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pat.friedrich

pat.friedrich
Member since : Oct-29-2008 (Verified)
4 Ideas, 32 Comments, 157 Votes

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Ideas Posted

There are several awards that a youth can earn more than once; i.e the BSA Lifeguard, 50-miler, etc. When doing the data entry these can only be put in once. It would be nice for the youth if the system recognized that they earned awards more than one time. If there is a way to put it in the youth's record without the system indicating that "duplicate reocrds are not allowed" I would like to know. Otherwise, up-date the system so multiples can be put in.
It would be greatly appreciated by the parents I come in contact with every day if the Cub Scout uniform was a simple T-shirt. Besides the "wear factor", meaning a T-shirt is easier to care for, the expense of the traditional uniform is getting to be beyond many folks. The rank advancement emblems, as well as other patches could be worn on a sash designed for the Cub's.
Our Council received a call from a concerned citizen requesting that we not put the door hangers out for Scouting for Food in their area as there have been a number of day-time robberies and the door hanger is an alert to robbers that the homeowner is away.
Here is an opportunity for the National Office to get behind each Council and develop a partnership with the US Postal Service. The Postal Service and National would mail out a postcard with the information about Scouting for Food and local Councils would then do the pick-up or man pick-up locations.
It would take some thought on the logistics, but would be a terrific advertisement for Scouting.
The Merit Badge Counselor form needs to be updated. Currently, the form states that an Adult Application must accompany the form. This means that the SSN would be available to all advancement people who are supposed to sign off on these forms. That is unacceptable.

It is also cumbersome in that people who are registered in another capacity must fill out the form over again. As long as the prospective Counselor has an application on file and has gone through the criminal background check we should not require another application.
Moderator Comments
3/12/09
From: Jamie Shearer, Program Impact Department Manager

Many of the comments posted to this idea provide appropriate work-arounds to both meet the requirement while protecting sensitive information provided by the applicant. The Advancement Task Force will consider this suggestion in the next revision of the materials related to the Merit Badge Counselor application process.
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Comments Posted

pat.friedrich 7 days ago
1. Those that want to will continue to go to trainings.
2. You can lead a horse to water, but you cana't make him drink.
3. These are VOLUNTEERS (what do we not understand about that?
4. Why do you want to kill them?
pat.friedrich 1 month ago
Please, please, please do this!
pat.friedrich 1 month ago
This can't be implemented SOON enough!
pat.friedrich 1 month ago
I spent about 5 minutes one day taking the BSA strip off an old uniform so a Mom could sew it on her son's shirt. The idea of strips would be great! Better yet, go back to the old way and have the embroidered stip sewn on.
pat.friedrich 1 month ago
Statistics do not necessarily prove anything taken out of context, so while you can say that such and such dropped so many percent, we must look beyond the numbers to what was happening at the time and the conditions that made those numbers. There could be any number of reasons for a drop in membership, not attributable to allwoing girls to join. I've been to scouting events in Scotland and they have no problem with girls in their organization and certainly do not attribute the drop in membership to allowing girls in the group. The event also has Scouts from 18 other countries and in talking with the youth and their leaders, not one has an issue with girls being in the organization. In the case of Scouting in the UK, they have left it up to each individual group as to whether or not to take girls in the unit. Given that this is such a contentious issue in the United States, it would seem that we could leave it up to each unit and Council to make up their own mind. If people want an all boys group, good they can join one, but if people want a mixture of girls and boys they should have the opportunity to make that choice. At the risk of my head, let me say it again, the BSA really needs to join the 21st century.
pat.friedrich 1 month ago
I don't know what countries you have visited but I can tell you from going to International Jamborees and speaking with and seeing Scouts from many countries in action that the program was NOT "nearly wiped out" in many parts of the world. Get real and get modern. I certainly don't know what you are so afraid of by letting people have a choice.
pat.friedrich 2 months ago
Kuddos to the above two comments. No more knots.
pat.friedrich 2 months ago
If we made Scouting co-ed from the beginning we wouldn't have to worry about this. Let's do what the rest of the world is doing.
pat.friedrich 2 months ago
What a novel idea - quality over quantity! Is any one at the top listening to this?
pat.friedrich 2 months ago
Having been a leader on an International Jamborette (Blair-Atholl, Scotland) I agree totally with the above posting. We hang so much unnecessary "stuff" from our shirts. Most adults in other countries wear nothing on their shirts but the location of their unit. It would seem to most of the rest of the world that American Scouting is more about awards than the program.
pat.friedrich 2 months ago
I thought this was a youth organization. Get rid of adult knots. PERIOD. We do not need recognition, the kids do!
pat.friedrich 5 months ago
Frankly, I'd like to see all adult knots go away. The program is for youth, not adults. I would like to know what's wrong with doing something for the inherent good of it instead of needing to be "rewarded" at every turn. Too many adults, that I have observed, are simply knot collectors.

Camp staff is a job and as such, the requirements listed above are part of your job description. Do your job well and you are compensated with a paycheck, not a knot. Serve more time and you should be getting paid more. If you are employed in a position that requires a National certification, you always get more pay.
pat.friedrich 5 months ago
1)The date of the Scoutmaster conference is always part of the electronic submission.

