Too school-like?

I agree some badges can seem to be "TOO" school like, but tell me, would you go on a week long canoe trip in unknown territory without doing at least SOME research first? If we put the "book" learning into context, it can still be appropriate.

"make a presentation about ..." this CAN be a school like presentation or ...


the rock concert was a presentation ... do you think those cubs thought that all day they had been working on a "make a presentation about ..." type activity?

thinking of it as the cub has to go home and get some bristle board and stick pictures and text on there ... then stand up and give a speech then most cubs wouldn't want to be doing that

but have them put together a game based on the information ... find some other way to 'present' the information to others ... a skit, a game show, a song and dance, a wide game ... all of these are methods of presenting information to others that are more interesting than having someone stand in front of a group of people sitting crossed legged and bleary eyed .... and all of them are not very 'school like' ... but its the cubs that have found the information and have found a way to pass it on to the rest of the pack

Norma I hadnt thought about it that way, but your absolutly right. a very good point.

That IS a good point. I never thought of it that way.

Okay, anybody have a good idea for that UN night that we have to have if any cub is to get their World Citizen Award (Req. 4)? I looked for a jumpstart, because this is the LAST requirement standing in the way of my daughter being a 6-star/8-award cub (brief aside: anyone notice that despite their being 8 awards, you can put only 6 on the Scout shirt, because there are only six awards in the new badges?). My thought was to run a cub meeting at home with some of her friends, but I could find nothing.

She ended up doing about 3 hours of research and making a bristol board presentation, and as a result learned a lot more about the UN than anyone her age, but... IT WAS TOO SCHOOL-LIKE! She worked hard on it, and will be testing for the award this week, but the point of cubs is to be fun. There needs to be alternatives to requirements like this one, where it requires a cub "to attend a cub meeting that...". That sort of wording needs to be chucked out.

We won't be getting a new cub book for at least 2 years (after the Program Review), so we are stuck with what we have. Anyway, it would have been nice to do something fun with my daughter instead of giving her a school project. Anyone have any ideas for this UN night?

Oh, I HATE that requirement in the World Citizen Award....

I never figured out a great way to do it as a leader (and I tried to run themes for all sorts of requirements...) - I know I'd try to get the cubs to work on the "World Cubbing Badge" and have them pick out countries they were interested in etc... the UN cub night was supposed to have them come with stuff about their country etc, and it generally flopped...

And I admit that I'm hoping that the cub leaders of my son/grandson's pack are going to do it by the end of the year... (they are doing Purple Star this year) - so I can mark it off an not worry about it as a parent.... I have my doubts.

we did this about 2 years ago, but we got each six to do it as a group, break out to research and then present and discuss as a group. it was a pain. I am not sure how well we learned, or taught the other sixes as they did it.

I am definitely going to raise the "too school like" issue in the Program Review. My daughter tested her World Citizen Award last night, getting her 8th award (in the nick of time: she will be going up and invested as a Scout on May 1!), but it was as if she was doing a school project. Scouting is about "informal education", which I take to mean doing fun stuff which has a by-product of learning about the world and yourself. Completing this in the absence of an actual cub meeting was hard work, and while interesting for her, it wasn't a lot of fun.

Anyway, she will get the badge next week (we toured the Water Treatment plant last night, so no badge box). I'm just itching to post a picture of her sash afterwards. She finishes her RiL this weekend, too.

Darn, I'm proud of that kid.

To be fair, the schoolish requirements are kinda the point. These badges are meant to be difficult for the age group. The Awards iirc were meant for the cubs that did all the badges and wanted more. They are meant to be challenging, because that's how you learn. You better believe that those kids are now better off for their middle school experiences for what they've just done. Nor are they really meant for the cub meetings, you're supposed to show the initiative to get these badges.

Maybe this is just what my experiences were when I was a cub. Results may differ

I pretty much agree with ^

I stated it before... there are sections of Cub's Badgework (ugh, Purple) which are very school like... and not easy to program sometimes... or make fun and challenging. And at the same time... the 'meat' that they get from that... the citizenship/spirituality/community-service stuff... that is the part that will carry over as much as anything else when it comes to them earning their CSAs when they get to Scouts.

