KS

 

 

 

[scoutldr]

Completely agree, KS. Our District list has become almost exclusively counsellors who have a notation, "Troop XXX only". In my opinion, this should not be allowed. MBCs are registered with the District, not in a particular unit. These are the same troops who have a reputation of being Eagle Mills. To paraphrase Martin Luther King, Jr., Scouts will be judged not by the number of badges on their sash, but on the content of their character. There IS a difference.

[Eamonn]

Our district does not allow "Troop Only" Counselors.

As part of my job, as District Chair. I trying to do everything possible to bring the community into Scouting, and Scouting into the community.

I agree whole heartedly with scoutldr.

[OldGreyEagle]

Sorry Eamonn and Scoutldr, I have to respectfully disagree. I would never turn down a volunteer who wants to do something, even as marginal as helping a single troop with being a merit badge counselor. Its getting people involved in program that counts

 

[Bob White]

Got to agree with OGE, how busy a MB counselor wants to be is his or her own choice. Just to clarify a point another poster made, MBC lists are kept by Council and District but all adult volunteers including MBCs are registered with the National office. Nothing wrong with troops having multiple counselors available to them on a single topic. Some may only have time to help scouts in their own unit, some may be willing to serve other units as well. some might only be available during certain seasons or have limited availability , so having some choices for the scouts is a good thing.

 

Bob White

[Sparkie]

Our coun. only allows you to be a counselor for 6 MB, and you CANNOT do it for troop only, or you are denied your application. Shame on them for making up their own rules!

[scoutldr]

OK, I concede the point on "Troop X only", that is the MBC's choice. My point was, it's getting to the point in my District, that unless a troop goes out and recruits their own MBCs, they're out of luck. And in my opinion, that circumvents the intent of the MB program...that is for the SCout to show initiative, seek out someone in the community that they may not know, introduce himself, get to know them and learn something from them, in addition to learning and practicing necessary skills for living and working in the world.

 

Not to sit in a troop meeting while "Billy's mom" teaches a class to the entire troop.

 

Call me old fashioned, but I think too many of today's parents and leaders miss the point. It's not about badges. Really. It's about preparing them for life.

[VH_50]

Just an addendum:

 

Regardless of whether or not a council has the *right* (by policy or selective approval) to limit a given councilor to 5 or 6 badges, that number seems artificially low to me. Two reasons:

 

1) It's my experience as a long-time advancement chair that about 24 of the badges account for 90% of the traffic. I'm a counselor for *many* badges that nobody's ever even asked me about doing (much less completed). The workload issue is, I think, a straw man.

 

2) A relatively small set of qualifications can qualify an individual (not even stretching) to teach a *lot* of merit badges. Virtually any reasonably experienced history teacher could exceed a 6-badge limit by 50% or 100% without even getting past his or her professional skills:

 

Content: citizenship x 3, am heritage, am cultures

Skills: reading, scholarship, communications, pub. speaking

Maybe: computers, genealogy, indian lore, am labor

 

The same is true of many people with professional training in art, engineering, or natural science . . . or people deeply involved in certain hobbies, like boating and nature study.

 

Let's not sell all those multi-talented people in the Scouting movement short!

 

 

[LauraT7]

I think that no matter what limits someone puts on something, the ones who are likely to bend the rules will find a way around even those limits.

 

And if a counsel tries to add additional limits - it could cause as many problems as the limits are intended to address.

 

Our troop used to just wait and let adults volunteer for Merit Badge counseling when they felt moved to do so. But our boys had such a hard time getting hold of merit badge counselors outside of the troop (our district "list" was nonexistant - so outdated that most were no longer active) that we started looking for merit badge counselors from within the troop adults and actively recruiting them.