2)The NEW committee chair really has no say about what has gone on,with the Eagle applications,before they took over.
pat.friedrich 6 months ago
Ditto the above comment. I put the paper back through.
pat.friedrich 6 months ago
The sentiments expressed above are excellent. However, unless the Boy Scouts of America works to change it's management style, they will never come to fruition. For the past 20 years, both as a volunteer and employee, I have watched in amazement as we continue to promote only from within bypassing good managers in favor of "good ole' boys". We continue to send our managers only to approved BSA training and ignore outside training programs that produce better leaders and managers. We do not encourage our employees to seek extra training or further degrees unless it's within our own closed system. We should embrace outside hiring and bring in the best people we can. Anyone can learn about "the program" but it takes special people to be truly good leaders. We need the best and brightest and those do not always come from within.
pat.friedrich 7 months ago
Make sure that all units understand and use the on-line internet advancement system! It makes units accountable for their advancements and has the added advantage of them seeing their member registration (and fixing the "no registrant" problem).
pat.friedrich 7 months ago
I do not find that "most adult volunteers" are also merit badge counselors. That means that all Cub Scout adult's want to be merit badge counselors.
pat.friedrich 8 months ago
If we take the above comment to its logical conclusion, all public schools would be segregated into boys and girls schools. We all know that boys an girls are different and learn at different rates. The rest of the world has learned that the two sexes can co-exist in a Scouting setting, what's wrong with the US? And I really don't want to hear about the drop in Cub Scouts in other countries when girls were introduced, as the problem is here also, with just boys in the program. The drop in program numbers had nothing to do with the change and everything to do with what was already mentioned, quality leaders willing to take the time to help. As a pilot, why not let units take girls if they want? Frankly, it's already happening with some groups letting sisters take part. They just do it "under the table". What does it hurt to try?
pat.friedrich 8 months ago
Let's just shoot ourselves in the foot. What a ridiculous idea to make them pay, not to mention the amount of paperwork for the volunteers. Merit Badge counselors are not adult leaders. They should be (but mostly are not) members of the community who have expertise in a subject area that the youth is interested in. By asking them to pay a fee, we are defeating the purpose. Agreed, they need to register once and undergo the CBC. After that, it's a moot point as one never does another CBC again, no matter how many applications you turn in.
We also know who is current already, by running the Merit Badge Counselor list from the Membership Reports file
pat.friedrich 9 months ago
Great idea to include kindergartners, however as the program is outlined above, it's hardly new. My 25yr old son started in this program as a Tiger. It sounds exactly the same. Is there anything new in it except the name?
pat.friedrich 9 months ago
Eliminate the drivers license number altogether. It goes nowhere and is not used, that I can see. Most of our volunteers don't even bother to put it down.
pat.friedrich 9 months ago
We have way too many adult awards. I suggest you get rid of all of them. I am a Silver Beaver Award reciepient and I can talk.
pat.friedrich 9 months ago
There is a great old saying that is pertinent, "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got". Unfortunately for Boy Scouts of America you are a dying breed and without change from within, you will kill the organization even sooner than it's going now. There is absolutely nothing wrong with bringing in new blood and fresh ideas. If you keep promoting from within all you get is old blood and stagnant ideas. You also need to send your executives to something other than Boy Scout training. There are numerous training programs that teach management skills and marketing that are more up-to date than what we teach. I would hate to see a 100 year old organization become a Harvard Case study on what not to do in business because the management can't move on.
pat.friedrich 1 year ago
I disagree about young girls having a different take on the ourdoors. My own daughter grew up camping, hiking, backpacking, etc. and has the same take on the outdoors as her older brother. Scouting would benefit greatly by allowing girls in the program.
pat.friedrich 1 year ago
Make that three agreements! And I also keep a copy of the last full catalog produced. I keep it behind the counter and pull it out when I need to find something. BRING BACK THE OLD FORMAT!
pat.friedrich 1 year ago
While the concept is good, the practicality is lacking. I run the Trading Post for our council and I can attest to the fact that people bitterly complain about the prices now. If we were to be "made in America" we would price ourselves out of the market.
pat.friedrich 1 year ago
It would also be nice if all the resources could be consolidated into one place instead of different divisions of the Organization. To order some BIN items, I have had to go not only to the BIN catalog but call various divisions such as Cub Scout, Venturing, etc. If the item has a BIN number it should be available on line.
pat.friedrich 1 year ago
Great Idea!
pat.friedrich 1 year ago
Most of the rest of the world has co-ed programs that work just fine. We need to catch up and move beyond the 1950's mentality and allow girls into the program.
pat.friedrich 1 year ago
If you all will notice, the shirt is made to be worn untucked! No more shirt tales, squared off all the way around with side slits!
pat.friedrich 1 year ago
Having attend several International Scottish Patrol Jamborette's, I've seen first hand the wonder of bringing Scouts from all over the World together. It's a real shame so many people have expressed negative votes, as this is a great idea to expand our horizons. There are great ideas out there and they don't all come from the United States.
pat.friedrich 1 year ago
Having an Eagle Scout son whose Troop always wore the sash hung over the belt, I believe the idea is worthy. Frankly, who really cares where it's worn as long as it is.