[Philmont] The hare and the tortice

Punish? It's a crew. Teamwork. Remember Stripes the
 Movie. Everyone helps
each other, everyone works together. Punishment? Sort
 of defeats the idea
and goals of the BSA, to create teamwork, to teach
 responsibility.
Jim Moss
   
  **********************************************
   
  Since Jim addressed the "punishment" I don't have to. If you as a leader feel it is punishing the stronger, faster kids, then you are a little prejudiced toward them and against the others in the first place.
   
  Cooper Wright addressed the same issue that it is a CREW. That is the bottom line clear and simple. He's also right when he says that bad adult leaders give BSA more of a black eye in the pubic than anything else. Kids need to be reigned in and not allowed to go off willy nilly.
   
  And it is the adult leaders responsibility to establish some of this protocol during shakedowns.
   
  Somehow a lot of leaders feel shakedowns are to work up speed. Speed is not the name of the Philmont game. It's a shame that adult leaders have promoted and reinforced that faster is better. That's a coaches mentality and a bad one at that. Too bad if I stepped on toes.
   
  Oe of the best Scout leaders I ever knew was a coach, but he did not have the faster is better and we gotta win attitude.
   
  I am glad it was brought up about the importance of lkeeping the group together and not seperated. Together only good things can hpen. Seperated a LOT of things can happen and most of them are not good.
   
  I'll use our AA trip for example. Not using names, we started out for Hart Peak. At the top, some wanted to go back the switchbaqck trail while others continued on to Indian Writings.
   
  That was bad enjough because it forced the guide to only be with one part of the group. Then several of the group going to Indian Writings simply walked off and left the rest behind.
   
  That is a burned over area and trails are really difficult to follow and also there are a lot of pseudo trails from the firefighters.
   
  It became imposible to follow their tracks. Besides when opn the ridge overlooking McBride canyon one could hear voices in McBride. Not knowing the trail finding ability of the faster ones and not wanting them lost in McBride canyon, the guide and anotehr of the crew bushwacked McBride to make sure they weren't in there.
   
  It was not a good thing at all.
   
  When the group got back together, several expressed their feelings but I think it fell on deaf ears.
   
  I expressed my point of view that I have used successfully with Scouts for over forty years.
   
  If you are in the lead it is YOUR responsibility to maintain contact with the sweep (the last crew member) at all times. If you can't do that, then don't lead.
   
  I once had a crew that did not adhear to that. I also had to run for quite a while to catch up. To say the least I was not a pleasant person to be around. So I shared that unpleasantness.
   
  What I did was turn the crew around and hike back to the starting point to get a fresh start. My point was we are going to do it right if we have to do it ten times. You know they got it right the very next time adn I did not have to remind them to stay together ever again on that trip.
   
  Getting lost is bad enough. Getting hurt when seperated from the rest of the crew is really bad.
   
  A lot of advisors adn a lot of crews have been taken off the trail at Philmont for even lesser offences. Talk about ruin your trek!
   
  AS an adult advisor you have heavy duty responsibility and if you do it right it's not the easiest thing in the world to do. If you prepare the crew with the proper protocol, then they understand the task at hand.
   
  Our public school system and the athletic department use peer pressure and blame the weak for not keeping up so the kids get a false sense that your hafve to be out front to be doing OK. Well, this is counter to Scouting principles and the sooner you get that sorted out the better.
   
  If in fact it is an issue with 14+ year olds, then something has been amiss with their first three years of Scouting. They should have already learned this so you have your work cut out for you.
   
  Quite often it is found in a copntingent rather than an established troop and the older/faster crew member s are out to prove their prowess. There are many ways to correct this depending on how hard core their case may be but cure it you must least the younger/slower/weaker of the group have a miserable time.

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Received on Thu Oct 18 20:40:36 2007