another BOR question

[evmori]

Everytime I put up a tarp or clothesline or almost anything that requires tied down, I use a taut-line & usually a bowline on the other end! I'm with Fat Old Guy on this.

 

Laura,

Atta girl!

 

Ed Mori

Scoutmaster

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[OldGreyEagle]

Splices have been and continue to be a mainstay of the pioneering merit badge, the most "scouty" of all the merit badges, at least in my opinion, and I think it should be Eagle required. Course thats only my opinion, I could be wrong.

 

Is there a way to find out the number of requirements for First Class say in 1965 versus today? It would be fun, I know the morse code/semaphore requirement is gone, the stalking thing is gone as well as the silent swim. Actually, since I dont remember which requirement is which, How many total requirments were there from tenderfoot to first class versus todays route from Scout to First Class, would be an interesting comparison

[VH_50]

"Back in the day" (late 1970s, when I earned it) splices were also required for the Small Boat Sailing MB, though I doubt (given the shift to braided, synthetic lines) that they still are . . . or should be.

 

It's an interesting question, though: How long the program should continue to require skills made obsolete by changes in technology or culture (morse code, splicing, axemanship) . . . and how quickly it should adopt new skills requirements based on new technologies?

 

Idle thought: How ubiquitous will GPS need to get before proficiency with it is required for first class?

 

VH_50

 

[Laurie]

I'd be very sorry to see any skill done away with that is not useful for getting by *without* technology. Knowing how to tie and use knots, knowing how to find your way by using the starts, and things of this nature are likened--to me anyway--to being able to do math without a calculator, write without being dependent upon a computer, etc. Just my .02 By the way, what is a GPS?

[NJCubScouter]

OGE, next time I am at my father's house I could look up the First Class requirements from 1965... or for that matter, the requirements for any rank from some time in the 40s (I believe) through today.

 

I believe that the handbook you are talking about is the same set of requirements as the ones I used through the rank of First Class (1969-1973) -- before switching to what I call the red beret handbook which came out around '72, and which totally changed the rank requirements. (Anyone remember Skill Awards? Or when they changed "rank" to "progress awards"? Leadership Corps? That all came in while I was a Patrol Leader.) My guess would be that the NUMBER of ranks is similar to today, but that what the requirements actually are is much different. I remember the ones you are talking about, stalking, semaphore (that's the one I chose, and as I recall I passed the requirement after semaphore was no longer in the handbook, because I had started in the old book), all gone. There was a First Aid requirement then and now, but again, probably different.

[VH_50]

Laurie makes a good point . . . being able to write with a pen or pencil and do basic arithmetic "by hand" is still valuable, and will likely remain so. You can still depend on there being times when you need to write and add/subtract without a machine handy.

 

On the other hand . . . the calculator has basically made it pointless to learn how to take square roots "manually" or use a table of logarithms. The odds of you needing to do one of those things in a situation where you can't pick up a calculator are *really* long.

 

The question is, which category does (say) Morse code (other than S-O-S) fall in? :-)

 

VH 50

 

P.S. I'll get off this soapbox for good now; it's just that I teach courses on "Technology and Society" at an engineering school, and . . .

 

P.P.S. "GPS" is "Global Positioning System"--highly accurate satellite navigation developed for the military and (now) available in hand-held form for outdoorsy types. Should have written it out the first time, but I was being lazy. Sorry!