I think in most organizations and countries, on most grading or success judgement scales, 50% is not good. It doesn’t matter how you say it – a 5 on a 10 point scale, getting a 50% on a test in school where <60% equates to an F (it was 64% when I was a kid…never did figure out how they landed on that extra 4%), meeting 1 out of 2 objectives on something at work, etc.
Most Troop 58 families know that I have 2 goals for our Troop:
- Get out in the woods
- Have fun with your buddies
This might seem overly-simple, and it is – on purpose. There’s a lot in Scouting that can be overly-complex (uniforms, Order of the Arrow, merit badges, leadership training, camping equipment, rank advancement requirements, logistics, etc.), especially to our 11-18 year-old Scouts! So years ago, I created a simple set of goals that I repeatedly share with our Scouts, their parents, and anyone else who is interested in Troop 58. My thinking is this – if we get outdoors and have safe, yet exciting and challenging, adventures – AND – while we’re doing that we have a blast with a group of kids who have similar values based on the Scout Oath and Law – everything else will come naturally. Yes…rank advancement, merit badges, leadership development, service – all of it! Maybe it’s easier to see this if you flip the goals…if we DO NOT get out in the woods AND we DO NOT enable Scouts to have a good time with their friends, nothing that Scouting stands for will occur (at least not easily).
Why do I tell you all this? During January’s weekend-long trip to Ski Roundtop in Pennsylvania, I found myself in quite a reflective mood on Saturday evening, debating whether the trip was indeed meeting my goals. You see, instead of camping outdoors before/after the skiing activity itself, we stayed in a cabin at the New Birth of Freedom Council’s outstanding Camp Tuckahoe. So although we’d been outside skiing all day, and then went back to the mountain after dinner for some night skiing, our Scouts were sitting in a cabin that night and cooking/sleeping indoors as well. Generally speaking, this was pretty depressing for me. 🙁
As I looked around, though, I saw an amazing thing happening that warmed my heart (sorry if that sounds too sentimental) – Scouts playing games and laughing. Simple as that…there was an intense Chess match between a Life Scout and a Tenderfoot (with 5 spectators critiquing each move), a game of what can only be called “combat” Monopoly between 7 Scouts of all ages/ranks, an intense card game of Crazy Eights (that I taught them to play in the same way my Grandmother taught me), and the strangest game of Life that I’ve ever seen. Hearing 5 Scouts of various ages discuss the merits of having children, paying taxes, getting married, etc. based on the game’s paths was priceless.
As I came around to feeling really good about what was going on (with no electronics in sight, I might add), I remembered the 3 Eagle Courts of honor we’ll have this spring, the 3 Scouts who were just elected to the Order of the Arrow, everything we’re doing to prepare for June’s summer camp at Camp Powhatan, our 2020 Norther Tier / 2021 Philmont preparation activities, and the 3 Cub Scout Packs’ worth of Webelos joining us this spring…and I decided right then and there that maybe 50% success isn’t that bad after all. 🙂