Podcast 372 – Eagle Scout Advancement

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When thinking about Eagle Scout advancement …

.. we ought to ask “what is an Eagle Scout?” rather than “who deserves to be an Eagle Scout?”

The answer to the question “who deserves to be an Eagle Scout?” is easy; any Scout who completes the requirements.

That’s it. No more and no less.

There’s no Eagle-plus, and no Eagle minus, only Eagle.

When you understand that Eagle Scout Advancement becomes less stressful.

None of the 55,494 Eagle badges handed out last year went to a Scout because they deserved it, but because they earned it.

Nobody becomes and Eagle Scout because they deserve it, it’s not the Nobel or the Pulitzer prize handed out to a few deserving winners. You don’t win Eagle Scout, you advance towards it. When a Scout fulfills all of the requirements and passes a duly constituted board of review they receive the award.

It was not my job to decide who deserves the badge, only to recognize they have completed the requirements.

The 55,494 Scouts who earned their Eagle last year did not do precisely the same quality or quantity of work. They were not all equally meritorious. Each had individual limitations and talents. Each had parents and worked with Scouters whose involvement and skill were all over the map.

A healthy percentage of them left a lot of work until the last few months of their seventeenth year.

When we present a Scout with an Eagle badge we recognize two things – achievement and potential. We are telling a Scout that what you have achieved is a strong indication you have potential to embody the ideals the award represents.

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Podcast Notes

BSA FAQ on girls in Scout Troops

I am a Sasquatch music from last week’s podcast

Bobwhite Blather Spring Advancement Updates

Spring Advancement News Newsletter from the National Advancement Team

Happy Wanderer Opening Music

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