The History of Webelos
Created in 1941, the original Webelos program consisted simply
of a new Webelos rank which boys could earn during their last few months in Cub
Scouting. To earn the new rank, Cub Scouts first had to earn Lion, and they had
to learn the skills required for the Boy Scout Tenderfoot badge. The Cub Scouts
who worked on the Webelos rank were not yet called Webelos, and they remained in
a regular Cub Scout den. In 1954, 10-1/2 year olds were organized into special
Webelos dens, although they still had to earn Lion to qualify for the Webelos
rank. In 1967, Cub Scouting dropped the Lion rank, extended the Webelos program
from six months to the last year of Cub Scouting, and created the first 15
Webelos activity badges. In 1977, they added a new Webelos rank (the old Webelos
rank was now called the Arrow of Light rank). In 1987, the Webelos program added
five more activity badges (for a total of 20), and realigned the requirements of
several activity badges to more closely match the requirements for the Boy Scout
Tenderfoot rank. In 1988-89, the Webelos program was expanded to cover the last
two years of Cub Scouting, though the BSA soon after began encouraging packs to
graduate Webelos in February instead of May or June (so they could get started
with a Scout troop before summer, and thus be less likely to drop out over the
summer).
A Younger Version of Boy Scouting?
Interestingly enough, in spite of the BSA insistence that our
Cub Scout program NOT be a younger version of the Boy Scout program, this has
actually been the trend for almost 50 years! Since its creation, the Webelos
program has become progressively more independent of the Cub Scout pack and
progressively more a younger version of the Boy Scout program in its insignia,
terminology, and advancement. Today's Webelos are properly called Webelos Scouts
(not Webelos Cub Scouts), and they can even wear the Boy Scout uniform (with
appropriate Webelos insignia) instead of the Cub Scout uniform. Although Webelos
Scouts no longer use the Boy Scout Handbook to work on Tenderfoot, today's
Webelos Scout Handbook covers the Boy Scout joining requirements and the
Tenderfoot requirements, as well as the Webelos activity badges. In addition,
the requirements for some of the Webelos activity badges have been changed so
that a Webelos graduate now enters a Scout troop essentially finished with
Tenderfoot. A second-year Webelos den can also be organized as a patrol (for
example, calling itself the Panther patrol instead of Den 6), and hopefully
enters a troop as a viable Scout patrol. Similar to Boy Scouts, Webelos
advancement is handled by the Webelos Den Leader rather than the parents, and
Webelos activities are more parent-son than family-centered.
The Duration of the Webelos Program.
The Webelos program has also been taking over more and more of
the time a boy spends in a Cub Scout pack. In the 1940s, the Webelos portion of
Cub Scouting had no set time period; a Cub Scout worked on the Webelos rank
after earning Lion during the last few months of Cub Scouting. In 1954, the
half-year Webelos program represented 17% of the three-year Cub Scout program.
In 1967, the one-year Webelos program represented 33%; and since 1989, the
two-year Webelos program has represented 50% of the expanded four-year Cub Scout
program (today’s roughly 21-month Webelos program represents 47% of the
3-year-9-month Cub Scout program, a slight loss, but compensated by the fact
that the graduating Webelos Scout now joins a troop three to six months sooner
than before).
The Meaning of "Webelos."
The name Webelos (which is always spelled with the ‘s’) and the
Arrow of Light symbol actually date from Cub Scouting's founding in 1930.
Webelos was the name of the made-up "tribe" to which all Cubs belonged,
symbolized by the Arrow of Light (which was not yet a badge to be earned). When
the BSA created a new rank above Lion in 1941, they used the Cub Scout tribe
name and symbol (the new rank was called the Webelos award until 1977, when it
was renamed the Arrow of Light award and yet another new rank created bearing
the name Webelos). From 1930 to 1967, the Webelos name had a double meaning. The
consonants in WeBeLoS stood for the Cub Scout rank progression culminating with
graduation into a Boy Scout troop (Wolf, Bear, Lion, and Scout), a meaning lost
when the Lion rank was discontinued. The full name stood for "We'll Be Loyal"
(later, apparently because someone felt the final ‘s’ should stand for
something, this became "We'll Be Loyal Scouts"). For about a decade after the
creation of the Webelos rank, the Webelos tribal name was still applied to all
Cub Scouts. During the 1950s, the name gradually became the sole property of the
senior Cub Scouts working on the Webelos badge (although all new Cub Scouts must
still learn the secret meaning of the Webelos name as a requirement for the
Bobcat rank).
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