Scoutmaster Podcast 64

And now it's to you, Scoutmaster. Well, in this podcast I had planned to talk about ignorance and apathy. Yeah, I had planned on it, but I really don't know all that much about it And I don't really care all that much about it either. Oh my, Hey, this is podcast number 64.. Hey, Hey, Hey, Welcome back to the Scoutmaster Podcast. This is Clarke Green.

Our March newsletter giveaway winner, I'm proud to announce, is Chris Hammey. Chris is a committee member for Troop 154 in Sylvania, Ohio, And Chris was randomly drawn from all those who provided the correct answer to this month's trivia question. And Chris will receive a package from E-Lite. E-Lite is an electrolyte replacement product, a concentrate that you use and put right in your water bottle. Pretty cool product Heard from a lot of people this week.

So let's get right to the emails and the messages. Warren had this to say: I'm a leader in a Cub Scout pack, which is different than a Boy Scout troop, but we constantly have the issue of people deciding to go on a trip or activity at the last moment. We do our best to accommodate, but it seems to be the same people every time, No matter how many times we announce it at a pack meeting or we put it on the website, put it in a newsletter and email the date of the event and the deadline. We still get requests days after the deadline has passed. Basically, it's the same story. I didn't know the deadline had passed, My husband or wife told me we could still sign up.

We forgot to sign up and Johnny really wants to go. I mean, it's such a pain, but we do it for the boys and we always try to accommodate.

Unfortunately, we can't always make the adjustments at the last minute. If you can figure this one out, Clark, you should be able to earn a badge. Warren, it's probably something that we're never going to figure out. It's just one of those things.

And now we all know that none of us are alone. This happens everywhere, all the time.

Oh well, From Trip 2379, Tracy Lucas wrote in. She says this: My Scoutmaster, husband Dave and I continue to enjoy your podcast and never fail to bring away something valuable each week. Thank you again for your words of encouragement and for putting in the countless hours to help us all out.

Well, I certainly appreciate you getting in touch, Tracy, and I've been going back and forth with Tracy and Dave through the emails, Just working on some of the stuff going on with the troop there And it looks like things are going well. So Godspeed to both of you. First of all, this comes from Kyle P Ryle.

I think I got that right, Kyle P Ryle, Very poetic. First off, a big fan of your podcast. I'm fairly new to scouting and the podcast scene and I'm wondering what microphone you use, as I really like the quality of the sound you produce. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks, Kyle is a Scoutmaster in troop 169 in Barnum, Minnesota.

Well, Kyle, I sent you the tech information on the microphone, but of course you have to have a dulcet and well-seasoned voice, just like mine. All right, Yeah, it is mostly the microphone, but I appreciate you getting in touch. I heard from Tom Gillard down in Tennessee again. He says I'm still trying to keep myself quiet at a PLC. We're trying to go through guided discovery. Let the boys plan a trip to Rocky Mountain National Park this summer, but it is truly painful.

The first meeting went pretty well and they defined the important pieces of the trip, and last night, when they started putting their names on the administration slots and prioritizing things, there was a lot of dead space. What would have taken the adults? Maybe 30 minutes, took them an hour and a half.

Well, yeah, I know It's crazy at the time, but that's the learning process. That's the process.

That's what we want to have happen. I'll tell you something: When you're experiencing something like Tom is experiencing a little bit of frustration- boys doing stuff and it takes a whole lot longer than adults- that's a good indication that you have a scout-run troop and that you're on point with the program. But it's good to hear from you again, Tom. James Chaplin wrote in to say: wow, fantastic new web page and it looks like you've added a new workload to try and keep it updated. Thanks for doing this. From a rookie scoutmaster, only 10 years.

Well, you're a little bit more than a rookie there, James. On the high adventure pages, we really need this- a shared resource for ideas other than the big three national high adventure bases. But you got your work cut out for you.

I see a pretty empty map And then James gives me some suggestions. James, I have been in touch with those places and I hope to hear from them soon. James goes on to say: if every scouter shares their ideas, it may become one awesome feature to your web page and blog. Good luck with it. If you haven't visited the new web page and blog, it's ScoutmasterCG, Scoutmaster, the letter C, the letter G, all one word: com, ScoutmasterCGcom.

