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Joe Connole

Joe Connole
Member since : Mar-01-2009 (Verified)
3 Ideas, 32 Comments, 86 Votes

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Ideas Posted

I've been working on a special summer session of our normal merit badge classes here at the museum. I ran into some issues this past week with scouts wanting to take the Personal Management class that is this Saturday. Unfortunately they had to pull out here at the last second because their Scoutmasters refused to give them a blue card. The rational of the Scoutmasters happen to be that the boys were "too young" to take the merit badge.

The BSA policy is that all boys who are registered members of the Boy Scouts of America and are in the Boy Scout program can take any merit badge they want whenever they want. These Scoutmasters are indirect contradiction to BSA policy and unfortunatley the parents are unwilling to go against the wishes of their son's Scoutmaster.

I think we need to make merit badges a key point in the training of Adult Leaders. Otherwise, we need to find a way to make sure Scoutmasters cannot deny the Scout the opportunity to take a merit badge.

I believe a Scoutmaster should have the right to voice his disapproval, but he should not be allowed to refuse a blue card to a Scout wishing to take any merit badge.
Tiger requirement 4G reads, "Visit a television station, radio station, or newspaper office. Find out how people there communicate with others."

Does this really make sense? How many Tiger cubs are able to go out and complete this requirement? In light of 9/11 a lot of TV, radio and newspaper stations are refusing to allow tours. I think that this should be eliminated and replace it with something that makes sense and is feasible for a Tiger den to actually complete.
The Scout oath and law taken by all Boy Scouts include a promise to be reverent and to do duty to God. If we insist on Boy Scouts believe in a god, then why are religious medals still only optional? Why isn't earning one's respective religious medal a requirement for Eagle? I suggest that earning one's religious medal be added to the requirements for Eagle Scout.
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Comments Posted

Joe Connole 1 month ago
I got caught up and forgot to mention something. Its a great idea that Webelos leaders should stay with the program so that we have compotent leaders. But as you said, the parent wants to follow his/her son into Boy Scouts. Your suggestion is that the boy become his parent's Webelos den chief. If a boy transitions into a troop with lets say 50 boys, why should he and not an older, more compotent boy be allowed to be a Den Chief? The Den Chief's role is like that of a Troop Guide, you want your most experienced and knowledgeable boys to fill those roles and not a boy who just bridged into Boy Scouts.
Joe Connole 1 month ago
Dewjones,

A great post but a few problems. Based on how the Boy Scouts of America currently do things, and I don't see it changing anytime soon, creating a "Webelos" Unit will only cause the same hassle present in the current transition from Cubs to Boy Scouts. Thats not really what we want, is it? I don't think that having the Webelos as members of the Cub Pack is a bad idea, parents need to be more well informed about the Webelos program.

What do you mean by we shouldn't be chartering units, we should be chartering organizations? Currently the National Council establishes local councils throughout the country to help facilitate the Boy Scouts of America programs. They go to local churches, schools, VFW halls, etc. to have them become charter organizations. The BSA sells the program to those organizations and provides them with all the necessary information to successfully run a Scouting Unit. Now, what I take your comment to mean is we should do something closer to how the old Explorer program worked. Back before it was moved to Learning for Life, the Explorer program was school based, and career based where schools and career oriented jobs (i.e. police, fire, lawyers..etc) would purchase the program from the BSA and implement it almost entirely on their own. Due to the change in America's morals, this can't happen anymore. The BSA is a private organization, capable of excluding any member it wishes: Explorers was and is a public organization, intent on helping young people determine their future career options. If your understanding is to do away with the current chartering system, and implement an Explorer style chartering system we will run into numerous problems. Right now the BSA maintains some control over the Cub Scout, Boy Scout and Venturing Scout programs by selling the rights to administer the programs under the guidlines established by the BSA. From my understanding, Learning For Life does more than simply sell the rights but sells essentially the whole program and allows organizations to administer it as is most likely to meet their needs.

