Age, Merit Badges, and the Headlong Rush for Advancement

[Fat Old Guy]

If you look at the Eagle Required merit badges, they are some pretty serious subjects. Important things to be good citizens and good people.

 

We have a few, maybe more than a few, parents who are pushing their kids in the "Eagle before 14" program. The kids are all either in their first or second year and already have fifteen merit badges and have nailed most of the Eagle Required ones.

 

One would think that a Scout who has completed the Citizenship trio would have a reasonable grasp of the government, what a country is, etc.. However, this doesn't seem to be the case.

 

Maybe this is really an indictment of the education system because I've observed this problem in both fast track Scouts who have the Citizenship tro and slow track Scouts who don't but it is somewhat more disturbing for a Scout who has completed Citzenship in the Nation to not know the difference between a state and a city.

 

"Huh?" you say. I BS with the Scouts when we're driving somewhere. We talk about vacations, other trips, movies, rock&roll, why the sea is boiling hot and whether pigs have wings. I continually hear statements like, "You know, Philadelphia is a really nice state." "Actually, young fellow, Philadelphia is a city." "Oh, what's the difference?"

 

These are 6th, 7th and 8th grade students. What are they teaching these kids in school? Many have no idea that Canada is to the north of US or that Africa is a continent.

 

It doesn't help when the teachers are idiots. Not long ago, my daughter was working on her Social Studies homework and asked, "Where's Cape Horn?" I gave my standard answer, "look it up." A few minutes later she comes up with her atlas, shows me the map of Africa and says, "I can't find it." Next question is, "Why are you looking at a map of Africa" "Because that's what we're studying" and she shows me her homework which is a map of Africa with a list of features that she is to locate on the map. Sure 'nuff, it says "Cape Horn" in that list. The teacher's response when ten kids say, "Cape Horn's not in Africa"? Ready? "You should have known what I meant."

 

Anyway, back to the original question. How does one earn the citizenship trio without understanding the difference between a city, state, and country? I know that explaining the differences aren't required for the three badges but you'd think that they'd pick it up along the way.

[evmori]

Excellent points. If the Citizenship trio are earned properly, a Scout should know a lot about local, nation & international government. If they don't then it sound like these badges were rubber stamped.

 

Ed Mori

A blessed Christmas to all!

1 Peter 4:10

[saltheart]

Teaching as a profession suffers from the same problem that most professions do. Most in a profession are good at what they do, but there are always a few bad apples. Teaching is one of those professions that is, unlike my profession and perhaps that of many of us, held up for public scrutiny every day...24/7. That being said...

 

For many years we've been blessed with a school system that is one of the best in the state. The school system allows us to provide the appropriate teachers with copies of the current Citizenship merit badge books, but that's pretty much for information only. Beyond that we trust that what is taught in school will be useful both in life and in Scouting, as with these merit badges. We don't, however, put all our eggs in one basket.

 

Our merit badge couselor roster also lists a small number of adult volunteers who wish only to provide their assistance for these 3 merit badges. So we have the issue covered from 2 directions.

 

And then, believe it or not, we actually count on Mom & Dad to help when and where necessary, too.(This message has been edited by saltheart)

[Hunt]

This is one of my pet peeves--in my kids' school system, they teach "World Studies"--not history. My son's in the 7th grade, and he hasn't had any general US or state history (this is Maryland). When I was a tyke in Virginia in the 60's, we had Virginia history in the 4th grade and again (as I recall) in the 7th, or maybe 8th grade. World Studies is taught in a scatter-shot way--ancient Rome this month, Senegal next month, colonial farming techniques the month after--but there's no overview. The result is my kids have trouble distinguishing the Revolutionary War from the Civil War. I don't know when, if ever, they'll learn about the Constitution.

[Fat Old Guy]

Wait until he brings home a US History book that doesn't mention Geo. Washington, Jefferson, or Columbus.

[KoreaScouter]

You know, I've never been a Hillary Clinton fan, but I have to admit she was on to something with that "It takes a village" thing. If we want our kids (and I'm including Scouts in here) to internalize concepts of citizenship, government, geography, whatever, there has to be a universal "this is important" mindset among everybody who influences the kid. Parents, teachers, everybody.

 

It's not enough for a MB counselor to ensure a Scout met the badge requirements. Lessons of citizenship need to soak in repeatedly. And again, when do we know if we were successful? When they're adults.

 

While I'm on this rant, if it qualifies as one, let's not set an unrealistic expectation that Scouts have total recall of everything between the covers of their MB pamphlets, even the Eagle-required ones. What's reasonable? I don't know. Do the requirements expect Scouts to memorize and be able to regurgitate the requirements, months or years after completing the badge? I don't think so, and I sure hope not. I don't think that's what we're trying to accomplish. Sure, they'll know, off the cuff, more about camping, swimming, and first aid than environmental science and citizenship in the world. Mainly, because the former are bigger parts of their daily lives than the latter. Is that a bad thing?

 

I have an MBA which I studied for, passed boards for, and have the sheepskin on the wall. But, if I had to solve a linear exponential smoothing problem today, I'd have to crack open the book and think about it for a minute. The same's probably true about any of us and our educational background or field of endeavor. Are we holding the lads to a different standard?

 

KS

[mk9750]

In our Troop, we have four very active MB Counselors. One does the three Citezenship badges, one does the Scout skill type badges (camping, hiking, etc.), one does the aquatics MBs, and I do what I call the soft skill MBs (Communications, Personal Mgt., Family Life). This covers most of the required badges. We specifically do not do First Aid or Personal Fitness, to force a boy to seek a Counselor outside the Troop.

