The Outdoor Code
Leading up to my Eagle Review, I tried to pay attention to others who had gone before me, so I could get a good idea as to what I was facing. It was common knowledge that the review boards for the other advancements in the Boy Scouts were largely ceremonial. As long as you looked the part and had your papers in line, there really wasn't anyone telling you that you weren't worthy of your Tenderfoot badge.
The Eagle Reviews were different. They brought in the big guns, and they liked to drill you to make sure you knew your stuff. The only scouts that got a free pass were those who did their interview on the day before their 18th birthday. Everyone else had an uphill battle.
In one of the reviews before mine, they had asked the scout to recite "The Outdoor Code". It's about four lines long, and is presented in the Boy Scout Handbook (I don't remember it now), but it doesn't receive the same attention as the Scout Oath and the Scout Law (both of which I remember to this day). At any rate, I crammed for the last half hour making sure I would be able to recite the Outdoor Code if called upon.
The word got in to the reviewers that I was making my preparations, and they dutifully asked me to recite "The Outdoor Code" as the final question of my Review. If I hadn't spent so much time memorizing it, they would have never asked me.
I remember this because in the next few months, I will be preparing for my Preliminary Oral Exam for my PhD, in which a panel of 5 professors can ask me any question they see fit to ask, and can fail me for anything they want. It's pretty well known that this freaks me out, and I'm afraid they are thinking up especially tough questions, just so they can see me squirm. Fun for me.
The Eagle Reviews were different. They brought in the big guns, and they liked to drill you to make sure you knew your stuff. The only scouts that got a free pass were those who did their interview on the day before their 18th birthday. Everyone else had an uphill battle.
In one of the reviews before mine, they had asked the scout to recite "The Outdoor Code". It's about four lines long, and is presented in the Boy Scout Handbook (I don't remember it now), but it doesn't receive the same attention as the Scout Oath and the Scout Law (both of which I remember to this day). At any rate, I crammed for the last half hour making sure I would be able to recite the Outdoor Code if called upon.
The word got in to the reviewers that I was making my preparations, and they dutifully asked me to recite "The Outdoor Code" as the final question of my Review. If I hadn't spent so much time memorizing it, they would have never asked me.
I remember this because in the next few months, I will be preparing for my Preliminary Oral Exam for my PhD, in which a panel of 5 professors can ask me any question they see fit to ask, and can fail me for anything they want. It's pretty well known that this freaks me out, and I'm afraid they are thinking up especially tough questions, just so they can see me squirm. Fun for me.
Labels: Scouts PhD
posted by ronny at 01:18
1 Comments:
Tell me the date, and we'll keep you in our prayers. We're not so far removed that we've forgotten the stress of oral exams. Talk about ulcer-inducing discussions. You're going to do great. Keep that attitude that Mom reports you had the last time she spanked you--"I'm not gonna cry. I'm not gonna cry."
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