Scouting, Volume 78, Number 4, September 1990 Page: 44
98, E1-E12, [8] p. : ill. (some col.) ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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believe that Fast
Start training
whets the appetite
of new leaders to
continue with
more in-depth
basic training.
on a more personal level. There is something to
be said for personal contact," Jan Thurman
opined.
In Ms. Thurman's own pack (she is also Cub-
master of Pack 246 of the Westminster Heights
Christian Church in Memphis), unregistered par-
ents as well as the new leaders are invited to Fast
Start training. About 30 percent accept the invi-
tation. Some parents even go on to Cub Scout
leader basic training.
"I had one parent who did not agree to be a
leader, but he took Fast Start and then went
through basic training," Jan Thurman recalled.
"After his son had been going to den meetings for
about a month, he came to me and said, 'There
are too many kids who did not get a leader.'
"I said, 'I know that, but we have to work on
getting some of these parents to be leaders.' So he
volunteered because he said he wanted to be in on
the fun. He's having a great time."
The Cub Scout Fast Start videos are sometimes
used deliberately as recruiting tools. In the Co-
lumbia Pacific Council, said Pioneer District Cub
Scout Training Coordinator Mike Shiffer, "When
a pack is reorganizing and needs new den leaders,
for example, they'll show parents 'The Den
Leader' video:" The idea is that parents will see
that den leadership is not as scary as they might
imagine.
But of course the Fast Start videos are primar-
ily training tools and are most useful when a
newly-recruited leader sees them right away,
Mike Shiffer said. "Fast Start should be the first
step in any Cub Scout leader's training," he de-
clared.
Fast Start, Shiffer said, is a great improvement
over the training that was offered when he be-
came a Scouter. "In fact," he added, "the total
training we do now is better than it was then."
Because there is much less turnover among
Boy Scout adult leaders than among Cub
Scouters, and because new Scoutmasters are
likely to have prior experience in Scouting, Fast
Start in Memphis is regarded not quite so vital in
Boy Scouting.
"We make sure they get Fast Start," Daryl
Skoog said, "but we don't put the same sense of
urgency in offering Fast Start training to them
that we do for Cub Scout leaders. A den leader is
going to be out there alone right away and needs
it. But a new Scoutmaster is likely to have a
Scouting background, and with an assistant
Scoutmaster won't be as alone as a den leader is."
But trainers should know that a new Scoutmas-
ter must have Fast Start to register and to qualify
for the Quality Unit award. And Fast Start is a
prerequisite to taking the "Scoutmastership Fun-
damentals" training.
In her Southeast District Jan Thurman said,
"Scoutmasters use the Boy Scout Fast Start
videos to acquaint new Scout parents with the
program when Webelos Scouts are graduating
into troops and during School Night recruiting.
Trainers agree that Fast Start is no substitute
for the much more detailed instruction offered in
basic training. It appears that Fast Start whets the
appetite of new leaders for basic.
"We find a much higher rate of those who have
taken Fast Start going on to basic training," said
Gary Lewis of the Columbia Pacific Council. "I
would imagine that 90 to 95 percent of the Cub-
masters and Scoutmasters who have taken Fast
Start end up going to basic training."
In the Chickasaw Council, too, new leaders
who have had Fast Start are more likely to take
basic than the few who have not. "They want to
know more and they're anxious to see how other
people are doing things," Joyce Herring said.
"And we find we have more luck with people
coming to basic training after Fast Start because
they're more knowledgeable."
New Cub Scouters and Boy Scouters in metro-
politan area councils like Chickasaw and Colum-
bia Pacific are lucky because usually they do not
have to wait long for a "Scoutmastership Funda-
mentals" or Cub Scout leader basic training
course.
("Scoutmastership" incidentally is a term first
used in the early days of Scouting by founder
Baden-Powell to describe the art of being a
Scoutmaster, how to deal with boys of Scout age.)
In both councils, leaders are welcome to take
basic training in any district, not just their own.
Districts coordinate their training schedules so
that basic training is being offered in some dis-
trict virtually every weekend during the fall.
"Sometimes," Jan Thurman said, "new Cub
Scouters go to a basic training course even before
they've had Fast Start. So we ask them to arrive a
bit early and view the Fast Start video before the
basic course begins."
In the judgment of some Scouters, if there is
anything wrong with the Fast Start program, it's
that there isn't enough of it. District Commis-
sioner Ron Edmonds, for example, commented,
"I'm looking for a Commissioner Fast Start. It
would have helped me a lot."
And Cubmaster Phil Westover of Pack 419,
chartered to the Knights of Columbus of St. An-
thony's Church in Tigard, Ore., said, "There's
only one thing I would do to improve the Fast
Start process. That would be to develop a similar
type of consistent approach on a video for par-
ents. It's nice to give the personal approach and
visit parents, but it would also be nice if there
were a slickly-done video presentation by the Boy
Scouts of America."
Exploring does not use the Fast Start pattern of
sharply-delineated videos for specific leadership
positions, but it, too, has adult leader training
videos.
The first of three is titled "Here's Exploring,"
primarily a selling tool aimed at potential char-
tered organizations and potential adult leaders. It
gives a colorful, fast-paced overview of Explor-
ing, its purpose, and methods.
The second, "Post Leadership and Program,"
is designed to show adult leader candidates the
various positions in post leadership and how post
activities are planned and carried out. It's used to
train registered adults as well as recruit prospects
for leadership. (continued on page 92)
44
September 1990 Scouting
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Boy Scouts of America. Scouting, Volume 78, Number 4, September 1990, periodical, September 1990; Irving, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth353668/m1/44/: accessed May 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Boy Scouts of America National Scouting Museum.