Merit Badges

This email came from a listener/reader. I answered it in Podcast number 4 as well as in this post; Hi Clarke- I really enjoy your thoughtful blogs and podcasts, and I’m interested to learn about your views on merit badge days. Your podcast item about BP’s view on badge-hunters vs. badge earners was timely as we have been recently been having a debate in our troop about merit badge days. One side says that the primary purpose is to raise money for the hosting troop, and not to ensure quality instruction for the boys, and that they are a shortcut to merit badge completion....

Scoutmaster Podcast 4 In This Podcast Merit Badge Quality [1:58] Humor – Bevis & Butthead [9:04] 4th in the series Instructional Methods for Scouts [14:38] Scoutmaster Minute; A Scout is Trustworthy [22:02] Podcast Notes Download Instructional Methods for Scouts.pdf (65.6K) Podcast: Play in new window | Download Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Is your Troop’s advancement program aimed at ‘true north’? Here’s some statements derived from Andy’s (at Ask Andy) answer to a Troop where the Scoutmaster is seriously off course: Every Scout can advance in rank according to each Scout’s preference for velocity, and no one will attempt to either slow him down or speed him up–this is entirely each Scout’s personal decision. Any Scout can apply for any merit badge any time he wants—whether Eagle-required or not—and upon informing the Scoutmaster of his preference or preferences will immediately be given a Blue Card and the name and contact information of a local Merit Badge Counselor....

Every once in a while a Scout reaches the extraordinary achievement of earning all 121 merit badges. I can imagine few other ways to gain experience in a crazy quilt of interests like American Business, Archeology, Bird Study, Cinematography, Dentistry, Entrepreneurship, Farm Mechanics, Genealogy, Geology, Journalism. Music, Nuclear Science, Pottery, Railroading, Surveying, Textile, and Whitewater. Here are three who have achieved this remarkable distinction recently: Here’s an interview with one Scout...