Cub Scouts
Anti-Fragile and Scouting (Part 1)
As I have mentioned before, I have been reading the works of Nassim Taleb, beginning
with his book Anti-Fragile, part of the Incerto series.
Since I plan on writing a series of commentaries on this author’s work, let me begin by giving a quick version of his biography.
Taleb is a polyglot (i.e., French, Arabic, English, etc.) and graduate of Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. He was born and raised in a small francophone village in Lebanon to a well-connected Greek Orthodox family. Through most of his later childhood, he was surrounded by the Lebanese Civil War. After coming to America he has been a floor trader in the commodities exchange and worked on derivatives trading. He eventually received his doctorate and served as a distinguished professor at NYU’s School of Engineering and Dean’s Professor at University Massachusetts at Amhearst.
He is deep. He is thorough. He is just damn funny.
Unit listings updated
I have been working to make sure the unit listings on this site are up to date.
Each unit chair should assign someone to provide me udpated information or contact me directly to confirm the accuracy of the information posted.
Many Cub Packs and Venturing Crews do not have websites. This is very damaging to your ability to look credible and inviting. Please seriously investigate having a website hosted on a service like WordPress (which I use for this website), a FaceBook page with multiple administratiors, or using a built-in web service for advancement like TroopWebHost.
The Cub Packs are listed here.
Perception and Adaptation
In some of my reading on other subjects, I ran across some scientific research from the mid-1800’s that I think is fascinating in its potential application to scouting. I am going to go down some complicated paths in this series of articles, so allow me to set the context first.
The View from the Eagle Board
For those of you who have sat on an Eagle Board of Review more than once, you likely can confirm that the following scenario is common.
A 17-year old in full dress scout uniform walks in the door. He is often clean shaven (although beards are increasingly common). He walks erect even if slightly nervous about what he is walking into. He firmly shakes hands with each member of the Board of Review. He answers questions about his Eagle project in great detail. He has pride in his accomplishments. He looks the part of an Eagle Scout already.
As he sits through the Board, the Board members ask the Eagle candidate to reflect on his beginnings in scouting and his growth. The candidate describes his first campout in the rain. He reflects on his anguish and discomfort. He laughs about how those deprivations are nothing compared to the later discomforts of camping in the snow of winter amidst the howling winds. He reflects on what he learned about overcoming obstacles, adapting, and accepting his circumstances.
He has learned that slight discomforts at home are nothing compared to facing the elements and the discomforts Mother Nature offers.
In my role as District Commissioner, the BSA charges me with the primary mission of encouraging Best Practices in our units. In other words, I am responsible for being able to explain to leaders why BSA policies are in the best interest of the unit, its leaders, and its scouts. That does not mean that I agree with each and every policy, but it does mean that I should be able to articulate the rationale in the light most favorable to the BSA’s intent.
For example, I should be able to articulate why units that camp the most are the more successful; why units that allow the boys to experiment with the patrol method with guidance and boundaries from the scoutmaster corps are more successful than units where adult leaders run the program; or why units with Senior Patrol Leaders who work the Patrol Leader Council are more successful than units where Senior Patrol Leaders acts as the patrol-leader-of-all. Read the rest of this entry »
Secrets to Eva’s Success and Lessons for Scouting
“The secret of Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy” in the New York Post tells the story of a charter school system in New York. It tells how the school has inner city kids performing well on standardized tests and grades.
Success Academy breeds success: Its inner-city students outperformed every other school district in the state in the 2017 exams. And one big secret to that success has been the application of the kinds of tactics and strategies that helped bring the city back from the brink more than once — this time, applied to education.
Both “broken windows” policing and Success Academy schooling target minor infractions that create a culture of chaos.
Writing about dealing with disruptive students in 2006-07, Success Academy’s first year, Moskowitz notes that when teachers are unable to stop even one student’s incessant misbehavior, it “can have a domino effect . . . and soon the teacher is playing whack-a-mole rather than teaching.”
That meant imposing “cultural expectations” on the classroom, which soon developed into a barometer Moskowitz calls “culture data.” Standardized test scores can only tell you so much so quickly. But monitoring “latenesses, absences, uniform infractions, missing homework, incomplete reading logs, and whether our teachers were calling parents about these problems” can serve as a “canary in a coal mine.”
It also manifested in instruction styles that required the kids to pay attention in class — such as randomly calling on students to respond to other students’ answers during a lesson — rather than just hoping they absorbed the information and then testing them to find out.
Consistent standards are also key. Unlike union-dominated schools, Moskowitz’s charters could fire bad teachers and administrators, ensuring those standards are applied evenly.
* * *
She explains: “Excellence is the accumulation of hundreds of minute decisions; it is execution at the most granular level. Once you accept the idea that you should give in to things that make no sense because other people do those things and you want to appear reasonable, you are on a path towards mediocrity.”
In scouting, we are not trying to be data hounds or playing BigBrother to make sure all is well with our scouts. But even laying aside the data, there are insights we can learn from this story.
If a scout regularly misses campouts, what does that tell us about the scout’s experience in scouting? What is that scout’s absence on his fellow scouts? Is it reasonable for a scout to miss a campout because he doesn’t “find it interesting”? If a parent accepts this complaint from the scout, what should the Cubmaster or Scoutmaster do in response?
Den Leader Training Report
Last night, Thursday, September 14, 2017, at Cub Scout Roundtable, Roundtable 
Commissioner Bill Buchalter and District Chair John Wiebke led a Cub Scout Den Leader Training.
