Boy Scout questions

[Granny_Weatherwax]

Does your Troop emphasize reading the manuals before earning the badge?

 

Does your Scout read the manuals before earning a badge?

 

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I make sure my DS reads each MB book before he attends a MB clinic or whenever he chooses to work on a badge. I just found out that he is the only scout in his Troop who reads the MB books which probably explains why the MB books are so out of date. The other boys just do the requirements and that's it.

 

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Does your Troop vote for positions and special awards (like scout of the month, Order of the Arrow) based on merit or popularity? Our Troop votes on popularity and there are some boys who are up of OA who never participate in activities, leave campouts because it is too rainy/cold/didn't like the food, haven't earned a merit badge or new rank in months, etc.

 

I'll be back to see what you think and to contribute more of my thoughts.

[m0mmaBuck]

Does your Troop emphasize reading the manuals before earning the badge? DSS's Troop is so disorganized and lackadaisical (sp?). No, they don't emphasize reading the manual. Half of the time the merit badge counselor doesn't even sign off on the badge before they start it so they just fudge a date that the scout supposedly started working on the badge for their records.

 

Does your Scout read the manuals before earning a badge? Yes, but only because we as a family require it.

 

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I make sure my DS reads each MB book before he attends a MB clinic or whenever he chooses to work on a badge. I just found out that he is the only scout in his Troop who reads the MB books which probably explains why the MB books are so out of date. The other boys just do the requirements and that's it.

 

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Does your Troop vote for positions and special awards (like scout of the month, Order of the Arrow) based on merit or popularity? Our Troop votes on popularity and there are some boys who are up of OA who never participate in activities, leave campouts because it is too rainy/cold/didn't like the food, haven't earned a merit badge or new rank in months, etc. OA is so secret squirrel with our Troop that those who are in won't even bother to explain to the parents of the Scouts what OA is beyond being a service organization within the Scouts. Boys will just magically obtain OA status. It seems to be more on a popularity basis though.

 

I'll be back to see what you think and to contribute more of my thoughts.

 

We don't particularly care for the Troop DSS is in and we tried to get him to change to another Troop that we know is diligent, organized, and lives by the oath and the law. DSS only has a few friends and the few he has are in his current Troop so he refused to even look at another troop. He was also intimidated by the idea that he might be forced to do things right in the other Troop, so he decided to stay with the lax Troop.

 

When DS bridges in to Boy Scouts he will be going to the Troop that does things by the rules and holds their boys accountable. We want his Scout experience to be built around the idea of earning rank and badges through personal merit and accomplishment.. and we want him to learn from the experience, not just view it as boxes to check to get some badge or award.

[calandalsmom]

Our troop is quite good and thorough and not a "eagle factory" but I havent heard about reading a book about the badges. I will have to ask ds. I know he has often had to write reports but I dont know about reading.

[Granny_Weatherwax]

My ds reads every stinkin' mb pamplet! 75 of them so far! And to be able to do that, we had to buy them. We buy ours, too. We're only up to 21 so we have quite a way to go to catch you.

 

We have made a BIG push to not chose OA on popularity and it's working. We had the SPL "technically" be eligible, but he didn't turn in his camping log on time, so the SM and I (CC) declined to put him on the ballot. You declined? Our troop allows the boys a secret ballot to determine who gets OA. There are no requirements and the adults allow the boys to decide however they want to. I hammer boys on BoRs if we're not seeing plans for the next mb and can't tell me what he recently earned and what he learned from it. I have only sat in on a couple of BoR and the scouts were never asked about merit badges. Not one question. Funny how you can look across a group of just-crossed-over Webs and tell who is going to make Eagle... :D

 

We're in a pickle with a death-bed Life Scout right now. He didn't bother to show up for his last work day for his project, so that project is dead. I can't he didn't show up for his own project. Now he wants to "count" a building project done at the school--with no prior approval and no paperwork. It's not gonna happen! The SM waffled last night, so I have to lower the boom tonight. It's not going to be pretty. Too bad, so sad, but you HAVE to jump through the hoops! He's gone all over the school whining about Scouts, so no pity from this house...

We have a couple of scouts that complain about scouting and then show up for the fun stuff expecting to participate. The leaders allow it which is even worse.

[m0mmaBuck]

My ds reads every stinkin' mb pamplet! 75 of them so far! And to be able to do that, we had to buy them. Ouch! There are several other boys in our troop (most in his patrol) that read them, but most do not. We just awarded FA mbs and I KNOW only 3 boys read it--as I owned the book! I require it for the mbs I counsel and I tell mbc that they must require it, but I know it doesn't happen.

