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Years ago there was some question as to whether one of my Scouts who was a candidate for Eagle had satisfied the ‘active’ requirement. He had not attended many meetings or outings in the last six months. He was a high school senior and a wrestler. We set up a meeting with him, his father and his wrestling coach.
At that meeting the Scout enumerated the things he had accomplished as a leader in his Troop and his wrestling coach spoke of how much the team relied on his leadership as a team captain. By the end of that meeting we were thoroughly convinced that this young man had done just what we would have expected of an Eagle Scout and more. He went on to a board of review and earned his Eagle.
Disputes like this are as common as they are resolvable when cooler heads prevail. Having a clear set of principles to guide us is vital in setting reasonable expectations for Scouts to succeed rather than finding ways to fail them.
Evaluating some advancement in Scouting is a cooperative effort. Our role is to set reasonable expectations with rather than for Scouts and join the effort to meet them; to always be on the side of our Scouts. Instead of issuing judgments we enter into conversations with our Scouts in an effort to define a goal and evaluate if it has been met. This relationship is an uncommon one. We are used to a more adversarial relationship with goal setting and achievement; with trying to meet a standard, to please a boss or supervisor. Scouting has no bosses waiting for performance reviews. Scouting has only mentors and coaches who are engaged in assuring that things go well. Achievement should be common and disappointment rare.
How, then, do we honestly and fairly set expectations and evaluate performance. A statement in the Guide to Advancement gives us some definitive direction:
The concepts of “reasonable” and “within reason” will help unit leadership and boards of review gauge the fairness of expectations for considering whether a Scout is “active” or has fulfilled positions of responsibility. A unit is allowed of course, to establish expectations acceptable to its chartered organization and unit committee. But for advancement purposes, Scouts must not be held to those which are so demanding as to be impractical for today’s youth (and families) to achieve.
Ultimately, a board of review shall decide what is reasonable and what is not. In doing so, the board members must use common sense and must take into account that youth should be allowed to balance their lives with positive activities outside of Scouting.
GUIDE TO ADVANCEMENT 2011 page 20
We are entrusted to exercise a sense of proportion and common sense in establishing reasonable expectations. There are no suggested expectations described, only the broad underlying concepts that guide us. Absence of specific metrics is an indication that setting reasonable expecations is a highly individualized undertaking from unit to unit; from Scout to Scout.
Many youth activities are overly demanding; miss a practice and you can’t play a game, miss a rehearsal and you loose your part in the play. Scouting is the only activity I know of that encourages youth to balance commitments and interests so they can take advantage of all opportunities to learn and grow.
Chad: “I have met more leaders than not who want to prove the Scout wrong rather than prove the Scout right when it comes to “active”. ” Concise. Very accurate statement. And obviously true in many cases.
One way to determine “active” is to ask the Scout. Clarke has mentioned this type of thing several times. Scout spirit? Same thing, ask the Scout. I generally read the requirement to the Scout and then ask him how he is doing with that? I usually get an answer. If the answer is not real positive, then I ask the Scout how he might improve and what his plan is going to be?
Taking Chad’s thing one more step, our main goal is not to ascertain how the Scout did, but where he is going. Is he moving forward? Does he want to advance and learn and grow? It’s not so much whether he “passed” but whether he is ready to move on.
If only we could truly see and remember our 15 and 16 year old Scouts when they were 11 years old. The next time you are tempted to not approve a 15 year old Scout take a long look around the room at your current 11 year olds!
OK, let me give you an example then from my unit. Names have changed to protect the guilty (me).
Boy moved from a very active Troop unit in another state to my Troop. He had everything done for Life. Held a Scoutmaster Conference where he balled uncontrollable. Went to his Board of Review and balled there too. Since his Board of Review (almost a year ago) he has disappeared. He is still registered with our Troop. He still tells me he wants to come but he doesn’t show up. He hasn’t served in a leadership position. He has a few merit badges to complete which he has asked me via email if he can start. I told him yes and told him he needed a blue card from me. Haven’t heard from him to get those cards from me. Asked the Dad about him and he says he is just shy. Asked sister about him and she says the same thing. His Dad has made it clear that he isn’t going to another Troop.
How do I help this boy? What am I doing wrong?
I don’t think you’ve done anything wrong.
It’s apparent to me that the recent move was hard on him. He may be devastated at leaving his friends and not adapting to the new situation very well. He may be very emotionally unstable his family and they may be closing ranks to protect him and themselves.
Ask him (email seems to work right?) what his expectations are, what he hopes to achieve and how you can help and go from there. Ask questions; lots of questions.
I have met more leaders than not who want to prove the Scout wrong rather than prove the Scout right when it comes to “active”. Often we should give the benefit of the doubt after discussion with the Scout.
Is it easier to define what inactive is?
South African Scouting doesn’t have the same ‘active scouting’ requirement written out explicitly, but I’ve had to deal with similar situations.
My take: a Scout who stays home to look after siblings, or takes a sabbatical to compete in National championships for a few weeks, or can’t attend camps because they are busy gaining work experience, has learned the lesson of good citizenship that we are trying to instill. In such a situation, it’s difficult to hold that against the Scout.
When character development and good citizenship expresses itself outside of Scouting we have sure evidence that Scouting has been successful.