Thank you to the following Den Leaders who participated:
- Alaina McSherry (Pack 175, Christ the King RCC);
- Tyler Christman (Pack 18, Second Presbyterian);
- Alexandra Hoogestraat (Pack 747, St Richard’s School);
- Jay Lorentz (Pack 18, Second Presbyterian);
- Vince Biedron (Pack 175, Christ the King RCC);
- Jeffrey Hamilton (Pack 171, St. Luke’s RCC).
We received wonderful reviews on the quality of presentation that Bill and John gave. All participants were happy to share the experience in person rather than doing the training online through my.scouting.org. They felt better connected to the local scouting community and received ideas, such as taking Tiger Cubs to Holiday Park to let the park docents help the Tigers complete some of their advancement requirements.
Pack Committee Chairs, please encourage your Den Leaders to get trained. Den Leaders who train in person get a richer and more informative experience than the generic online experience. They will learn about local resources and be more likely to continue as Den Leaders, since they will feel part of something larger than themselves or their pack.
Remember training is required for all leaders as part of rechartering, which begins in less than 20 days!
Scout Night with the Pacers
Council has released information about Scout Night with the Pacers.
For complete information, download the flyer here.
Update on Lions Program
From Ryan Kellaher, Del-Mi District Director:
Leaders,
Good afternoon! If you have not already seen, there are some changes in the Lion program for this current program year. These are all changes that you have been asking for, and are changes that I think will strengthen your Lion programs. Most of them center around involvement within the rest of the Pack. There are no changes to the requirements. Here are some highlights:
- Pack meetings and activities will be open to Lion families who want to participate
- Pinewood Derby is open to Lions
- Fundraising will be allowed as a family option
- Uniform t-shirt won’t change, but families can buy button-down if they want
Click here for a Bryan on Scouting blog post outlining the changes.
There is also a more in-depth look at the changes in this PowerPoint presentation (link will download the presentation).
You can also find information on the Lion Program website at: scoutingwire.org/lion
Please feel to contact your unit commissioner if you have any questions!
Yours in Scouting,
Ryan Kelleher | Del-Mi District Director
BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA
REMINDER: Roundtable Thursday
For Roundtable we will have two excellent programs.
We will kick things off at 6:30 pm with a short Youth Protection Training (Y01), open to all scouters. This is all you need for Cub Scouts and Boy Sccouts. It does not qualify for Venturing Youth Protection.
At 7:00 pm, we will open with our normal General Session. We will try to keep this brief (under 15 minutes).
After General Session, the Cub Scout Roundtable will focus on Den Leader Training. This is designed to qualify the Cub Scout Den Leader as fully trained for Lion through Bear years. (Webelos Den Leaders should also take Outdoor Webelos Leadership Skills (“OWLS”).) Den Leaders should have received emailed invitations from Cub Scout Roundtable Commissioner Bill Buchalter. Pack Chairs should call their Den Leaders to encourage attendance. Remember this training is mandatory for rechartering for all currently enrolled Den Leaders. The class will be taught by Bill and District Chair John Wiebke.
After General Session, the Boy Scout Roundtable will have a guest presentation on the 
new-ish Nova Program from Troop 56 Committee Chair and Wood Badge Candidate (Eagle Patrol) Sandy McNutt and his fellow Eagle, Hou-Koda Committee Member and Troop 307 Committee Member Kelli Brooks. This presentation is relevant to Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, and Venturing. So if Cub Leaders don’t need training, this might be the session for them.
Please help us have a big turn out for Roundtable.
District Meetings for September
(1) District Committee Meeting will be held Thursday, September 7, 2017 at Second Presbyterian Church, 7700 N Meridian St, Room 405, Indianapolis, IN 46260 at 7:00 pm.
(2) District Commissioner and Unit Commissioners will be held the same day at 6:00 pm at Second Presbyterain Church at the north end of the parking lot in the picnic shelter next to Williams Creek, weather permitting. In case of rain, it will be in Room 401.
(3) Roundtable will be held Thursday, September 14, 2017 at 7:00 pm at Luke’s Lodge, the outbuilding on the northeast corner of campus of St Luke’s United Methodist Church, 100 West 86th Street, Indiananpolis, IN 46260. Youth protection training will be offered at 6:30 pm in the same location. After the general session Cub Scout Roundtable Commissioner Bill Buchalter and District Chair John Wiebke will be teaching Den Leader Specific Training in person.
Please encourage your Den Leaders to attend to get your Trained status for all your Den Leaders as quickly as possible. You should have received an email from Bill about this. Please forward it to your Den Leaders to emphasize the point.
(4) There will be a Boy Scout Roundtable, too. Topic information to follow. October will focus on rechartering.
New BALOO Training Curriculum
The new BALOO training curriculum was published this year. A copy is available here.
Here are some of the points of emphasis from Council Training Director Jay Soucy:
A few major points in the new BALOO syllabus
- Pack overnighters and Webelos den campouts require a BALOO trained Scouter at the campout.
- This new course requires an overnight campout. Starting at 8 AM Saturday to 11 AM Sunday.
- This course has 85 pages of handout for each participant.
- Participants should complete the 6 on-line BALOO lessons prior to taking the practical portion. If not, a “Train” status will be withheld until the on-line portion is completed.
CAC North Star Unofficial Website 
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