 

 

It is sad to say that most people aren't into volunteering - those of us deeply involved in scouting are a rare breed. Average people are terrified of being roped into something bigger than they can handle, so many of our badge counselors have limited themselves to our troop only. If they were forced to work with ALL troops in the district - many would not have said 'yes'. many of our troop leaders - myself included - have stretched their capabilities to cover as many badges as their skills make possible. We may not be 'experts' or "professionals" in every field - but we know enough to effectively follow the requirements of the badges we counsel. We also try to double up whenever possible - so that adults can try to avoid counseling their own sons if they feel uncomfortable with doing so. I AM available to other troops - but I have never gotten a call from anyone outside of my troop - I guess because our district has not gotten the 'list' out to troops since before i joined three years ago.

 

the one time my son DID get hold of a counselor outside the troop - for Swimming MB - it took MONTHS to get a return call from any - and by then, the MB had been re-written. He had only 1 requirement to finish, that of instruction hours - and that requirement was dropped in Jan 2002. We had a number of other boys who had to finish up that badge, so the boys asked if the counselor could meet with all of them at a meeting. He did - and proceeded to re-test them on everything that had been signed off at camp.

 

Just because someone gets approved by the council - doesn't mean they uphold the standards that are set by BSA.

 

[mk9750]

Laura,

 

Feel free to tell me to buzz off if I've misinterpreted, but the end of your post made it seem as though you felt a Counselor had no right to retest "partials". I humbly disagree.

 

As I understand it, the MB Counselor that signs the blue card as complete has an obligation to assure that the Scout met ALL of the requirements, not just the ones left undone. He has the option of accepting any work previously done, rejecting it all and starting over (not very wise, IMHO, but acceptable), or, what I think is best, reviewing some or all of the requirements to assure that the requiremetns were completed satisfactorily. If asked to help a Scout complete a partial, I always want him to speak about some of the important requirements, to get a sense of his understanding, or to see how involved he was in the work he did. I rarely review all of the "partialed" requirments. But I am not going to sign a blue card as complete if I am not certain that the work isn't complete.

 

Mark

[SharonNC]

We have boys that have merit badges they started at summer camp 2 years ago, but are unable to finish them because there are no registered MBC in our district. How long can they carry these, will the new MBC cause them to start over? How dow we keep them from losing interest when they aren't able to complete the MB?

Just a few questions...lol

[mk9750]

Sharon,

 

Trying to find Counselors at home can be tough. However, mostly the same MBs are done at every camp. So if you find out who the Counselor at camp in your area was, you should be able to help your Scouts take care of this. Your message made it seem as though you have to deal with an Counselor within your District. I don't beleive that is true.

 

Scouts can work on MBs during their entire Boy Scout career. So if they start a MB at summer camp when they are 11, they can take up until the day before they turn 18 to complete it. If they "partial" it, as I said, many Counselors may want the boy to review material previously done.

 

Under those circumstances, it is possible that the requirments changed during the time between start and finish. If the Scout had his original MB pamphlet, I would let him complete the requirments as they were then, or let him chose to complete the new requirments. If he didn't have the old pamphlet (or some way of me seeing what the requirements were then), I would make sure he covered all the new requirements. I admit that this is how I would do it, not what I know to be policy.

 

Mark

[SharonNC]

Thanks for the recommendation, Mark. I'm inspired to nag our district advancement committee to update our MBC list. I have just to many boys wanting to complete things.

 

I knew the MBC didn't have to be from our district, but since our summer camp experience kept them pretty busy, there wasn't a lot of time for them to conference on some of their past workings. But there's nothing to keep us from taking them there for a day, or having email correspondence to the counselor, is there?

[mk9750]

I think whatever the Counselor is willing to do is fine. Meet in person, e mail, carrier pigeon, I think all will work.

 

Let me clarify what I was saying before. If you went out of state to summer camp, it'll be tough to get with the same Counselors (unless you do the e mail thing). What I was saying is that there probably was a summer camp in your area, that would have done most of the same MBs that the camp you went to did. Track down a list of the Counselors they used and try to get to them. They may not be on your list, but they have to be relatively current, or they couldn't have counseled at summer camp. this may save a lot of time and agravation.

 

Mark