Do you get that? All right, And we do have a high adventure resources page that we're putting together And I have solicited different high adventure programs throughout the country to send me a profile of their program and contact information and pictures and things like that.

Now, if you've participated in one of the high adventure programs outside of Fillmont or Seabase or Northern Tier- I mean those three programs- they get a lot of press, They're easy to find out information about, But there are lots of programs all over the country that are ones that might be more accessible, cost-wise and distance-wise and planning-wise to you and your scouts, And I'm pretty sure that everybody needs to go on a high adventure trip at least once while they're involved with scouts. So you can get in touch at ScoutmasterCGcom and let me know about the high adventure places and experiences that we don't have featured there yet. Larry Geiger got in touch and said this: Good podcast, Clark, I really like the new blog and I agree with you about Scoutmaster conferences.

Larry went on to list a lot of good information about Scoutmaster conferences that I'm not going to try and read out right now, but go ahead and go to ScoutmasterCGcom. You'll see the comment from Larry there. He always has great stuff to offer. Thanks for being in touch again, Larry.

Well, this time around we're going to talk in Scoutmastership, in seven minutes or less, how to protect the quality of the scouting program. That's right. We're finally going to get down to it and tell you just exactly how to do it.

And then we have an email question that came in that is related to the subject And that will be enough for this podcast. So let's get started, shall we?

Scoutmastership in seven minutes or less. Scouting is a nationwide movement of about 2.8 million youth and 1.3 million adults, And the whole thing is all written down. It's been around for a century and it's defined in policies and procedures and manuals and training and all kinds of good resources that are out there. It's not really subject to an individual's understanding or the way that they would like to invent it or reinvent it or apply it. There's some pretty cut and dried stuff, And the reason that it's cut and dried is because it works. I liken this to getting some kind of new electronic gadget or power tool or something like that.

Everybody's probably done that. You know we send away for it and we get it in the mail, or we go to the store and we pick it up And if you're like me, the first thing you want to do is unwrap that new toy and start playing with it.

You know we plug it in, power it up and forge ahead right, And then when something doesn't work like we think it should, we kind of get frustrated and we assume one or two things. We assume that the toy is broken and maybe we just throw it back in the box and forget about it, Or we invent some kind of ingenious workaround to avoid the supposed flaw in the tool or the toy or the gadget And especially the kind of personality that becomes a scout leader, Because we've.

You know it takes a bit of an ego. It takes some self-assurance and confidence. It takes somebody who is going to forge ahead and who is going to make things happen.

You know, back to the toy. After we've grown dissatisfied with the way that it works and everything, as a last resort we might fish the manual that came along with it out of the trash and start reading impatiently.

Are you following me here? Has this happened to you. It's happened to me.

We might read that manual kind of impatiently after we get through the seven different languages and all the warnings and everything like that and get to the point where they start talking about how to use the thing and we may eventually find an answer to the problem that we were having with it. We may find out: oh well, you know, you have to do this before you do this, Or you have to charge it up for 12 hours, Or oh, it could be any one of a hundred things.

And that might even make us more disgruntled or more upset with the whole thing than we were when we first found out that it didn't work the way that we had hoped it worked. And it can cause a real disconnect in our thinking because we've got our new toy and it doesn't work the way that we think it should work.

You know it works the way it was designed to work, but not necessarily the way we think it should work. So you know we're going to either take it back and get our money back, or we're sheepishly going to admit that our first assumptions weren't exactly correct and now we will make an uneasy peace with our new toy or tool and it will go to work for us.

So you know where I'm going with this right, Because scouting is a lot like this. It's something that we come to and we think: well, you know, if we were scouts when we were youth, we have a set of assumptions based on our experiences that we're going to work with.

