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Re: Engineering and Robotics program in danger
kstl99
I recommend supporters focus on the value of STEM education first and the on the merits of any specific STEM program/team (such as an FRC team) second (or third).
FRC is definitely valuable. FRC definitely is expensive.
But, the first of those two assertions doesn't (shouldn't) necessarily lead anyone to conclude that FRC is the only way to accomplish STEM education or inspiration.
The folks who are actually the government's feet on the ground should be easily convinced that "STEM = good"; but after that, they apparently will be in a situation in which they have to carefully weigh their options and figure out how to make every STEM $ go as far as possible.
Maximizing the publics' return on investment might mean that the government dollars get spent in new ways. So, for the students' benefit, when you are supporting preserving their STEM education opportunities, don't lock in on supporting any particular program unless you can buttress your support with hard facts about minimizing the $_cost per student_benefit, and about the total $ that program requires.
On the other hand, if the folks involved can come up with private sponsors, then how they spend those private $ is up to them and the sponsors.
Bottom line: There are two separate topics. 1) Preserving STEM education opportunities, and 2) choosing how to best deliver them. Don't mistake one for the other or let the tail attempt to wag the dog.
Blake
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Blake Ross, For emailing me, in the verizon.net domain, I am blake
VRC Team Mentor, FTC volunteer, 5th Gear Developer, Husband, Father, Triangle Fraternity Alumnus (ky 76), U Ky BSEE, Tau Beta Pi, Eta Kappa Nu, Kentucky Colonel
Words/phrases I avoid: basis, mitigate, leveraging, transitioning, impact (instead of affect/effect), facilitate, programmatic, problematic, issue (instead of problem), latency (instead of delay), dependency (instead of prerequisite), connectivity, usage & utilize (instead of use), downed, functionality, functional, power on, descore, alumni (instead of alumnus/alumna), the enterprise, methodology, nomenclature, form factor (instead of size or shape), competency, modality, provided(with), provision(ing), irregardless/irrespective, signage, colorized, pulsating, ideate
Last edited by gblake : 25-12-2011 at 20:26.
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