Lowering the Cadet Joining Age

[Walkman]

I've been reading all this and thinking, and I'm not sure I'm sold on lowering the age.

I can see an advantage from a recruiting standpoint. I haven't attended an encampment yet, so I can't make a call as to whether or not it's appropriate for most new cadets to attend so quickly after joining (following the "recruit at the end of the school year" model).

My view comes from about 10 years of being a youth minister and BSA leader. The boys come into my program at 12. In those years and working with both small and large groups, my experience has been that there are very few 12 year olds that aren't still "puppies". We've got a 4-month old puppy in our family right now. She's run into the sliding glass door, she still can't figure out how to go down the stairway without tripping and even though she's fallen off a bunch of times, still thinks that she can take a "shortcut" down the side of the open bannister. I love her, but she's a complete klutz and marshmallow head. Don't even talk to me about house-breaking 

Most of the time when I get a new group of 12 years old in scouts or the youth program, I spend that first year controlling chaos. No offense to any new cadets that might be reading this, but it seems that 12 year olds are missing significant portions of gray matter for a little while. For every hi-speed 10-11 year old mentioned above, I see a dozen goofballs forgetting shoes to a camp out (I'm not kidding, it's happened). I love my guys, don't get me wrong, but...

I'm not saying there might not be successes, but I'm not sure that the problem it solves might not be outweighed by the problems it could create.

Just my $.02, YMMV, etc yada yada yada...

[NIN]

I have something like 16 encampments as both a cadet and senior.  Generally speaking, 12 year old cadets have a more difficult time at encampments. Do some do well? Yep.  Do 14 year old cadets do poorly? Yep.  But those tend to be the ones at the "tails of the bell curve."  The goal, of course, is to optimize the experience for everybody (the majority of the cadets) and reduce the incidence of problems that suck up staff time and resources and could negatively impact the experience for all (not just the cadet who is having problems).

As an interesting aside, we always did our pipelining twice a year, with the spring cycle geared toward getting cadets in the door, trained and to their Curry in time to be all ready to apply prior to the encampment application deadline.

In speaking with the commander of my old squadron a month or so ago, he mentioned that the retention of cadets from the FALL cycle is higher than that of cadets from the spring cycle.  We kind of puzzled that one over for a minute, and the fairly apparent answer was that fall cadets graduated into the squadron in late fall/early winter (usually between Thanksgiving and Christmas) and were then "in the squadron" for the onslaught of encampment info, mailings, etc for a longer period of time (especially around advanced parental planning for the summer). Cadets from the spring cycle graduated into the sq in June, right before the usual encampment application deadline.  While yes, they'd been exposed to encampment info and "recruiting for encampment" during CBT, moms and dads were not always in a position to get them setup for encampment that quickly.  Consequently, spring cadets waited over a year to get to encampment, with the attendant hit to their retention numbers.

at least, lacking any other info, that seemed to correlate with the numbers of cadets from the spring who actually made it to encampment and were retained.

[ol'fido]

Agreed. Preparation is the key to having a successful encampment experience. For several years here in IL, we had a school program that funneled cadets to encampment. These cadets were never really told what CAP was at their "squadron" let alone what encampment was. We had cadets getting off the bus who had literally been handed rank insignia before getting on the bus.  They didn't know what it was or even where to put it on the uniform. Try motivating a male cadet who gets off the bus with dredlocks and gets sent to the barber an hour after arriving. We had two very young cadets who were literally shaking down their squadron mates for money and stealing everything that wasn't nailed down. We called their parents and said they were going home or going to jail, come and get them. Thankfully, the person who was heading that "program?" finally went away and so did it.

[Black Knight]

I'm in a school squadron so, to join you have to be in the sixth grade. I joined when I was 11, and went to the encampment last year when I was 12. I never had a problem at encampment, I ended up getting the 3rd highest overall score. Another cadet from my squadron who went last year was also 12, and he didn't have a tough time, either. I believe its a question of maturity and ability to work with people older than you. There were cadets alot older than me who had trouble at encampment.

