{"id":888,"date":"2010-11-21T16:13:15","date_gmt":"2010-11-21T21:13:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/?p=888"},"modified":"2011-11-13T16:15:15","modified_gmt":"2011-11-13T21:15:15","slug":"issue-233-eagles-and-parkinsons-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/2010\/11\/issue-233-eagles-and-parkinsons-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Issue 233 – Eagles and Parkinson’s Law"},"content":{"rendered":"

EAGLES and PARKINSON\u2019S LAW<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\nWriting for The Economist<\/span><\/em> in 1955, Cyril Northcote Parkinson<\/a> began a semi-humorous essay with this statement: <\/span><\/p>\n

Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\nThis has become famous as \u201cParkinson\u2019s Law,\u201d mostly because it\u2019s pretty accurate!<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s high time we recognize that in vastly too many instances we apply this to the rank of Eagle Scout. <\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s as if, because one can earn this rank anytime prior to one\u2019s 18th<\/sup> birthday, then age 17 years, 364 days is perfectly OK as a planned completion date! Baloney!<\/span><\/p>\n

Just the other day, with just one merit badge to go, a 16-1\/2 year-old Scout was told, \u201cNo rush\u2026you have lots of time.\u201d Baloney!<\/span><\/p>\n

The BSA Advancement Committee Policies and Procedures<\/span><\/em> (No. 33088) has a special appeals provision to follow when the Scout\u2019s 18th<\/sup> birthday is imminent. Baloney!<\/span><\/p>\n

A small part of the problem here is the Cub Scout program, in which the Arrow of Light rank is typically presented to the Webelos Scout on the same evening that he leaves the pack. The impression created among some proportion of parents, boys, and leaders is that Boy Scout ranks work the same way: After seven years of Boy Scouting, the young man gets his Eagle badge and departs the troop, never to actually ever wear the badge. Pity!<\/span><\/p>\n

Well here\u2019s the plain truth: Despite the hyperbole, pomp, circumstance, and accolades that have been relentlessly seeping through the sheets in recent decades, Eagle ain\u2019t that tough<\/span>.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBack in the day,\u201d it wasn\u2019t all that unusual for a Scout to earn Eagle, and then go on and earn the Explorer Silver Award\u2014the two together commonly called \u201cThe Double-Eagle\u201d\u2014all before being able to get a drivers license. Young men at one time also earned Eagle and the Sea Scout Quartermaster Award, well before being able to legally have a beer. <\/span><\/p>\n

When I sit on an Eagle board of review for a 17 or 18 year-old, I make a point of asking what advice he would give to a boy just starting out on the trail to Eagle. Every one has said precisely the same thing: Earn it before you get to high school if possible, or before your sophomore year, for sure. But, when I then ask if in their own troop this was encouraged, the invariable answer is along the lines that the adults there didn\u2019t \u201cbelieve\u201d that a Scout was \u201cmature enough to understand\u201d how important Eagle was, and so they used various ruses to \u201cslow Scouts down.\u201d Some troops even delayed their Scouts \u201cso that the boys will stay in the program longer,\u201d according to several horribly misguided Scoutmasters from around the country.<\/span><\/p>\n

Look, Tenderfoot takes a month; Second and First Class can be knocked off before a boy\u2019s 12th<\/sup> birthday; Star and Life can be handled in another year with a little imagination and sticktoitiveness, so that\u2019s by the 13th<\/sup> birthday; and Eagle takes another six months or so, so we\u2019ve got a wrap by 14. Perfect! Now the Scout actually gets to wear his Eagle badge on his shirt, get some fun merit badges on subjects he\u2019s interested in, get to a Jamboree plus Philmont and Northern Tier treks, and a whole bunch of other stuff in the next three years! <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOooo\u2026 But the Eagle Project<\/em>,\u201d you say. To which, hey, what\u2019s the big deal! It\u2019s not like he\u2019s building the Great Pyramid or launching UNICEF. He\u2019s doing a project in or around his town that shows he knows how to plan, \u201csell,\u201d and manage\u2014otherwise called \u201cleadership\u201d\u2014that does some good for the community.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was easier \u2018back then,\u2019 because there was no Eagle project,\u201d say some. But they forget that, \u201cback then,\u201d there were no \u201cmerit badge fairs,\u201d or even \u201cmerit badge midways\u201d at Jamborees, there were no \u201cin-house merit badge counselors,\u201d no \u201ctrail to Eagle workshops,\u201d no \u201ctroop Eagle advisors,\u201d no \u201cLife-to-Eagle packets,\u201d and no parents to drive us hither and yon (we walked, strapped on our roller skates, rode our bikes, or took public transportation\u2014what a concept!).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWell all of those reasons are why Eagles accounted for only 2% of all Scouts!\u201d say others. But we forget that advancement is one of eight methods of Boy Scouting; it\u2019s not the be-all, end-all to the program. If a guy decided he wanted to continue to advance, he did it. If he was happy at First Class or Star or Life, then that was OK\u2014it wasn\u2019t such a big deal, because along the way he was getting the other seven methods of Scouting, and they usually stuck.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nowadays, we often suggest that, somehow, a young man has \u201cfailed\u201d if he\u2019s not an Eagle Scout\u2026and we give him (and expect him to take) all seven years to get there. Enough!<\/span><\/p>\n

Scouting isn\u2019t about \u201cfailing\u201d or even \u201cpassing.\u201d It\u2019s about having fun in the out-of-doors, with friends maybe for life, learning about ourselves, learning to get along with others, and handling some challenges while we\u2019re at it. Advancement is surely a part of the program, and it\u2019s an important part. But it\u2019s not Scouting\u2019s answer to surmounting Everest or walking on the Moon, and it shouldn\u2019t be treated as such. And it sure as heck shouldn\u2019t take seven years!<\/span><\/p>\n

Do it in two, or three, or four years and you get to wear the badge for a while. If you\u2019re in a troop that says you have to \u201cmature\u201d in addition to completing all the requirements for six ranks and 21 merit badges, go find a troop that \u201cgets it.\u201d If you\u2019re in a troop that believes Eagle is their parting gift to you, as you head off to college or the workplace, go find another troop. If you\u2019re in a troop that doesn\u2019t \u201cbelieve\u201d in \u201cyoung Eagles,\u201d well, you get the idea.<\/span><\/p>\n

Suppose you have a manager who tells you he has a project for you that can be done in about two to four hours, but you can take all day, if you want. Just how much enthusiasm are you going to give that project, and how good are you going to feel at the end of the day?<\/span><\/p>\n

Just because you have<\/em> seven years to do it doesn\u2019t mean you should take<\/em> seven years.<\/span><\/p>\n

Happy Scouting!<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Andy<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/form>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
Got a question? Have an idea? Send it to AskAndyBSA@yahoo.com<\/a>. (Please include your POSITION and COUNCIL NAME or TOWN & STATE)<\/p>\n

(November 21, 2010 \u2013 Copyright \u00a9 Andy McCommish 2010)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Letters to AskAndy may be published at the discretion of the columnist and the editor. If you prefer to have your name or affiliation withheld from publication, please advise in your letter..<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EAGLES and PARKINSON\u2019S LAW Writing for The Economist in 1955, Cyril Northcote Parkinson began a semi-humorous essay with this statement: Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. This has become famous as \u201cParkinson\u2019s Law,\u201d mostly because it\u2019s pretty accurate! It\u2019s high time we recognize that in vastly too many instances […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-6"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888","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=888"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":890,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888\/revisions\/890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}