Finally, my own personal rant. The Venturing Program will need to be overhauled if we ever want to make it the "next" step after Boy Scouts. Currently, the Boy Scout program runs until a boy reaches his 18th birthday. If Venturing was truly a Scout's "next step", then it should more closely mirror the Boy Scout program.
Joe Connole 2 months ago
Thank you Rick, that was a great post. I have a couple of additions to make in connection to Rick's post. The Cub Scout and Boy Scout Divisions have made a great effort to transition the Webelos from being Cub Scouts into being Boy Scouts. What Rick said is very correct, everything about the Webelos program is there to make a seamless transfer from Cubbing to Boy Scouts.

In addition though, there are a few other aspects I don't feel that Packs make use of very well. The first of these falls directly on them as they are the first line. Each Pack should have a Troop that it feeds into so that each Boy has the potential of staying with his group as he transitions into Boy Scouts. If you don't have a Troop that shares your Charter Organization and even uses the same Unit number, then you need to go out and find a Troop and build a relationship with them. Even though some scouts will still drop out, and parents will continue to want their scouts to go to elsewhere a single Troop that your Pack feeds into is vital. Through having this, your Webelos can go on campouts with that troop, they can start to build a relationship with the Boys in that Troop. Not every parent in a Pack will agree with the Troop you build a relationship with if you don't have a Troop naturally associated with you. Yet the first and most powerful way of making that seamless transition is to associate your Pack with a Troop.

Within the Webelos den, your den leaders need to be making use of the Denner role. Make each boy responsible for a month at a time for assisting the Den Leader. As the boys transition into their half, maybe give the Denner more responsibility and make the role of Denner more like a Patrol Leader. By exposing them to leadership they'll get a general idea of what they will be expected to do as Boy Scouts.

Third, I know that others will say that you have to keep these boys active and give them a lot to do but that isn't true necessarily; there is such a thing as giving them too much. If your Pack is planning an event once a week, or twice a month or more it is probably too much. Once a month or twice a month extra activities are a good way to keep the Boys interested and Parents happy. If you're constantly going out and doing things the Boy will either lose interest or they will hear their parents complaining at home; either way you're Pack and Troop are hurting.

Another way to make a seamless transition that I see too few Troops and Packs making is the lack of use of a Den Chief. The Den Chief should be an older boy, typically closer to the end of his rank advancement that has the skills and leadership to help assist an adult leader with the running of a Den. A Webelos Den Chief can be very helpful not only to the leader directly but also to the transition of those boys into a Troop. The Den Chief should come from the Troop your pack is associated with, feeds into, or generally has a lot of boys go into. The Webelos Den Chief should be chosen by the Troop and willing to serve at least through the two levels of Webelos. Start him off in September of Webelos I, and have him stay through the bridging ceremony. That Den Chief is then able to earn the Den Chief Service Award and the boys he has helped will know someone in the troop aside from themselves. When the boys trasition, the Den Chief can become their Instructor or Troop Guide for the first four to six months in Scouting. You would not believe how valuable having a single individual from a Troop staying with your boys for the time they are Webelos can be for the transition period.
Joe Connole 2 months ago
What is with this anti-two year Webelos program rants that have been going on? What makes all of you think that just because a cub scout loses interest after 2 years of Webelos that its the program's fault?

Consider the following. When a boy bridges into Boy Scouts he is 10 almost 11 years old: Puberty has hit. For the first time a boy is noticing other things such as girls. Let's not underestimate the power puberty has over a young boy at that age and it could very easily be one of the main reasons a larger percentage of boys drop out after Webelos. For this problem there is no solution and there never will be.

Problem two, aside from independent Pee Wee and Little League sports, boys aren't exposed to playing sports the way they are starting in middle school. While most schools don't start allowing kids to play sports until 7th grade, the draw is significant enough to spark a decision to drop scouts all together. To this, we only have one solution: Make Scouting more relevant to a boy living in the 21st century.

