Re: Do FIRST kids behave better?
 

I've got a good story regarding this.

A couple of years ago our team was staying at a fairly fancy hotel that we have stayed at for a number of years. I recognized the concierge as having been there for the years that I had attended. I ended up in the elevator with him, a student from another team with orange spiked hair and a girl from FBLA who was attending a conference that was being held in the hotel at the same time. Both of the girls got off of the elevator at lower floors so I asked him if he dreaded the time that robots came to town. His answer surprised me a bit, he said no they are always well behaved, the groups that I dread are the church groups because those kids are always out of control and often inadequately supervised.

So yeah FIRST kids behave better on average.

Re: Do FIRST kids behave better?
 

At least at hotels, I don't think it's the fact that we're FIRST kids. I think it's that we're at competition.
<begin story>
On an exchange trip to France (unrelated to robotics, except that I went and that the teacher in charge, our main mentor's wife, mentors when she can), we spent a few days in Paris. When we checked out, the concierge told our teacher that the group had been extremely well-behaved.
In French, she responded with something to the effect of, "Of course! It's like having dogs- you have to run them all day until they're so tired that when they get back to the hotel at night, they have no choice but to collapse into bed."
<end story>
That's pretty much exactly what happens to our team at competition- it's the culmination of all the work we've put into the team that year, and everyone there does as much as they can to help our team succeed. Waking up early to get into the stands; coming back late from fixing the robot; by the time we get back to the hotel after competition, we're exhausted.
And anecdotally, as a former team captain, the first night's room check is usually the most annoying if the team got in the night before competition starts.

Outside of that? I've seen the team behave themselves, and I've seen the team be rude. I suppose it can easily change based on what setting your selective memory is on, and I don't keep records of mine.