Scouter Article April 2008

Maybe We Can Make a Difference

You and I run a business of sorts. Our clients include our Families, and in a bigger sense, our towns and cities. For raw materials, we take in youth of varying shapes and sizes, often as young as kindergarten age. Our end-products include a superb line of Tigers, Cubs, Webelos, Boy Scouts, Venturers, and various “products” in between. Of course, our top of the line product is the Eagle Scout. In short, in our business, we build Character, we build Leaders, we build Citizens.

In this business, we have plant managers (Cubmasters, Scoutmasters, Crew Advisors), foremen (Den Leaders, Senior Patrol Leaders, Crew Officers), and associated business and logistics managers (Committee Members and Assistant Unit Leaders). So here’s my question: in this business that we call Scouting, don’t we want our front line managers to be fully trained for their jobs? After all, they are responsible for the success of our business, and most importantly, they are responsible for the health and safety and development of our product line (our Scouts).

Of course the answer is YES. But unfortunately, too many of our leaders, including our Unit Leaders, are NOT trained. But this is something that we can fix, we must fix. Let me make a challenge to all of us in the Scouting Family - let’s make training a top priority!

At the Council and District level, we promise to continue to offer high quality training programs as often as possible, and publicize these programs. We also promise to continue to offer the best supplemental training, with monthly Roundtables, that ALL Leaders should attend. At the Unit level, each Chartered Representative, Committee Chair, and Unit Leader should make sure they themselves are trained, and that their assistants are also trained, and that each Unit is represented every month at Roundtable.

And, as I said above, our Families are our clients. So for our Families: please insist that the Leaders of your Units are trained. If you’re not sure that your Leaders are trained, ASK THEM. If a Leader is wearing a “Trained” patch on their uniform sleeve, ask that Leader what the patch means. If a Leader is not wearing a “Trained” patch, ask “why not?” Let’s all help ourselves make Scouting the best youth program it can be, with trained leaders. And maybe, just maybe, we all CAN make a difference.

Doesn’t every youth deserve a trained leader?

Jay Lubin

Council Training Chair

jaylubin@scatacook.org