 

We have made a BIG push to not chose OA on popularity and it's working. We had the SPL "technically" be eligible, but he didn't turn in his camping log on time, so the SM and I (CC) declined to put him on the ballot. I hammer boys on BoRs if we're not seeing plans for the next mb and can't tell me what he recently earned and what he learned from it. Funny how you can look across a group of just-crossed-over Webs and tell who is going to make Eagle... :D

 

We're in a pickle with a death-bed Life Scout right now. He didn't bother to show up for his last work day for his project, so that project is dead. Now he wants to "count" a building project done at the school--with no prior approval and no paperwork. It's not gonna happen! The SM waffled last night, so I have to lower the boom tonight. It's not going to be pretty. Too bad, so sad, but you HAVE to jump through the hoops! He's gone all over the school whining about Scouts, so no pity from this house...

 

He actually helps on every service project, has complete the physical portion of his Eagle project, and has done an incredible job of catching up to where he is considering he joined the Scouts when he had just turned 16... BUT... he has 12 days to turn in his packet, complete the merit badges he is missing (at least one Eagle required), and complete the write-up on his Eagle project. He's had time to do it all but is continuing his pattern of procrastination followed by expecting the adult leaders to jump through their own hineys to help him at the last moment. He's done with this every rank thus far and I just don't think it's going to happen for him on this last rank. Part of me hopes it doesn't because there is a valuable lesson to be learned.

[LisaKinVA]

Our troop strongly encourages the scouts to read the merit badge books, but they aren't required.

 

But, the awards like OA are definitely earned. Not popularity based.

[Plucky]

Reading the mb book isn't required of boy scouts, although I do require my boys to read the mb pamphlet before he gets his mb card signed off. Those books have a lot of good info. in them. It comes down to parents wanting their boys to get a good, quality boy scout experience. Everyone does it differently. I had a boy come to me and tell me he didn't want to turn his mb card in because he didn't feel he learned anything (some of the powwows are just mb machines). Ultimately, to get a quality boy scout experience the parents have to be involved in teaching or guiding the scout. We have certain standards other parents don't.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Reading the MB booklets isn't a requirement, although it can certainly make things easier for the scout. I explain to scouts and parents that the booklets not only provide a handy reference for all of the requirements, but can help the scout to understand the level of detail that he should be trying to master. It is sure a time saver compared to doing a bunch of internet searching.

 

Our scouts elect SPL and PL. The SPL chooses his ASPL with the suggestion/guidance of the outgoing SPL and the Scoutmaster. Other leadership positions have sometimes been elected and sometimes selected by the SPL/ASPL. I think that the scouts should decide how scouts are chosen for positions, with a little adult guidance. But I really don't like troops that set election requirements like attending a certain number of events or being a certain age or rank.

 

In my mind, if the scouts are foolish enough to pick someone weak for a leadership position, then they should then have to deal with the chaos of campouts and other events that aren't well planned or that are cancelled due to lack of planning. (On the other hand, sometimes the scouts have a pretty good sense of who will be a good leader. One of our patrols recently chose a PL who has only been with the troop for a couple months vs one who has been around for a couple years. I think they chose well.)

 

As for OA, if they are following the guidance from OA on how to conduct elections, there is not only a camping requirement from the preceding two years, but a detailed explanation of the purpose of OA and what they should consider when voting. If scouts are leaving campouts too often, then they won't make the eligibility. However, there isn't a requirement that they make rank or complete a certain number of badges to participate in OA.

 

We don't do a scout of the month.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Actually, it is a BSA requirement to read the mb booklet. Says so right in the front of every booklet.

 

 

 

 

I'm seeing where the booklet is called the secret of sucessfully completing the badge and in the back cover where it is referred to as an aid to scouts. But I haven't seen where booklets are a requirement.

 

(Though I will say that I think scouts are foolish not to and creating more trouble for themselves than they have to.)

[Granny_Weatherwax]

I looked through the merit badge requirements here and it suggests the scouts read the pamphlet but evidently it is not a requirement.

 

Mmmm...then why go to all of the trouble of developing the mb books? I find it disappointing that the mb books aren't a requirement and I will continue to have DS read them for each badge he chooses.

[cougarmom4]

I love the merit badge books and do make sure ds reads them...if I can find a copy of the book. Luckily our library has a bunch and we have friends we can borrow from. I find it frustrating that they can't make the books available online or something though....