Sorry...earning 137 badges in a year is simply not real unless corners were cut.
Nope. NO way this did this.
And if they did, they were so focused on completing the task, they missed the entire point of the program.
Scouting is not “Hungry Hungry HIppos”. It’s to be practiced, applied and passed on to others. How many merit badges you earn is not the point. The point is to experience new things and apply that knowledge.
A few year from now, they’ll have retained virtually nothing from the experience.
Then again, a few years from now, there likely won’t be a BSA anyway.
I agree; however note that some merit badges can be earned in a very short period of time, such as finger printing and that there are merit badge weekends that offer the possibility of earning at least one or two merit badge.
In the Navy, we called that "gundecking".
Once upon a time, being an Eagle Scout was something that required real hard work, and those who attained it could rightfully be respected.