Third, beginning in 6th grade (at least in Texas) boys are allowed to join school bands. These bands, while not as tough as high school, still demand a lot of time from anyone seeking to make it a career throughout the rest of their schooling. Activities such as boy scouts put up a road block to a successful school career in music. No matter how much boy scouts attempts to allow a boy to pursue playing in the band (through music merit badge, buglar..etc) the time and effort needed to become good at playing an intrument means something like boy scouts must go.

Finally, the individuals responsible for the Webelos and other Cub Scout programs: PARENTS. The individual parents who are activily engaged in their scout's Pack and in some cases Den are responsible for making all of the Cub Scout programs relevant, fun and interesting for the age group they are handling. Let's stop passing the buck onto those not concerned directly with the opperation of the program. The Boy Scouts National Council hasn't failed boys, neither have the local councils. Instead its the parents who are responsible for the adminstrating of the Cub Scout programs that are to take the blame for the loss of interest.

You can't tell me that in all the things available to a Webelos scout who enters in September of his 4th grade year to keep him busy, active and interested until February of his 5th grade year. Cub Scouts don't meet in the summer time, they only meet back up at the beginning of the year. So you're all telling me that in the 9 months of Webelos 1, and 6 months of Webelos II that you can't keep a boy interested? You're telling me that there isn't enough information to cover in that year and some change that they are activily involved in the last two years of Cub Scouts, that they get bored? They shouldn't finished the Webelos Rank until end of Webelos 1. That leaves them with Arrow of Light to work on in the last 6 months, they can finish earning their 20 Pin Award, serve as a Denner and learn what it will take to become a Boy scout. Not to mention, they can go camping as Webelos II and they should go on at least two campouts, one with the Troop and one with their Webelos patrol. Finally, when they bridge into Boy Scouts every former Webelos should receive then, or at the next Court of Honor, their Scout Rank.

If the program is failing we should first look at the ones responsible for maintaining it and actually putting it into action.
Joe Connole 2 months ago
I agree with both Roger and Ted in part. Webelos is a program that isn't followed very well by those who are responsible for it. The issue is not that they don't follow National, its that they have no reason to. The BSA is set up so that individual councils are responsible for the Boy Scout, Cub Scout, Venturing and Exploring Programs not Nationals.

Cub Scout Packs that wait to bridge their boys into Boy Scouts are doing them a disservice on many levels. The first is that they are missing the opportunity to be accustomed to the Boy Scout program before they go to Summer Camp. If you wait until school starts the boys miss a chance at Summer Camp as well, which puts them behind where they should be. Troops don't work like Packs, they meet throughout the year and never have a "recruiting" period like Packs have.

The Webelos program is a great program but in order to do it properly the adult leader should be sent through a specific Webelos training session like Basic Leader Training to provide them with the necessary essentials for being a Webelos leader. Currently the Councils don't offer it because they aren't required and National doesn't require it because its the individual Councils who are responsible for the program.
Joe Connole 2 months ago
The one year Webelos program wouldn't work to fix the problem of transition. I like the idea of the one year program, but the length of the Webelos program doesn't have a relation to why some scouts join one troop and others from the same den join another.
Joe Connole 2 months ago
This is a great idea to have Facebook directly assist the BSA in finding Eagle Scouts. I would say let's go one step further, instead of just showing Eagle Scout as an Alumni Group have it shown in the personal information section of the profile. This could be put somewhere between religious beliefs and political leanings.