I can honestly say.. even with my outdoorsy/sporty Cubs who think the only purpose for air is to blow up a football... have never cast a truly disparaging remark about that side of the programming. Maybe its just the way we incorporate it into our program (we never devote a season to it.. it is like "fall back" activities that are spaced over a period of time) Maybe we find activities that try to grasp even a tiny piece of fun? Or maybe its just that we never ever exceed their attention span with that stuff. (over 15 minutes and they get fidgety)... but that is the truth. They've never complained.

Some of the kids who are "strugglers" when it comes to the outdoor adventure/pioneering/camping/hiking/watercraft etc elements.... they will say it was their favourite Star to work on. I would never want to discriminate against those kids just to make the job of the leaders a little easier. Which is where a lot of the whining is coming from... the leaders (incl me sometimes).... but not the kids, so much.

Its like when I started engineering and saw that at some point I had to take a European history course and a second??? My brother, 9 years my senior and a graduated engineer, just said.. "they do that to make you a more rounded person by the time you finish." Didn't bother me, I loved European history... and I was already bilingual. But I had lots of classmates who hated it.

So maybe that's what those elements are for in Cubs or Scouts? And whether I like them or not... if they make for better, more rounded and community minded youth... and provides foundations for CSAs, QVs and DoEs... I am not about to diss them completely.

To be fair, the schoolish requirements are kinda the point. These badges are meant to be difficult for the age group. The Awards iirc were meant for the cubs that did all the badges and wanted more. They are meant to be challenging, because that's how you learn. You better believe that those kids are now better off for their middle school experiences for what they've just done. Nor are they really meant for the cub meetings, you're supposed to show the initiative to get these badges.

Maybe this is just what my experiences were when I was a cub. Results may differ

Things could be dificult without being boring. Cubs might find it very hard to go on a 10 km hike but they wont be bored.

(brief aside: anyone notice that despite their being 8 awards, you can put only 6 on the Scout shirt, because there are only six awards in the new badges?)

They changed the awards ... there arent 8 anymore, a couple of them got 'down graded' to badges (Emergency Preparedness and another one, think the trails one)

Cub Scouts uniform badge update
To align with the six "Star Badge System", consideration was given to reducing the number of Cub Scout Activity Awards from eight to six. "Emergency Preparedness" became an activity badge within "Home and Community". "Canadian Heritage Trails" was amalgamated into the "Canadian Camper Award". (http://secure.campaigner.com/Campaigner ... 2mz-Y8P7j9)

Canadian Arts, Canadian camper, Canadian Family Care, Canadian Healthy Living, Canadian Wilderness, World Citizen are the awards now

(i think its interesting that they are all "Canadian" until you get to the "world citizen", the cub program seems to focus on Canada, with the scout program moving to the "world" other than this "World Citizen" award and the world cubbing/religion badges)

The 2 awards (Emergency Preparedness, and whatever) that are being downgraded to badges, as far as I'm concerned, would need new requirements to make them more in-line with the other badges... at least in my opinion.

Generally, I go with what is in the Cub book of the cub, with the option to do new badges or new requirements from information from the official Scouts website. I'm assuming they aren't going to reprint the cub manuals until the program review changes are implemented.... so I'd consider those 2 badges awards still.... the big problem being that there aren't new-style badges for them as awards....

so, the program review hasnt happened but we have changed the badges and awards? good to know. I have been using my sons six year old cub book to plan meetings and the year. we plan on 2 stars per year, and a few awards badges etc. now I could have planned stuff that gets some cubs a badge and it doesnt get others the badge?

The website still shows 8 awards on the badge requirement list:

http://www.scouts.ca/ca/cub-scouts-badge-requirements

Its only when you go to the scoutshop.ca to buy the Awards that you notice that Emergency Prep was downgraded from award to badge and Heritage Trails is gone.

The scout wiki doesn't reflect that change either:

http://wiki.scouts.ca/en/Canadian_Heritage_Trails_Award

Speaking of which.... living in a 400 year old settlement/City.... that Award's last 3 requirements made for great programming:

3 Locate a trail or waterway and learn about its heritage importance.
4 Travel on this route, and list some of the significant natural or heritage features along the way.
5 While travelling on this route, participate in a project that helps restore, clean or preserve the section you are on.

So if it is gone... where have those been moved to.... or where are they going to be moved to???

We're still going to do a Spring outdoor event themed around those 3 requirements... would be nice if they meant something that can be put on the sleeve.