________________________________________
\nHere\u2019s what a reader recently had to say about Eagle Scouts\u2026<\/p>\n
Most last-minute Eagles think the rank will help them in the future, particularly getting into the military academies. These last-minute opportunists dilute the accomplishments of real Eagle Scouts. I remember hearing, at a troop meeting, \u201cWho\u2019s that guy?” Turns out he was the Scoutmaster’s son, going off to college. He’d been inactive in our troop for as long as I’d been a member. The most damage is done to other Scouts in the troop. They know what’s up. Is the Scouting program just a bunch of words?<\/strong><\/p>\n Let\u2019s start with the BSA\u2019s age requirement for Eagle: Complete the work anytime up to your 18th birthday. This means there\u2019s really no such thing as a \u201clast-minute\u201d Eagle: He\u2019s done the work in the time provided.<\/p>\n Which prompts this question: Just what is a \u201creal\u201d Eagle Scout, if it\u2019s somehow something other than a Scout who completes all requirements in the time provided?<\/p>\n Next, let\u2019s take a look at a Scout who\u2019s just completed is final Eagle requirements but hasn\u2019t been around the troop for a while…<\/p>\n Let\u2019s suppose he\u2019s completed all requirements\u2014including his six months of \u201ctenure-in-position of responsibility\u201d and \u201cactive\u201d\u2014except for perhaps a merit badge, or his service project, a year or more ago. Let\u2019s also suppose he, like many high schoolers, is involved in a whole bunch of stuff, like student government, sports, music or theater, national honor society, and so on. And let\u2019s also suppose he\u2019s involved in non-school activities, like a church mission, or traveling soccer, or the like. And let\u2019s add one more aspect: he\u2019s got himself a part-time job, or tends to siblings after school while his parents work, or the like. So where does he put his energies? On wrapping up his final Eagle requirements or merit badges, of course. And he does it. If any of this is accurate, and he\u2019s \u201cdone his time,\u201d where is there a problem? The answer\u2019s obvious: the only \u201cproblem\u201d is in the mind of an uninformed (or uncaring?) onlooker.<\/p>\n Now, let\u2019s back up for a moment and look at the broader picture. Based on BSA national statistics, we know that the current average age of Eagles is 17 years and a couple of months. But forty or fifty years ago, the average age of a Scout earning Eagle was about 15. Why this big a difference? Are Scouts getting lazier? Are Scouts, as this reader suggests, \u201clast-minute opportunists\u201d motivated by the notion of getting this on their resumes? Or is something else going on?<\/p>\n Well the \u201copportunist\u201d notion can be thrown out the window right away. That\u2019s because, by a young man\u2019s senior high school year\u2014when he\u2019s usually about to turn 18\u2014it\u2019s already too late for \u201cEagle\u201d on his resume to do him any good when it comes to college (or military academy) admissions: he applied months ago and now he\u2019s waiting for results.<\/p>\n So, what\u2019s going on? Let\u2019s start here: If he earned his Cub Scout Arrow of Light (which is common for the vast majority of Boy Scouts these days), this happened at the very tail-end of his Cub Scout experience. So, following that pattern, wouldn\u2019t one expect that Boy Scouting works the same way? That you earn Eagle as you\u2019re aging out of the program? Based on my own talking with various Scouts and their parents over the past several years, I can confirm that this misunderstanding is definitely present in the minds of a significant proportion of Scouts, parents, and even troop volunteers.<\/p>\n Next, let\u2019s take a look at the roadblocks troop-level adults throw up in front of Scouts who\u2014in their minds\u2014are advancing \u201ctoo quickly.\u201d \u201cA 13 year-old Eagle Scout is too young to understand what he\u2019s accomplished, so we slow them down\u201d is a theme I\u2019ve heard for years. \u201cYou have lots of time\u2014there\u2019s no rush\u201d is another message Scouts receive from both parents and troop volunteers. \u201cYou must not have done your requirements right\u201d and \u201cgoing to merit badge fairs can\u2019t be legit\u201d are other frequent phrases designed to discourage advancement. \u201cDon\u2019t forget: We can fail you at your board of review\u201d is yet another. I\u2019ve even heard, \u201cYou\u2019re not \u2018leadership material\u2019 so don\u2019t expect to ever get a leadership position in this troop.\u201d And then there\u2019s the troop that thinks boards of review must review every single requirement to the satisfaction of the reviewers, so that they have \u201cproof\u201d that the Scout can tie every knot, know every plant, perform CPR, and on and on\u2026<\/p>\n Of course, all of this is nonsense. But that doesn\u2019t prevent knuckleheads like these from abusing the advancement process to the detriment of the Scouts they\u2019re supposed to be supporting and encouraging.<\/p>\n So, back to the original issue: Is there anything fundamentally \u201cwrong\u201d with earning Eagle just before you turn 18? Of course not! Just like there\u2019s nothing wrong, either, with doing this five years sooner.<\/p>\n Happy Scouting!<\/strong><\/p>\n Andy<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Have a question? Facing a dilemma? Wondering where to find a BSA policy or guideline? Write to askandybsa@yahoo.com. Please include your name and council. (If you\u2019d prefer to be anonymous, if published, let me know and that\u2019s what we\u2019ll do.)<\/strong><\/p>\n [No. 427 \u2013 12\/23\/2014 \u2013 Copyright \u00a9 Andy McCommish 2014]<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ________________________________________ Here\u2019s what a reader recently had to say about Eagle Scouts\u2026 Most last-minute Eagles think the rank will help them in the future, particularly getting into the military academies. These last-minute opportunists dilute the accomplishments of real Eagle Scouts. I remember hearing, at a troop meeting, \u201cWho\u2019s that guy?” Turns out he was the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-22"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1781"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1781\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1785,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1781\/revisions\/1785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}