As for groups such as Bebo, Delicious, Digg, Linkedln and Reddit, I have used only Delicious, Digg and Reddit and must say the BSA doesn't need to associate itself with these sites. They are primarily there to help people promote their blogs or news and videos; not to mention that aside from helping promote blogs these sites would vehenimately rip apart the BSA for our stances on moral issues.
Joe Connole 2 months ago
Your suggestion is a great idea but the application may not always work. So often the reason Webelos dens are broken up when they transition into Boy Scouts is because of politics. This parent prefers this Troop and this one prefers this Troop. In the end, the boy has little say often times about where he wants to go. A better way of solving the problem you speak of is to make it so that all Troops have a pack associated with them that feeds directly into the Troop each year.
Joe Connole 2 months ago
You can fix this by downloading the MS converter patch that allows you to open MS 2007 in older versions of the program. The only issue I have found with this is that if something is placed on a share drive you can "read" the file but you can't make edits. The converter patch is a simple fix that doesn't cost anything, whereas upgrading everyone to the new MS costs time and money that can be better used doing other things.
Joe Connole 3 months ago
As the program now stands a scout has the right to work on any merit badge he wishes at any point in his Boy Scout career. A Scoutmaster has no authority to decline a blue card on any one of his scouts. He may disapprove all he wants but it is ultimately not his place to deny the boy his blue card.

I am an Eagle Scout and I earned the rank at 14 years of age meaning I worked on all these "difficult" merit badges at a very young age. I have likewise met college students who are unable to do the Personal Management merit badge. Maturity is a vague word that often times does not have a place in this kind of conversation. A lot of factors go into maturity and just because one scout is 11 and another is 16 doesn't mean that the former is less mature than the latter. In fact, if we want to discuss who is more likely to complete a 3 month project it has been my experience a 11-13 year old is far more likely to complete the project in a timely manner than a 16 year old could ever hope to do.

I appreciate the idea that you suggest. But when it boils down to it, the BSA made the policy on merit badges because there is no 100% way to prove one way over the other. When a scout couldn't begin work until they were a first class you had individuals who didn't agree on this issue. All I am suggesting is that Scoutmasters fall in line with official BSA policy and not go off the deep end and take the program into their own hands.
Joe Connole 3 months ago
Council 538...

I disagree that the Eagle required Merit Badges in some way are less than the Scholarship Merit Badge. Communications, the Citizenships, Personal Management, all of these and more are in many ways far more difficult for a scout than his school work. You don't learn economics until you're a senior in high school in Texas; yet we routinely have boys as young as 14 earning Eagle Scout. There is absolutely no justification to require Scholarship merit badge simply because it encourages a boy to be a better student. What about all those boys who can't do good in school? Are we saying we want to discourage boys from joining simply because they can't do well enough to earn the Scholarship merit badge? The BSA tries to include all boys no matter their abilities and disabilities.
Joe Connole 3 months ago
I disagree about Scholarship, if we added that then we would have to add Reading as well. A Scout's ability to make A's and B's has nothing to do with his ability to succeed in the world. Just look at President Bush who was a C average History major at Yale University and he became PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

As for Public Speaking, Communications is required for Eagle and it has a 5 minute speech attached to it.
Joe Connole 5 months ago
Are individuals like Lance Armstrong the right image we want to present to kids? If you use performance enhancing drugs, you too can win the Tour de France. Ideally, we need to find someone who admits to their problems (Josh Hamilton would be a good example), and would be classified as a true role model and not just famous.
Joe Connole 5 months ago
I agree with the above comment.
Joe Connole 5 months ago
Steven,

IBM was founded in 1889 and was incorporated in 1911. Although, I think it would be great if we dropped Dell products and picked up IBM for a joint celebration of our founding and their incorporation.
Joe Connole 6 months ago
Do we really want to do that? I think that this would be insulting to a scout who doesn't earn first class within that first year. It would be even worse if we single out these kids who do earn it in their first year and fail to remain in the program longer than those who didn't, or fail to earn Eagle Scout. I think something like this is targeting kids at the expense of others. The BSA isn't out to embarass any kids or adults and that is exactly what something like this might end up doing.
Joe Connole 6 months ago
Been my experience that whenever something claims to be ESL it really means Espanol as a Second Language. In theory, ESL is a great idea but it utterly fails when put into practice. From what I can tell on my limited understanding of our Hispanic Iniative is that the program is about reaching out to the Hispanic community through Hispanic culture and language.
Joe Connole 6 months ago
The whole of every BSA program has at its center the development of ethically and morally responsible citizens. Why do we need a specific merit badge when the whole Boy Scout program should focus on this mission?
Joe Connole 6 months ago
Why do we need this exactly? Shouldn't this already be covered in First Aide, Safety and Emergency Preparedness?
Joe Connole 7 months ago
That sounds like a great idea but what incentive do kids have to getting off the couch? Sports get that group of kids who are willing to get out of the house and do something because it offers a glimmer of hope that one day they could be professional athletes. We need to find other ways to appeal to more kids in order to get them healthier. Why don't we set up something like from the movie Role Models, where kids can participate in a live action role play? We have so many kids who sit in front of computers playing games like World of Warcraft that we could introduce a live action version of these games for kids to get involved with and achieve a healthier life style by the exercise they get.

