| Recognizing a good troop is pretty easy. Finding one can be hard. I don't have time to do this justice, but here is WashDad's guide to a first-rate troop:
1. Do they do thing "by the book" or do they believe "the BSA program is fine, but we have special needs so we only use the parts that work for us." Surprisingly, perhaps, the correct answer is "by the book." I've been involved in two troops that were on the way up in numbers of boys and in quality of program, and both of them did so by abandoning their own ideas and hewing to "the book." When you think of it -- it makes sense. BSA has been running a youth program for boys for nearly 100 years, and literally millions of adult leaders and Scouts have been contributing to "the book" over that time. What makes any given leader the idea that they are smarter than all those other experts?
2. Does the troop have an active outdoor program? Do they go camping at least once a month? Do they go on a high adventure trip AND to summer camp EVERY summer? If not, pass on this troop.
3. Who stands at the front of the room during meetings? If it's the Scoutmaster, pass. If it's the Senior Patrol Leader, give them a point.
4. Do the boys wear their uniforms? You can have a poor troop that wears the uniform, but I've never seen a good one that didn't.
5. Are there lots of adults at the meeting, but in a different room or sitting quietly in the back? This is a very good sign. It means that adults are involved (good) but know enough not to interfere with the youth leaders (better).
6. Do any patrols have the National Honor Patrol Award? This is a sure-fire sign of a good troop that follows the patrol method.
7. Do the boys clump into their patrols, or does the troop meeting look like one mass of undifferentiated boys? A strong patrol identification is a good sign.
8. Does the Scoutmaster have so many awards hanging from his shirt that he looks like a Chilean admiral? This is tricky -- some great Scout leaders have lots of fruit salad and wear it proudly, because they earned it as part of serving the youth. Some really lousy leaders are "award collectors" and don't really get the program. So, a Scout leader with lots of "stuff" on his or her uniform may be off-putting, but it isn't necessarily bad. (My uniform has medium stuff.)
9. Ask the Scoutmaster "what is Scouting about?" If he says it's about camping and the outdoors, that's bad. If he says it's about learning "leadership" that's OK, but not great. If he says it's about helping youth grow up to be mature adults who are equipped to make ethical choices in their lives, give him a gold star.
10. Ask the Scoutmaster what happens in a typical Scoutmaster conference. If the answer includes tying knots or showing first aid skills -- that's bad.
Whew. I wonder how many tpyos are in there? |