Introduction

This information sheet is intended to provide parents and scouts with information about the advancement process followed in the Boy Scouts of America and in Troop 12 in particular.

The purpose of advancement in scouting is to learn life skills and have fun doing it. The subject of advancement is covered in Chapter 27 of the Boy Scout Handbook, which each new scout should acquire at the time he joins the troop. Parents can learn a great deal from the Handbook about what their scouts are learning and what can lie ahead for them.

The advancement program provides a series of increasingly difficult ranks that a Scout attains by participating in activities, mastering skills, and demonstrating commitment to the Scouting ideals. Troop 12 tries to encourage and to create opportunities for advancement (meaning scouts should take the initiative and contact and approach scoutmasters about advancement opportunity), but the troop does not require Scouts to advance. Every boy should work at his own pace and advancement is only part of our activities.

There are seven ranks in scouting. Every boy starts in the first rank, which is called, simply enough, "Scout." Thereafter, scouts can proceed through Tenderfoot, Second Class, First Class, Star, and Life to Eagle rank. Although only a small percentage (about 2%) of all boys who begin scouting ever reach Eagle rank, Troop 12 produces a much higher output of Eagles than the average.

The advancement process is straightforward, but it does involve work by the scout and compliance with advancement deadlines. Each scout's Handbook provides his primary personal evidence of progress in scouting, and it should be safeguarded. If it is lost, some requirements can be satisfied again by merely showing how to tie a knot or by describing a first aid procedure, but others (like community service) can't be repeated as easily. It is important to safeguard all blue merit badge cards and rank cards, and to be sure they have correct signatures and dates. For each merit badge earned, the scout receives a blue, three-part card. The merit badge counselor keeps one part, the troop keeps one part, and the scout keeps the third part. (Plastic baseball card album pages, which many scouts already have, are perfect for storing and protecting these cards.)

Advancement to Eagle involves a detailed review of the scout's record to confirm that every requirement for every rank and every merit badge was completed, and safeguarding the scout's personal records can help to avoid problems. The merit badge counselor's registration with the Boy Scouts of America is also checked, and the merit badge applications signed by unregistered counselors are not credited toward advancement. This makes it critical to ascertain, before starting work on any merit badge, that the counselor is currently registered!