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Unread 04-04-2011, 08:41
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Re: Are all girl FIRST team counterproductive to the philosophy of FIRST?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Lledargo View Post
My mistake, I suppose I should judge the mission off of the mission statement, and not what I remember Dean saying at the kickoffs I have attended.
If you can find the transcript of where Dean has said that exclusive or all-girls teams are wrong, I'd be interested to re-read it. I've listened intently to every one of Dean's speeches for 16 years, and I never heard anything discouraging exclusive or all girls teams. I remember him saying at champs (maybe 2 years ago) teams without mentors are missing out... but I never remember anything about exclusive teams.

To a point made earlier... there ARE all male teams. And just like all female teams, often the reason is because of school. An all boys catholic school simply isnt going to permit girls on the team. Just like an all girls school won't have boys on the team.

I met such an all girls team this weekend at the CT regional. I spoke with their three seniors at the alumni networking luncheon. They were from an all girls school in NYC. One of the girls was going to attend Harvey Mudd in the fall. My jaw dropped when I heard that. It was my dream school... they accept 1400 out of 14,000 applicants and in 4 years you get something like 4 engineering degrees. Anyways, this quiet girl from an all girls FIRST team was going there. Her two friends were both more artsy and very likely never would have touched anything science or techy if it weren't for the FIRST team. They were exposed to something they never would have tried, and very likely they wouldnt have touched the robot had it been a co-ed team. But because it was all girls, and they had only 3 seniors, they were all very involved. I was impressed, and convinced that any style of FIRST team can do wonders for its students.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Yipyapper
And also, the team that was all girls from 1547 are from Whitby, Ontario, which their school has another team that is both male and female egibile. This further reinforces that they are trying to tell people that girls can do the same as guys.
And Im not sure where you get this, the Trafalgar Castle School is an all girls school. If you are talking about 1075 (Sinclair Secondary School - a different school), I don't believe the two are affiliated, just both happen to be listed from Whitby ON (though I could be wrong). I doubt these teams were created to offset eachother, I believe they are just a result of the makeup of the schools they are centered in.

For those of you "against" all girls teams... I would highly suggest you go talk with some of these girls that are on these teams. Contrast that with some of the girls on your own team or other teams, and you might see the value that both types of teams provide.
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