[PA Guy]

I'm in a school squadron so, to join you have to be in the sixth grade. I joined when I was 11, and went to the encampment last year when I was 12. I never had a problem at encampment, I ended up getting the 3rd highest overall score. Another cadet from my squadron who went last year was also 12, and he didn't have a tough time, either. I believe its a question of maturity and ability to work with people older than you. There were cadets alot older than me who had trouble at encampment.

There are exceptions to every rule.  In my experience most 12 year olds have a hard time at encampment, obviously some don't but most do. The mult encampments I have worked with we call the parents and sqdn CC of every 11-12 yr old and explain the realities of encampment and the parent makes the decision. We have sent home very few 11-12 yr olds but they require an inordinate amount of time from the staff to the detriment of the other cadets.

[Black Knight]

Personally, I agree with lowering the cadet joining age, from my own personal experience. I was 9 when I learned about CAP and i couldn't wait until I hit the 6th grade to join. But, I also disagree with it, some cadets we have are just too young and immature to get the most out of CAP, which ruins it for them, and the for rest of our unit.

[C/2d Lt]

I disagree with the idea of lowering the cadet joining age for recruiting. It makes the whole thing about numbers. If and when the age was changed it would need to be because it was best for the program and the cadets in it.

With that said, I do not believe that there is much difference between a 11 and 12 year old. I have come across many who mentally are 6 year olds. I have also come across some who mentally are 14-15. This stands true for the age range of 11-13. I strongly believe that the only difference would be there mental state. The problem with this is that for the (possible) cadets who are mentally mature for the program there will always be some that are not.

I believe that the real question should be at what age cadets that could be entering not be mature enough. There will always be exceptions, but those exceptions create diversity and help the cadets become better leaders.

[C/2d Lt]

One aspect that we have to look at too would be the effect on the older cadets. A 21 year old cadet working with a 11 year old, there is not much room for comparison. If and when the group is being evaluated how would you judge them fairly. Why should the standards be changed. If the standards were not changed than you just ruined the confidence of a little kid.

[scare]

From another thread I suggested that we lower the minimum age from 12 to 11 and completed the sixth grade or 12.

My thinking on this is that we can tie our recruiting to the school year.   And we can get cadets into CAP and to Encampment that first summer.


Thoughts?

I don't know if it's only me, but I think we should extend the minimum to 13, and still must have completed sixth grade.

[SarDragon]

From another thread I suggested that we lower the minimum age from 12 to 11 and completed the sixth grade or 12.

My thinking on this is that we can tie our recruiting to the school year.   And we can get cadets into CAP and to Encampment that first summer.


Thoughts?

I don't know if it's only me, but I think we should extend the minimum to 13, and still must have completed sixth grade.

Most 13 year-olds are firmly entrenched in 7th grade. Most 6th grade "graduates" are 12. A few are even 11. I think your proposition is overly restrictive.

[Storm Chaser]

I joined when I was 12 and so did my son. There are times when I feel that even 12 is too young for certain aspects of CAP. Personally, I would leave the age as is. For those younger kids, we have the school aerospace program. We should promote that more. That can be a great tool for recruiting as well.

[Eclipse]

You and your son are the same age?

[Storm Chaser]

Funny. 

[BillB]

When I joined CAP, the minimum age was 14, just having been lowered from 15. However the Wing Commander could waive that if the person was in the 8th grade. So ove time CAP has lowered the minimum age from 15 to 11

[scare]

When I joined CAP, the minimum age was 14, just having been lowered from 15. However the Wing Commander could waive that if the person was in the 8th grade. So ove time CAP has lowered the minimum age from 15 to 11

Wait, it's 11 now?

[Storm Chaser]

When I joined CAP, the minimum age was 14, just having been lowered from 15. However the Wing Commander could waive that if the person was in the 8th grade. So ove time CAP has lowered the minimum age from 15 to 11

Wait, it's 11 now?

No, it's 12.