What's in a name?

What if your counsel decided to
change the name of the ranks. When you entered scouting you would be known as grub scout. In your pack earning the leach, cockroach, mosquito, and  blood sucking tick badges. Then, after draining of the swamp ceremony, enter the Troop. Working your way through tree fungus, lemming, pigeon, ground slug, skunk, weasel ranks till you have earned scouting highest rank the turkey scout.
What a proud day! You could even join the national eagle scout association letting you know you were a turkey. I mean it's all the same right? You've earned all the merit badges, held a rank in the troop, planned and carried out your project. People will forever more look upon your project and know it was completed by a real turkey. A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet?

Now I know what you are thinking, it is just not the same and why would a council change the names like that? Yet don't we do the same disservice to our scouts when we have our own "pet" names for programs. Why call a program "Powder Keg" (Are they blowing something up?) when the rest of scouting in America calls it NYLT, Pathfinder when it's Introduction to Outdoor Leader Skills or Sha shu Ga which I can't even begin to explain.

Well (stepping off my soapbox), it's time to leave for the block of wood some adult made into a car race for their son.

Training out of council

Sometimes I think we become too comfortable with the training in our councils. We follow what we know going to the same trainings and see the same presentations that have been done year after year. But I am reminded of a poster of lemmings jumping off a cliff. The caption reads "Just because it has always been done this way doesn't make it a good idea." I wonder if we shouldn't re-take (or take) some of our training out of council to get a different perspective.

Perhaps we would see pitfall we could avoid or recognize problems within our council programs. On the other hand, how great would it be to bring back a new method to our council or share something that worked for us with them?

Good op-ed piece in the times

NY TIMES

We didn't start the fire...but we are tending it

My son uttered this line on the way back from a small family vacation and it struck me; what a good line for a blog on other thing on my mind when it comes to Scouting. (When I'm not carving.) An inconsistent blog of the things that are great, the thing not so good, and just other idea rambling.