I would like to bring to your attention the chance that we as leaders
might risk by concentrating on merit badges and the Eagle Scout Project
requirements as the means for achieving Eagle rank and to gloss over the
requirements of Scout Spirit and Scout Participation. I
can see the reasoning behind this. There are just so many hours in a day
and our scouts and their parents also have other demanding agendas bidding
for their time.
Furthermore, Spirit and Participation
are not tangible things. They are something in your head. The problem
is that the reason we have scouting is to teach scouts to be team players
and leaders with the values found in the scout oath and law. These
values are in your head and it is what is in your head that determines
the quality of the action. To succeed in acquiring those qualities
Scouts have to be visibly present working in patrols at troop meetings,
camping trips and outings
The problem is that given that a young man is competent
in the skills for his job the likelihood of success on the job and elsewhere
in the community will depend on how well grounded he is in the aforementioned
values of Scout Spirit and Participation
So how is a Scoutmaster supposed to stay on
top of the nurturing of our future Eagle Scouts? First he needs
to be free to work with the leaders at the Troop Leaders Council meetings
and with the scouts at Scoutmaster Conferences. He needs to be shorn
of the responsibility of running meetings and camping trips so that he
can be free to do his three most important jobs as Scoutmaster:
- Guide the Troop
Leaders Council
- Run Scoutmaster
Conferences
- Give the Scoutmasters
Minute after meetings
Scoutmaster
conferences are not just for advancement. When a Scoutmaster observes
troop activities there are frequent times when he sees a need to have
a special Scoutmaster’s conference for a scout who needs some advice
on Scout Spirit or Participation. That's the time to work on it with the
Scout. When he knows you are holding him accountable he will cooperate.
Scouts look for acceptance from their peers and from their Scoutmaster.
It is up to the Scoutmaster to set the standards for him and his peers
and there is no better way than through the Scoutmaster’s conference
and by example.
Don't preach to scouts as a group. It goes
in one ear and out the other. The Scoutmasters minute is not preaching.
It is giving a story with a moral and it is only one minute long. You
can reason in a nice way with scouts one on one. If scouts like
the Scoutmaster they will follow his example. They don't like to be barked
at or have the riot act read to them. That should be kept to a minimum
and done by others. Disciplinary problems are rare when a well run active
program is in place.
Have the Program Assistant Scoutmaster run
the troop meetings and the Outdoor Assistant Scoutmaster run the camping
trips. The Scoutmaster also needs to be free enough to keep his eyes peeled
over the entire scene just like a football coach on the sideline watching
each player perform his task. He has his offensive coordinators and defensive
coordinators calling the shots during play. The coach's concern is performance.
When the Scoutmaster puts his seal
of approval on a young man that he is an Eagle Scout he is telling the
whole world he is an Eagle Scout in substance and not that he has just
met the requirements by passing 21 merit badges and completed an Eagle
Scout project.
Another way to look at it is that when an Eagle
Scout submits his application to West Point, the Commandant considering
his application figures that the young man has all those qualities expected
in an officer and gentleman who may have to lead soldiers in combat under
life threatening conditions.
The Scoutmaster has a grave responsibility
when he approves a young man to appear before the Eagle Scout Board of
Review. There is a chance that the Eagle Scout late in life did not live
up to the expectations of his rank and got in trouble with the law. If
you have done your job well then chances are that this may never happen.
If it should happen it might still bother your conscience but it should
not. Circumstances take place later in the young man’s life that
obviously is beyond your control.
Dan Cottone
Unit Commissioner Troop 50
|
