Quote:
Originally Posted by fantASTic
And THIS, ladies and gentlemen, is where the real issue comes in. In NPCs, it is a generally accepted rule that new girls are new MEMBERS. Members is the key word in that sentence. In other organizations, this is not true - your pledges or aspirants or whatever the heck you call them are NOT members.
|
Exactly.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SWTXBelle
I think it all depends on how you define "member". There are stages of membership in many GLOs. Some define some of the stages as non-member stages, some don't. NPCs consider their "pledges" as members from day one - other GLOs don't consider their "pledges" as members at all, but as aspiring members.
I think it is a bit odd to have someone who is sort of a member, but not really - it's kind of like being a "little" pregnant. To me, you either are or are not. You don't "know" what you know about the baby at 8 months when you are only 6 weeks along, but at both stages, you are pregnant.
The ole "different strokes" cliche.  |
LOL at a little bit pregnant. But here's why I'm not sure that analogy fits, at least for some groups.
There is a corrollary to fantASTic's observation that the crux is whether the new girls and guys are considered members or not. That corrollary is this: As has been observed in other threads, for those orgs who consider the new kids "members," it is generally assumed that, barring something drastic or their own choice to disaffiliate, they will be initiated. In other words, the decision to offer them a bid is essentially the decision to initiate them down the road.
Conversely, in many if not most of the groups that do not consider the new kids "members" (or full members), the decision to offer a bid is simply that -- the decision to pledge someone. Toward the end of the pledge period (or whatever it may be called), there is another vote on whether to initiate. Granted, bids may usually be offered with the assumption that everyone who pledges will make it to initiation (although some GCers have said that's not the case with their groups), but the point is that the organization reserves the right, after observing the pledge during the pledge period and getting to know him better, to say "Sorry, but we're not going to initiate you" or "Sorry, but you need to wait until the next go-around for initiation."
We use the term "probationary members" for that reason. We offer a bid and pledge a guy (we still use the term pledge as a verb) because we believe we see in him what we're looking for to be part of our chapter, and we pledge him with the expectation that he will be initiated. But until the end of the probationary member period, when the chapter votes to initiate him and then actually does initiate him, he is only a provisional member.
And SWTXBelle, I'll refrain from commenting too much on your Boy and Girls Scout analagy, where Scouts have to
earn the right to wear certain insignia.
Threaded Mode