If we volunteer to become scouts as adults, you know our son gets involved and then you volunteer to become a scout as an adult And of course you don't want to look as though you don't know anything. So you make some assumptions and you move on and you've heard different things about Scoutmasters and scouts and the way it's supposed to work, just in the general culture. And when things don't work the way that we think they ought to work, we get a little disgruntled and we might start changing things and trying to fix things that don't need fixing. And as a last resort, we fish out the manual and we read and we find out what to do to make things work properly. I'll give you an example. Let's take a look at two Scout requirements For the Scout badge.

Number 7 says: you understand and agree to live by the Scout oath or promise the Scout law, the motto and slogan in the outdoor code. That's what it says For the tenderfoot rank. The same number, number 7, says: repeat from memory and explain in your own words the Scout oath, law, motto and slogan.

Now a new Scout needs to understand and agree to live by the basic tenets of Scouting, while the Scout challenging the tenderfoot rank has to have some of these things memorized and he needs to be able to explain them in his own words. How many of you have required a new Scout to get the Scout badge, to have the Scout oath and law memorized?

Is your hand up? Mine is too. I've done that in the past. I know I used to do that.

But I carefully read the requirement for some reason at one point and then I compared it with the tenderfoot one and, hey, I was doing something wrong After years and years. I was doing something wrong because it wasn't up to me to redefine the clear words in that Scout rank requirement to mean: oh yeah, well, you should have this memorized.

If I make it more difficult and I make it more rigorous, then my Scouts will be better, because I will have him memorize this and then he'll have it memorized by the time he becomes a tenderfoot. What could be wrong with that, And maybe you know, in 88% of instances in the Scouts that you're dealing with, it's not going to be a big deal, but then there's going to be those that don't get it.

You know that don't memorize well and they need a little bit of time before they're going to be able to do that and they get a little discouraged about the Scout badge and then they say goodbye to you. I started reading requirements and policies with a lot of care, and I was especially conscious of things that challenged my preconceptions, and then the next step was getting myself in line with what I had read and making sure that I was going according to policy and procedure- not to be, you know, legalistic and not to, but, because I found this out, Scouting and the quality of skills and advancement and those types of questions cause us a lot of trouble as leaders, just in general.

I get lots of emails about them- and we're going to hear one of those in a moment, and that's why I'm prefacing it with this little discussion- and sometimes we make decisions and we set our course on bad directions, and so we need to make some adjustments once in a while When we adhere to the policies and procedures of scouting. When we learn them and things, what we find is that scouting protects itself, The program protects itself, The quality of the program protects itself and we don't have to become the quality police. When we learn about the way the uniform is supposed to be worn and when we learn about the way advancement works and we learn how all this is supposed to happen, it all protects itself and it has done for the past century. Thank you very much.

You know we don't have to dive in and try and fix things that don't need to be fixed and that, I am of the increasing belief, is the solution to 99.9% of the difficulties, problems and things like that that adults encounter as they go through their work as scout volunteers. In part, the takeaway from this is that we need to challenge our preconceptions of things, the things that we are absolutely sure that we know- and make sure that we reconcile them to the way that the program is set up and written and administered.

It's very, very important and it's one of the greatest things that we can do as a scout volunteer, because once we do that, we've aligned all of the way that we're doing things with the way that really works best. Like I said, we've had a century of experience with this. That century has proven out in countless situations all over the country what works and what doesn't, and it's a real good idea for us to base our program and our activity and our leadership on those things that have a good, proven track record and that we know will work.

E-mail- that is folks, And here's an answer to one of your e-mails. This e-mail comes from Brian and he says this: I really enjoy the site and look forward to each new episode of the podcast. I've left comments on the blog and a positive review on the podcast, but this time I have a question for you, if you're able to answer it.

May an advancement chair or scoutmaster reject a blue card for a merit badge if they suspect a scout has not completed the requirements, even if it has been signed by a registered merit badge counselor, How would you handle that situation If there was considerable doubt in your mind that a scout completed the requirements and doubt that the counselor had properly taught the material? Brian goes on to say: my opinion is to take the counselor at his or her word and award the boy with the achievement, but in the future either provide training to the counselor or not use them. There are others in the troop, however, that don't feel comfortable awarding boys the badges and have chosen to deny submitting the achievement. I appreciate your perspective and experience.