I hate to say it, but the youth of America aren't going to be jazzed about going out and walking; if they did, wouldn't the Hiking Merit Badge be earned by every scout?
Joe Connole 7 months ago
This should be included in the responsibilities of the troop historian.
Joe Connole 7 months ago
I think that this is a great idea, but the BSA would need to be careful as to who they ask to be a spokesman for our organization. Do you really want a pro athelete with a rap sheet the length of the Mississippi speaking on behalf of the BSA? We want to send the most positive message possible to the youth of America. That being said, if we went through with this we should exclude any athelete who has been convicted of crimes, or has admitted to cheating in the form of performance enhancing drugs.
Joe Connole 8 months ago
pcowan, I understand your concern that we are unable to offer a religious medal for every faith. However, I think that for those who do not have a faith award, or for those scouts who do not adhere to any particular faith doctrine, the BSA could come up with a general religious medal. The purpose of this award would not be to take away from the other religious medals, but to offer scouts who do not attend Church or do their faith does not offer a religious medal a chance to earn one.

Karl, I think we need to get away from looking at the Venturing Program, and what it has to offer and saying "Well, Venturing offers it so the Boy Scouts don't need to." The Boy Scout Program is still the mainstream, most popular program aside from Cub Scouts. Even in Boy Scouts we have Venturing Patrols, indicating that just because Venturing has something doesn't mean Boy Scouts can't have the same thing.

Eagle Scout, while "mainstream" is still the highest honor an American boy can earn. However, I do like the suggestions made about how to incorporate religion without requiring the medals outright. Maybe we should include in all the Citizenship merit badges (Family Life included) a mention of religion.
Joe Connole 8 months ago
I don't disagree that some of the religious medals are difficult to earn. Shouldn't Eagle Scout be something that requires a boy to really try to earn? I was 14 when I earned Eagle Scout; this shouldn't be the case. Scouts shouldn't just be able to mill about for a couple of years and be given the rank of Eagle; especially when most don't stay in until their are at least 18 and give back to scouting as they are charged to do.

As far as the multiple medals based on age is concerned, the only medals that are like that are Protestant religious medals. Even then, God & Church and God & Life cover either High School or Middle School. A Scout who belongs to the Protestant faith, depending on where we would put this requirement (either Star, Life or Eagle) would simply earn the medal associated with his age group. This shouldn't be an issue. This all comes down to how the requirement would be implemented. If we say in our requirements under Eagle Scout, "Earn the medal for your particular faith before earning Eagle Scout", then we are faced with the problem of various medals depending on age. If, however, we tack it to a particular rank and have it say "Earn the medal for your particular faith", then we aren't in danger of having to deal with the various religious medals. At that point, if we stick the requirement at Star, the boy (whatever grade he is in) would see the requirement and complete it.

Thats true, the ideals in the Scout Oath and Law do not require participation in any organzined religous institution. It does require a belief and service towards God. Picking on the Protestant religious medal God and Life, and God and Church they are open to anyone who professes the Christian religion.

If the religious medal suggestion doesn't work for you, then I would most certainly support the inclusion of religion in some other manner into the rank requirements. The requirement dictating community service already includes the notion of Church service. I do like the idea of some how including religion in a merit badge; though not in relation to any of the existing merit badges (if the question of America's religious foundations is used, it should be included in American Heritage.) Create an additional Citizenship merit badge, something like Citizenship in the Church or Citizenship in God.