 

If you do the Citizenship badges with our SM, you WILL do Community first, Nation second, and World third. The way he works on these makes one a prerequisite for the other. I have sat in on some of his sessions. From my experience, and that of my two sons, earning these MBs have helped them tremendously in school. All of the guys in our Troop get remarks from Social Study teachers saying it is remarkable the knowledge these guys come to their class with.

 

If you do Personal Management with me, you WILL have either a part time job, or some other significant income before you write your budget plan. I am a firm believer that one cannot learn the value of planning a budget if the plan is to cover a $2.00 per week allowance. When guys get done with the MBs I work on with them, they each know the value of planning. It is quite embarassing, but during every Eagle BOR, the District Advancment Chair askes candidates which MB they got the most value from. Every time, Personal Management has been the answer. I used to think that they said this just because I was in the room, but at some point if someone was trying to kiss my posterior, they's say Communications or Family Life, just by accident.

 

My point is that what boys learn from these MBs boils down to what the Counselor expects of the boy. Could a boy meet the requirement by keeping track of his $2.00 mommy gives him every week? As long as $0.30 (or so) goes to "pay yourself first", sure, I guess. Could a boy earn Citizen of the Nation by remebering for a few minutes who your U.S. Senators are? Yep. But a good Counselor, IMO, asks for more. And when you ask, most every boy will delivery.

 

I suspect some might interpret my answer as putting artificial barriers in front of a boy advancing. I'm sure it looks like that, but we allow any boy who wants to pursue another MB Counselor if they want. So far, only one boy has done so, and he came back asking me to go over some of the requirements with him because the resume' he wrote was criticized by a school teacher to whom he turned his into for a project. I am very clear when writing out Blue Cards for Scouts that they likely will find another Counselor easier than the four I listed above. Somehow almost all of our guys would rather take the high road.

 

Mark

[saltheart]

KoreaScouter asked..."Are we holding the lads to a different standard?"

 

Given the example of not knowing the difference between a city and a state that Fat Old Guy cited, I'd have to say no. Now, was the concern to be one of a Scout not being able to recite the Declaration of Independence on the spot, then I'd agree with KoreaScouters question. None of us are that infalable, but the simplest of things like those cited in the OP should be of concern to us.

 

[mk9750]

KS,

 

Your post hit while I was composing mine. Some of the points might seem contradictory, but I think with a small amount of explaining, they might seem more complimentary.

 

I think the extra that we get out of our guys is not better memorization, but better understanding of the hows and whys. Discussing the Bill of rights is the basis of one of the requirements for Cit / Nation. Many of our guys go into their sessions with the SM having memorized the basics of each of the first ten Amendments. By the time they're done with the session, they understand why freedom of religion was so important to the framers. They understand the concpet of geo-political borders, and the have an appreciation for why Japan's economy has an effect on ours. Unless a guy sits in a MB session and just shrugs his shoulders during these conversations, they take on more of a teaching opportunity than asking a boy to come back to be tested later.

 

I'm not so sure any of our guys could get a Poly Sci or Economics degree because they had any of us as Counselors, but we all recognize they are capable of understanding the whys of things they know because of the MBs they earned with us.

 

Mark

[Fat Old Guy]

"Are we holding the lads to a different standard?"

 

There are some things that should just become part of the fiber of our being. Things like Chicago is a city, there are 50 states, and Avagadro's number is 6.023x10^23. I the Gettysburg Address isn't one of those things but who gave the address should be.

[acco40]

Fat Old Guy, what foreign country do you hit first when you head due south from Detroit? The answer is Canada. Can you tell me about the Greek city-states? Did they function more as states, nations or cities? Don't be to hard on the young fellows.

 

Your local council has approval authority with respect to merit badge counselors. You're not going over the Citizenship trio in your troop meetings are you? If you don't believe the youth are learning anything from the MB counselors, go to the advancement committee and complain. Tell them you feel the MB counselors are "rubber stamping" certain MBs. I'm not trivializing your concern. I've seen it in my counsel too. I've also taken action. We need to police the adults, not the youth in this matter.

 

P.S. "I am very clear when writing out Blue Cards for Scouts" - please don't tell me you fill out Blue Cards for the Scouts! The role of the SM is to provide a merit badge counselor option(s) to the Scout and to authorize (only from a prequisite perspective) approval for the Scout to work on the particular MB. As a counselor, you may introduce as much information as you see fit, in fact it is encouraged to go beyond the requirements, but it is wrong to require the Scout to do more than the listed requirements in order to earn the badge. Also, if a Scout wants to pursue Citizenship in the World and as a MB counselor you require him to take another Citizenship MB first as a prerequisite, please march on down to your local council office and remove yourself from the MB counselor list.(This message has been edited by acco40)

[mk9750]

Acco,

 

Some of your lecture is misdirected. It wasn't FOG who wrote that he required a particluar MB be completed before another, it was me writing about our SM who does this. Frankly, he knows it is not proper to do this, as do I. And that is why I make sure anyone who wants to pursue any of these badges knows he is more than able to contact another Counselor. None of our guys choose to. The boys who have gone through (what they jokingly refer to at Eagle COHs as) the "Triumverate of Terror" all tell the younger guys that this was the best way to do these badges. Doing it like this has made it much easier for Scouts to understand the interelationship between the three. But before a boy takes a blue card, he knows that if he wants to work on one of these, he can go to another Counselor (including me. I am a Counselor for Community and Nation, but never actually counseled a boy on these. Our SM does a much better job than could I on these.

 

Just hated someone getting the knock for something I wrote.

 

Mark