What are your thoughts on this situation? I want to make sure the boys are rewarded for their efforts.

I don't want to be in the business of double checking merit badge counselors, but of course I want to maintain the quality and significance of the program. I'd appreciate any thoughts. Keep up the good work. It's really helpful and inspiring. And thanks, Brian, for getting in touch.

And I think, based on what we just heard in Scoutmastership in seven minutes or less, the answer to this is going to be pretty easy. You describe in your email a very common concern for many Scouts and a question that comes up again and again and again and again: Quality of achievement work and the quality of skills and the quality of advancement.

From one perspective, we should be concerned that Scouts learn important skills, and I don't want to appear cavalier or dismissive of the idea that there are many things a Scout needs to know and needs to know well. But some Scouts appoint themselves as quality control officers and they cause a lot more problems than they solve. To answer your first question, there is no question that any merit badge application signed by a registered counselor is a done deal. A Scout presenting a completed application has it checked, not for the quality of his skills or the completeness of the information that he's learned, but just has it checked in and recorded, And this isn't subject to review or judgment from anyone. The counselor has the absolute last word. This also applies to signatures in a Scout handbook for badges of rank.

The horse is out of the barn, the cat is out of the bag, the toothpaste is out of the tube, the die is cast. We award the badge. End of story.

Is that clear? So a signed blue card. There's no questioning, there's no judging. We award the badge.

So we need to tell the folks in your troop, Brian, that there is absolutely no basis in policy or procedure for them to deny a Scout his achievement. They need to find the certificates they denied him, they need to submit them right away and if they're not willing to do so, they need to go find something else to do where they can be useful in their community instead of messing up the Scout program.

Now, that's strong words, but I feel pretty passionate about this. What happens if we do suspect that a Scout did not complete the work or that the counselor was not rigorous enough in their evaluation of a merit badge?

Well, we certainly don't go to the Scout and make him suffer. We don't seek to find this out from the Scout in other than the most casual way, Because it's absolutely not his fault.

If things didn't work well, It is the fault of the counselor. Now, who registers merit badge counselors in your council and district?

Is it the troop that does this? Well, you might accept some applications, you might forward them to somebody, but usually it's the district advancement chairman or the district advancement committee, in some cases the council advancement committee.

So what happens if we have a difficulty with a merit badge counselor? There's a couple of approaches.

One would be to speak directly with the counselor, but my preferred approach is to talk to the folks on your council or district advancement committee And say: look, you know, I was just not too sure about this. I don't want to make a whole lot of waves. I know that the counselor is a volunteer, just like I am, and they're trying to do their best.

But you know, we asked some questions and it seemed that we were probably short-cutting a couple of things on that particular merit badge And then let them follow it up. It goes off of your plate onto theirs. It's never an issue again. Just leave it be. You have more important things to do. Merit badge counselors are volunteers, just like us.

They share our ideals and goals. A very, very few may get misinformed or misdirected, but they are all working in what they see as the best interest of each individual scout that they're working with. Let's also remember that a merit badge, put in perspective, is a bit of cloth that memorializes a scout's achievement in exploring a given subject and demonstrating some skill and understanding in some of the basics of that subject. It's not a license, it's not a diploma, it's not a certificate of the completion of a complicated technical course. It's a merit badge. It's unique.

It's something that scouting has that nobody else has. The way we maintain the quality and significance of scouting is by following the policies and procedures that were given as they are written. It's very, very important And when we do this, scouting takes care of itself. The quality of things take care of itself.

You know the folks that we're working along with the merit badge counselors, the counselors at summer camp. You know our fellow leaders and all these wonderful people who are dedicating themselves to the betterment of our scouts.

We need to work along with them. We need to understand that not everybody is going to be hitting on all eight cylinders every single day, And we need to have a little bit of serendipity and acceptance with some of these things and know how to fix them when they are truly out of line.

So I hope that helps Brian and everybody else. I hope that sheds a little light on the subject And I'm interested to hear your opinions and your elaborations. And whether you agree with me or not, Do get in touch And you're going to find out how to do that in just a moment. Music.