Someone new arrives at the club and, in the first week, hears both words ten times each: class and honor. Then comes the question almost no one asks out loud for fear of looking silly: after all, are they the same thing? Is one part of the other? Is my child doing the class or the honor?
They are different concepts, with different functions — and the confusion has a concrete cause, which this article explains midway: honors appear inside the classes, as some of the requirements. That scrambles everything for someone just starting out.
Let's separate them once and for all. On the left, the class: the growth track that follows age, one per year. On the right, the honor: a standalone thematic study, which you choose by interest. There's a comparison table, there's how you earn each one, and there's the name of who approves what. Data verified on 07/22/2026 in the official sources of the South American Division (SAD) listed at the end.
After all, what is a class and what is an honor?
Start with the shortest possible definition, because it solves 90% of the doubt.
A class is the stage of the year. It is the Pathfinder's growth track, organized by age. There are six regular classes — Friend, Companion, Explorer, Pioneer, Voyager and Guide —, one for each age from 10 to 15 years old. Each class is a large package of requirements covering Bible study, nature, camping skills, health, teamwork and, yes, some honors. You do one class per year and, upon completing it, you are invested.
An honor is a theme. It is a short, practical study on a specific subject — Cooking, Knots and Lashings, First Aid, Birds, Swimming, Woodworking. The SAD Honors Manual brings together more than 500 honors spread across about ten areas of knowledge (Nature Study, Science and Health, Arts and Manual Skills, Missionary Activities, ADRA, among others). You choose by interest, meet the requirements of that theme and earn the patch. There is no limit: you can collect dozens over the years.
The image that usually turns the light on: the class is the school grade; the honor is an elective course. The grade you do one per year, in age order, and it promotes you. The elective course you take whenever you want, on whatever theme you want, and it adds to your repertoire without promoting you a year. A Pathfinder can be in the Pioneer class (age) and, in the same period, earn the Campfires, Reptiles and Origami honors — which have nothing to do with their age.
Class vs. honor, side by side
This is the table you came looking for. Keep it: it answers most of the behind-the-scenes questions.
| Class | Honor | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Yearly growth stage | Thematic study on a subject |
| What defines which one you do | Your age that year | Your interest (respecting basic vs. advanced) |
| How many per year | As a rule, one | As many as you want |
| Order | Follows the age bracket (no skipping) | Free; there is no sequence between themes |
| Size | Large package of requirements | Few requirements; short deadline |
| How it ends | Investiture | Handing over the patch |
| Where it appears on the uniform | Class sash/insignia | Sewn onto the honor sash |
| Who approves | Regional (or authorized District) | Counselor/instructor of the honor |
If you read only one line of this table, read the first: the class is a stage, the honor is a subject. Everything else follows from that. The stage follows age and promotes you; the subject follows taste and enriches you.
A major difference is in the "how it ends" line. The class culminates in investiture — a ceremony, with a final evaluation done by an authority above the club. The honor ends in a much simpler way: you met the requirements, the patch is handed over and goes onto the sash. There is no "honor investiture".
The class follows age; the honor follows interest
Here is the point that generates the most misunderstanding when the subject is age.
In the class, age rules. The SAD's official program ties each regular class to an age — Friend at 10, Companion at 11, Explorer at 12, Pioneer at 13, Voyager at 14 and Guide at 15. Someone who joins the club at 13 starts directly in Pioneer, without "skipping" anything, because the class is the one for their age. If you're still putting that part together, see which class to do at each age and the order of the classes and their exceptions.
In the honor, interest rules — with a single age filter. Honors are divided into basic ones, indicated for the 10-to-15 age bracket, and a deeper track (advanced and masters) designed from age 16 on. Beyond that cutoff, no age locks a theme: a 10-year-old Friend and a 15-year-old Guide can earn the same Camping honor, each at their own pace.
That's why the two coexist in the same Pathfinder without conflict. The class says which rung of the ladder they're on by age. The honors say which interests they've been adding along the way — and those interests don't obey a calendar or a rigid bracket.
There is also a difference in stamina. The class is a whole-year project. The honor is short on purpose: the official guidance is that each one be completed within three months, to keep the theme alive and interesting. One is a marathon; the other, a road race.
Read alsoClass Order and Its ExceptionsHow do you earn each one?
The path to completion is different in the two cases, and understanding this avoids frustration at the end of the year.
