Arrow of Light/Scout Rank

[farmwife]

When Webelos receive the Arrow of Light, does that automatically earn them the Scout Badge when they crossover to Boy Scouts?

[RWSmith]

Hmmm. Good question, though... for right now, I'll just say "Welcome to the board." I'm sure you'll get some good answers to this one.

[smtroop168]

Automatically...no since the Child Abuse Pamphlet requirement #9 must be completed prior to the SM Conference. What we try to do is work with the Webelos 2's so it's as close to "automatic" as possible.

My understanding is that the Scout Badge was developed for those who were never in Cubs so they had some basic knowledge of the Scout Law/Oath etc. For the boys who have been Cubs and gone all the way through AOL, the Scout Badge requirement does seem a little redundant but it's also a nice way to give them something at their 1st Court of Honor as a Boy Scout.

Matt Culbertson
Troop 168 Carlisle PA
Eagle 1969

[Mrw]

I would say it is not automatic, but most boys that cross over after receiving the Arrow of Light earn their scout badge in a week or two. In our troop is is pretty much dependent on when they do the child abuse pamphlet with a parent and the SM (or ASM) can get to all of them for a SM conference.

We have over 40 boys in our troop now, with 16 being very new this month and we haven't quite worked out a schedule for how to get SM conferences and BOR done in a particularly effecient or planned manner. What we used to do just is not working well anymore.

[Nuts4Scouts]

The Arrow of Light is specifically a Cub Scout award.

The Scout Badge is specifically a Boy Scout award.

Two different programs & what you do to earn an award in one program can not be used to earn an award in the other program.

Yes, there are many similarities between the two awards. Yet, the things that are similar are things that really do bear repeating. These are the basics of Boy Scouting that these boys will be living with, and by, for the next 7 years at least. Going over them again to help the boys really understand them is a good thing.

[jr56]

A boy coming out of Cub Scouts would still have to earn his Scout Rank, but, since he would know most of the required knowledge after earning his Arrow of Light, it would not be a very difficult task.

[smtroop168]

My understanding is that a BOR is not required for the Scout Badge and I would spread the workload with my ASM(s) for the SMC.

FYI I do have them go over each requirement (oath, law, knot etc).

[Mad Dog]

The AOL does allow the boy to joing Boy Scouting as soon as 10 1/2 instead of waiting until he is 11. He does not automatically earn the scout rank, he has to complete the requirements and have a SM conference.

[Quailman]

A boy coming out of Cub Scouts would still have to earn his Scout Rank, but, since he would know most of the required knowledge after earning his Arrow of Light, it would not be a very difficult task.

When I was a Webelos leader I went over the Scout requirements as compared to the AoL we were working on. I pointed out that if they were going to wear the AoL, they'd better not embarass me when their SM asks essentially the same things for the Scout rank. AFAIK, none of them did. I think it helped motivate them to memorize it when they knew how it would be needed after crossover.

[ICanCanoeCanU]

No, they do not automatically earn the Scout Badge even with the Aol.

Same as others have said - they will should have no problem covering these topics again for the SMC and we always make sure PLENTY of adults are trained/prepared to cover these SMC asap.

[ronin718]

Yes, there's a lot of overlap between the two. Then again, there's lots of overlap when it comes to rank advancements and merit badges. Repetition improves memory.

[RWSmith]

Memory? What's that?

[scubascout]

no, they have to desribe the scout badge, fill out an application, say the oath etc., SM, etc.

[mhjacobson]

Not only is the scout badge, a Boy Scout Badge that has to be earned separately from the AOL, but it is the first opportunity that the new scout has to participate in a scoutmaster conference (a parallel dows not exist in Cub Scouting). It certainly sets the stage for the rest of the Scouts career.

[pipestone1991]

Yeah, it's a very easy award...the boy scout badge...can be completed in less than an houras long as the scout talks with their parents.

[coneyraven]

Perhaps the fact that it is such an easy rank to obtain also helps to give the new scout a bit of confidence in his new surroundings....nothing like starting their Boy Scout career on a "high note"....As what others have said, it IS differrent from the AOL, but the AOL does give a good foundation for the Scout Rank.....

[Hubert]

In our troop, I am the Jr. Ast. Scoutmaster, aka JASM. (Ive earned the nickname I guess) But when we get new boys, they usually earn the first rank, scout, when they first attend the meeting. We have a patrol leader sit down and work with them on it, it does indeed give them a confidence boost as coneyraven stated. I like to see the boys face light up when he gets reconized in front of the entire troop this early in his scouting path.

[joat]

The Scout badge signifies a boy has joined a troop and has met the joining requirements. The first rank is Tenderfoot. See pages 14, 15, and 31 of the Handbook.

[ICanCanoeCanU]

The Scout badge signifies a boy has joined a troop and has met the joining requirements. The first rank is Tenderfoot. See pages 14, 15, and 31 of the Handbook.

No one is disagreeing with you on this but there are still requirements to be learned for the Scout badge? Not every new boy knows all the requirements.

[coneyraven]

Exactly, we've had 3 boys join the troop in the last 2 weeks, straight off the street, and none of them are ready to go straight into the Tenderfoot requirements.....first things first, get the basics in Scout out of the way, then get going.....in this case, Scout IS a rank to them, there's is some effort required to achieve it...