Tenderfoot through First Class ranks
The basic ranks: Scout, Tenderfoot, Second Class, and First Class have increasingly challenging
requirements involving, among other things, outdoor skills, first aid, Scout Spirit, and citizenship.
By the time a Scout has earned First Class he will be a good outdoorsman, physically fit, active in his patrol
and troop, informed and active as a citizen and showing Scout Spirit by living the Scout Oath and Law in his
daily life. To better understand the increasingly complex skills that your son must master to become a First
Class Scout ask him to let you read pages 438-43 of his Boy Scout Handbook. You may be surprised at some of
the some of the things he has already achieved.
Earning the basic ranks is a straightforward process. Each rank has several individual requirements.
For each requirement the Scout learns the required information. The Scout learns by reading in his Boy
Scout Handbook. For instance, the rules of safe hiking and what to do if lost, Tenderfoot requirement 5,
are explained on pages 38–41. The Scout also learns by doing. He follows the rules of safe hiking while
hiking with his patrol or troop.
After the Scout has learned the material, he is tested to demonstrate that knowledge. Note than
in Scouting it is often not enough to know how to do something; you must actually do something,
like build a fire or sharpen an ax. When a scout shows a skill of this nature to a Scoutmaster or Assistant
Scoutmaster, the Scoutmaster will sign his initials next to this requirement in the scout's handbook.
Scouts may work on the requirements for more than one of the basic ranks at the same time. While more than
one basic rank can be worked on at the same time, the ranks must be earned in sequence and the Scout should
be able to show full participation in his patrol and the troop between earning each rank.