Requirements for this new merit badge would include requirements like explaining religion, learning about the various world faiths, and a project requiring the Scout to explore his own religion. I would expect it to be a required merit badge.
Joe Connole 8 months ago
I don't think that lowering the age is the solution to our problems. As was mentioned by jjudd, we have a program for that age bracket: Varsity Scouts. This program should be promoted more by the Councils and Districts if you have that many boys who are 11-14 years old wanting to join a crew.

As for the girls who begin to lose interest in the Girl Scouts around the time they reach 11 year old, why not create a Varsity type program for them? Create an all female program designed for girls who are at least 11 and not yet 14 that will help introduce them to Venturing and Exploring. They can be involved until their 14th birthday, at which time they will bridge into Venturing or Explorers. We could tap into far more females for our Venturing program if we introduce girls who are interested in our older scout programs to the skills that they will need for those programs.

Joe Connole 8 months ago
I am certainly not in favor of adding girls into the currently existing Cub Scout program. What I do think could work is creating a separate program specifically designed for girls aged 6-11 years old that will help them develop the skills necessary to lead a productive life.

Futhermore, while the girls who join Explorers and Venturing are certainly suited for those programs it could help boost the numbers of the those programs by already introducing girls to the Boy Scout way. Perhaps this could be modelled after the original Girl Guides program that our Girl Scouts have ventured so far away from. Like Cub Scouting, an all girl program could be used to prepare a girl for entering one of our senior scouting programs.

From this program girls could graduate into a three year program designed to teach the girls out door survival, first aide, cooking, and all the other skills necessary to succeed in Venturing and Explorers, (they could spend time learning about career opportunities, and be able to have individuals from Explorer posts come in to explain the program.)

I'm not proposing that we make it so that girls go on to earn their Arrow of Light, or Eagle Scout. But there is great benefit for our older scout programs if girls are given the same opportunity to come in on an equal playing field with their male counterparts. We've never had any program to test whether or not we could raise the numbers of our Venturing and Exploring programs by introducing girls at a younger age to the Boy Scouts of America.
Joe Connole 8 months ago
I agree. I think it is about time that the Boy Scouts of America present an alternative to the Girl Scout program. I have had a number of parents come into the museum to get their sons introduced to Boy Scouting and they say they would never consider letting their daughters join Girl Scouts. The Boy Scouts of America would benefit greatly from creating a Girl Cub Scout program that feeds directly into Venturing, and/or Explorers.
Joe Connole 8 months ago
Having seen how merit badge colleges work, I find it difficult to support this program. How are we certain that the boys gain anything from such a program?
Joe Connole 8 months ago
Why create a whole new merit badge? Art and Computer merit badges should provide attention to the growing field of computer graphics.
Joe Connole 8 months ago
Earning the rank of Eagle is up to the boy. While the advancement committee should encourage advancement it should be done on a troop level. Someone on the advancement committee ought to know the scouts individually enough to know the ones who need and don't need the extra encouragement. I'm not saying that this is a horrible idea, but troops should already be able to tell you who is and who isn't progressing in rank. If they don't know this, then it is an internal problem that isn't present in the vast majority of troops.
Joe Connole 8 months ago
Like many, I've seen the hazards of allowing football in the confines of scouting. We would have a problem on our hands if we start selling flag football equipment and then a troop goes out to camp and decides to play flag football. Futhermore, given all the problems the NFL has with it's players off the field, does the BSA really want to partner up with them? No offense to the NFL and it's players, but they are not the type of role models the BSA should be supporting.
Joe Connole 8 months ago
If adult female leaders can be tapped out and become full members of the Order of the Arrow then female scouts in Venturing should be permitted the same honor. Of course there are many other problems the OA would have to address, particularly the role of female youths in ceremonies, but they should be permitted to join.