[coldfusion1279]

I used to be a student on our team, and I used to be proud that we could hang with the big boys with a "student-built bot."

I didn't like certain teams because they had a lot of engineering help. I didn't think it was fair. Was I jealous? Yes, but I wouldn't admit it.

Now I realize 8 seasons later, as our team grows, and parents, sponsors and other adults get involved, that I had been looking at the benefits of FIRST from a weird perspective. Not the wrong perspective, because there's nothing wrong with students who are proud they built a robot with minimal guidance.

It was hard for me to see the type of learning environment that the heavily sponsored and mentored teams have from the outside looking in.

IMHO, learning is more efficient by watching a teacher do something correctly, rather than struggling mightily to make something flawed perform flawlessly.