The Unwritten Mandate

In my years in Scouting, I have often heard it said that a Scout must have an assigned merit badge counselor before he can start working on a merit badge. I disagree. The following is my analysis of BSA policy and guidance statements about this subject.

==== BSA Policy ====
The steps to follow in the merit badge program are outlined in the current Boy Scout Requirements. This books lists the requirements a Scout meets to earn each of the more than 100 merit badges that are available. Scouts must be tested individually, and they must meet all the requirements.
==== End Of Policy ====

Since the above is nothing but a reference to Boy Scout Requirements,

that's what we really need to be looking at.

==== Quote from Boy Scout Requirements ====
Pick a Subject. Talk to your Scoutmaster about your interests. Read the requirements of the merit badges you think might interest you. Pick one to earn. Your Scoutmaster will give you the name of a person from a list of counselors. These counselors have special knowledge in their merit badge subjects and are interested in helping you.

Scout Buddy System. You must have another person with you at each meeting with the merit badge counselor. This person can be another Scout, your parents or guardian, a brother or sister, a relative, or a friend.

Call the Counselor. Get a signed merit badge application from your Scoutmaster. Get in touch with the merit badge counselor and tell him or her that you want to earn the merit badge. The counselor may ask you to come and see him so he can explain what he expects and start helping you meet the requirements. 

When you know what is expected, start to learn and do the things required. Ask your counselor to help you learn the things you need to know or do. You should read the merit badge pamphlet on the subject. Many troops and school or public libraries have them. (See the list of Current Merit Badge Pamphlet Revision Dates posted on this system.) 

Show Your Stuff. When you are ready, call the counselor again to make an appointment to meet the requirements. When you go take along the things you have made to meet the requirements. If they are too big to move, take pictures or have an adult tell in writing what you have done. The counselor will ask you to do each requirement to make sure that you know your stuff and have done or can do the things required. 

Get the Badge. When the counselor is satisfied that you have met each requirement, he or she will sign your application. Give the signed application to your Scoutmaster so that your merit badge emblem can be secured for you.
==== End of Boy Scout Requirements Quote ====

The above are referred to as the "four steps" to earning a merit badge. (The Buddy System is not really a step, just a youth protection requirement.) However, what are the four steps? They are:

1. Pick a subject.
2. Call the counselor.
3. Show your stuff.
4. Get the badge.

Look at those four phrases. Is it realistically possible to fail to comply with those steps and still earn a merit badge? Nobody is going to give a Scout a merit badge before he has shown his stuff (hopefully anyway). A Scout can't show his stuff unless he has a merit badge counselor (or at least he can't get credit for it). And unless the merit badge counselor is approved for all 128 merit badge subjects (highly unlikely), the Scout needs to pick a subject before he can talk to a counselor. There are exceptions to every rule but frankly it's pretty hard to get around the natural sequence of those four steps.

Now that we've outlined the steps, where does it say a Scout must contact a merit badge counselor before he begins working on a merit badge? Ask most Scouters that question and they will point to the second paragraph under Call the Counselor which discusses learning and doing what's necessary to earn the badge. Since learning and doing is discussed at this point, many Scouters insist that it can only be done at this point. It feels right to keep things within the structure provided; however, it doesn't say that's what must be done and if you look at the logical sequence of the four steps you'll note that learning and doing fit well in several locations. Here is an example:

Billy goes on a trip to Washington, DC, where he sees the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the Smithsonian Institute, the White House, the Congress, the U.S. Mint, etc, etc, etc. Before he went, he thought the whole trip would be pretty boring but he came home all excited about what he learned. At his next troop meeting, Billy goes up to the Scoutmaster and says "Wow! You wouldn't believe all the things I saw in Washington! I want to take the Citizenship in the Nation merit badge and learn more!"

Billy picked his subject based on the impact of a personal event in his life. Did he learn? Did he do? Would you deny Billy the right to use this trip to help fulfill the merit badge requirements because he asked to earn the badge after he got home instead of before he left? How would that denial be beneficial to Billy and the Scouting program?

There are several problems with the assertion that because learning and doing are mentioned under step #2 that learning and doing are not allowed at any other time. First, the step is Call the Counselor. The step is not Call the Counselor and Work on the Requirements.

Second, if we are going to say that working on the requirements is part of step #2 and we are going to adhere strictly to the individual steps, then once a Scout proceeds to step #3, he may not return to step #2. If this were policy, if a Scout didn't get it right the first time, we'd simply have to fail him.

Third, simply read what it says: "When you know what is expected, start to learn and do the things required." This is the opening sentence on the paragraph about learning. The second sentence says to ask your counselor if you need help. The counselor is secondary. Once the Scout feels he knows what to do, he can get started. The first example above showed how a life event can lead to the earning of a merit badge. Here's an example where a Scout has decided to earn a merit badge based on his review of the requirements (mentioned under step #1).

While reviewing the requirements for Citizenship in the Community merit badge, Frank saw the requirement that says "on a map of your community, locate and point out the following: Chief government buildings such as your city hall, county courthouse, and public works/services facility; Fire station, police station, and hospital nearest your home; Historical or other interesting points." Realizing that he sees half of the listed items on his way to school every day, Frank runs into the other room and asks his dad for the local town map to use for a merit badge. Within minutes Frank has a fairly detailed community map. Since Frank started placing points of interest on his map before he was ever assigned a merit badge counselor, would you make him destroy the map and start over?

It's also worth noting that the learning and doing portion of the discussion on how to earn a merit badge is in it's own paragraph. Learning and doing is part of the process but it is not part of step #2, it is simply more likely that most learning and doing will occur during that part of the process so that is where it was mentioned.

So why do so many Scouters insist that Scouts must have a merit badge counselor before they get started on a merit badge? I have found the following reasons to be most common. (1) They're looking out for the best interest of the Scouts. They don't want Scouts to do the work and then not get credit because the merit badge counselor who eventually gets assigned to them has a problem with something or can't verify something, etc. (2) They want to treat all Scouts the same. They don't want Scouts who are unmotivated to feel threatened by Scouts who are. They don't want Phillip to fly through two dozen merit badges a year because he's willing to do the work without specific guidance while George only earns six and most of those because he sat around with a summer camp merit badge counselor for a week.

One good reason. One not so good reason. There are other reasons but it doesn't matter. The Boy Scout advancement program is an individual program and each Scout's advancement should fit his needs. If a Scout does not have a counselor "in time" to begin work on a merit badge and you feel this is important, maybe you should be asking yourself why the Scout didn't have a counselor in time. We should be working harder to make sure Scouts have the resources they need when they need them instead of putting up walls that serve no purpose.

One final thought. By now you're probably wondering if this mean Scouts should just start working on whatever they want to whenever they want to. Yes. Actually, it has always been BSA policy that a Scout may work on any merit badge he wants to and that he may start that merit badge as soon as he feels capable. The four steps were designed to provide structured approach to helping a Scout accomplish his goals, not to create bureaucratic barriers. The next time someone tells you otherwise, ask them what's more important, a signature on a blue scrap of paper or a life changing trip to Washington, DC.