The class is earned like this: the Pathfinder meets, one by one, the requirements on the class card throughout the year. The class instructor signs off on each requirement met. Once everything is done, comes the stage many people don't know about — the final evaluation and the approval of the investiture are not the club's: they are a function of the Regional (or of the District, when authorized by it), what the Administrative Manual calls the "exclusive function of the regionals". Only then does the investiture happen, and the Pathfinder receives the insignia of the new class.
The honor is earned like this: the Pathfinder chooses the theme, meets the requirements of that honor under the guidance of a counselor or instructor — someone who masters the subject — and, upon finishing, receives the patch. It is a lighter flow, without a formal investiture ceremony and without needing to go up to the Regional. The record of what was completed, both classes and honors, is kept in the SGC, the SAD's official system.
And the result shows up in different places on the uniform. The class achievement is shown on the class insignia. The honors all go onto the honor sash — that green strip worn across the body, where the patches are sewn and grouped by area. A full sash doesn't count how many classes the person did; it counts how many interests they pursued.
Want a practical guide to choosing and finishing your first honors without getting stuck? See how to earn an honor.
If they're different things, why do they keep getting mixed up?
Because they cross at one point — and that crossing is the origin of almost all the confusion.
Part of the requirements of each class is completing some honors. The Friend class, for example, asks the Pathfinder to earn a number of honors from certain areas; the following classes ask for others. In other words: the honor is an independent theme, but it also works as a "brick" within the larger wall that is the class.
Hence the knot in the head of someone starting out. The parent sees their child studying the Knots and Lashings honor and asks: "is this their class?" Honest answer: it's part of it. The Knots honor is a theme with a life of its own — it exists outside the class, any age can do it —, but that year it is also fulfilling one of the requirements of the class for their age.
The cleanest way to think about it: the honor is the piece; the class is the assembled set. A piece can be used on its own, for the pleasure of having it. And several pieces, combined with the other requirements (Bible study, nature, field activity), form the class. When the Pathfinder earns an honor that is also a class requirement, they advance in both at the same time — and that's exactly what makes it seem like they're the same thing.
They're not. The proof is simple: you can earn dozens of honors that do not go into any class, just because the theme interested you. And you can complete the class by doing only the honors it requires, without collecting any extra. The two tracks run in parallel and sometimes touch — but never merge.
Who teaches and who approves each one?
A good part of the year-end friction comes from asking the wrong person for approval. The two tracks have different rulers. It's worth splitting into three layers.
What is written in the rule. In the classes, the final evaluation and the approval of the investiture are the Regional's — or the District's authorized by it. It is in the Administrative Manual of the Pathfinder Club (2020 edition, SAD) as the "exclusive function of the regionals". In the honors, the rule is leaner: each honor must be conducted by someone who masters the theme, and it is that counselor/instructor who accompanies and validates the fulfillment of the requirements. There is no requirement for the honor to go up to the Regional.
What varies by club and region — and who decides. The calendar of when each class is taught, which honors the club will offer in the year, who will be the counselor for each honor and how the sash is organized: all of this is a decision of the club leadership together with the instructors, within the calendar of the Field (your Conference or Mission). Two neighboring clubs can offer completely different honors in the same year — and both are right.
The principle behind the division. The class touches the Pathfinder's official progression — that's why the final approval goes up to an authority above the club, which guarantees the same standard for everyone. The honor is personal enrichment — that's why it stays at the level of whoever teaches the theme, without extra bureaucracy. One sentence sums it up: what promotes you a stage, the Regional approves; what only adds to your repertoire, the club settles.
How to use the two together, without confusion
Once the difference is understood, the question becomes practical: how does a Pathfinder (or the parent) organize the two things in the same year?
Think of the class as the backbone and the honors as the muscles. The class is the year's commitment — it is the one that promotes, that ends in investiture, that follows age and cannot be set aside. Start with it: know which class is for the age and follow the card.
The honors come in for two reasons. First, the ones the class requires — those you do because they are a requirement, and by completing them you advance in the class. Second, the ones the Pathfinder wants to add out of pure interest. A good behind-the-scenes tip: first secure the honors that count toward the class; then, with room to spare, collect the extras. Filling the sash is great, but not at the cost of leaving the class half done.
And there is a horizon that ties it all together: whoever dreams of reaching the leadership classes, further ahead, will need both the completed classes and a solid background of honors. The two tracks, which start out looking like the same thing at age 10, end up being the two feet the Pathfinder walks with: one marks how much they grew; the other, how much they explored.