The requirement cannot be arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion or boy-specific and still be fair. But life isn't fair. If the SM has total authority under the institution's rules, then life's a bitch. But it's not fair.

If the kid knew patience was a requirement, and there were criteria set forth to obtain the accomplishment and he failed, that's on him. But your description makes it sound like an abuse of discretion.

Tell the kid to quit and join the Marine Corps. Messing with your head is part of the training, to make sure you can have your head messed with and still function as a Marine, but that's not arbitrary or capricious.

Patience is good, though. Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.

Lets say that by requiring the scout to wait and be patient that in doing so the scout will have to wait past his 18th birthday to become an Eagle Scout at which point it will be too late for him to be an Eagle Scout because he will have missed the cutoff point and therefore not done it within the time limit, all because his scout master wanted him to wait and be patient, is that fair? — HardWorker

No. I'd say the scoutmaster is a creep. In essence the scoutmaster is fixated on life lessons and his power to implement them and forgets that this is a process, part of which is actually attaining an outcome, even if the process is slightly flawed.

Tyrannical people punish people for doing well.

The scout master is a tyrant.

The scout master is a character in Catch 22. Anyone who works for long enough to become an Eagle will have grown too old to become an Eagle.

You can only get out of flying missions if you're crazy. But if you want to get out of flying missions then you are clearly sane. So whether you're crazy enough to fly or sane enough to refuse, you have to fly. Joseph Heller, for anyone who hasn't come across it yet.

If patience is a necessary virtue for the Eagle Scouts, and the system of climbing the hierarchical ladder is such that the local scout master decides who is fit to be advanced and who isn't, then it's fair to demand patience.

Being a member of the scouts isn't an equal opportunity endeavor, it is competitive and elitist, and all involved know this, or at least should know this.

No. I'd say the scoutmaster is a creep. In essence the scoutmaster is fixated on life lessons and his power to implement them and forgets that this is a process, part of which is actually attaining an outcome, even if the process is slightly flawed. — Tom Storm

No. Membership in the scout organization is not mandatory.

No. Membership in the scout organization is not mandatory. — baker

For me this is inconsequential. There are good ways and bad ways of being a scoutmaster. My assessment is he is a piece of work and I'll warrant, there are other serious mistakes and flaws in his approach. In fact, I have it on good authority that no one likes this scoutmaster and he is soon to be removed from the organisation for other malpractice.

I was told patience is a virtue but then it leaves the door wide open for delay tactic. If a person knows you're patient, he'll postpone decisions related to you. There are other, impatient, folks he'll attend to while you cool your heels off.

So anyway, to earn the rank of Eagle Scout in Boy Scouts there are minimal time requirements. Before you can be an Eagle Scout you have to be a Life Scout for six months and before you can be a Life Scout you have to be a Star Scout for six months and before you can be a Star Scout you have to be a First Class scout for four months. Such time requirements are not put in place by a scoutmaster but by the National Executive Board of the Boy Scouts of America located in Texas so it is a universal requirement for all Boy Scouts regardless of your scoutmaster and regardless of your troop.

Therefore if you do want to be an Eagle Scout it does require some planning ahead. Since you have the time limit of your eighteenth birthday to become an Eagle Scout you will have to be a Life Scout at least six months before you turn 18, you will have to be a Star Scout at least a year before you turn 18, and you will have to be a First Class Scout at least a year and four months before you turn 18.

I can see why they would have minimum time requirements however if a scout has met the minimum time requirements and has fulfilled all the other requirements for becoming an Eagle Scout there is no reason to hold him back from the rank of Eagle Scout especially if holding him back will take him past his 18th birthday at which point he will not be eligible for the rank of Eagle Scout. Scoutmasters should be banned from doing that.

Yes it is I think. Since the receiver always has the option not to show patience.
Like in Eagle Scout example you gave, it's just about how much the person wants to achieve something as to convince himself that this deserves him to be patient.
It is a matter of choice after all.

I can see why they would have minimum time requirements however if a scout has met the minimum time requirements and has fulfilled all the other requirements for becoming an Eagle Scout there is no reason to hold him back from the rank of Eagle Scout especially if holding him back will take him past his 18th birthday at which point he will not be eligible for the rank of Eagle Scout. Scoutmasters should be banned from doing that. — HardWorker

It sounds a bit weird. Why disincentivize the troop? Part of the achievement occuring is to encourage others. They may think there's an outside chance they will be denied in the end by no fault of their own. And it doesn't teach patience when the outcome is unchanging. It teaches an expectation of unfair treatment; which might be helpful; but not fun.

So, there I was in my garden :snicker: and I saw this quite hairy jumping spider crawling up the wall. I closed in for a better view, it saw me and it instantly froze up. I didn't want to scare it (I'm not a vegan but I wanna be one :snicker: ) and so I too stood still, as still as a human could. I don't know how long this standoff lasted - probably a few minutes - but the lil arachnid went back to doing what I interrupted, hunting prey I suppose.

Questions:

1. Did this spider have an inbuilt timer that counted down the seconds from the moment it froze in position, resuming its activity after a set duration?

2. What does this havta do with patience?