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Unread 06-05-2013, 12:23
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JesseK JesseK is offline
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Re: The 6 Week Build Season and 'Mentor Burnout'

Quote:
Originally Posted by DjScribbles View Post
Isn't that the goal of this organization?
I don't think that's ever been an explicitly-stated goal of FIRST. I believe it's a community-derived goal. The idea of Coopertition is what drives it. However, I've yet to hear Dean say anything along the lines of "Man, I wish more robots worked well at this Regional".

Which brings us back around to the whole goal of FRC to begin with. The robot & competition are the vehicles of changing a culture. Yet for FIRST to become a real culture-changer we need to see better competition at a macro level, where even the kids who get pummeled one year are inspired enough to get back up and come back better the next year. For teams to be more competitive, they need more time with the technical side of the robot. For that to happen without burning through a team's primary resources (sponsors & mentors), it would appear that this thread has presented a very good case for an extended build season. I would also venture to say that extending the build season would allow for tighter inter-team partnerships to develop -- where the mentors of one team are more willing to lend mentors' time out to another team which lacks expertise in a technical area.

Many top-grade teams have presented great viewpoints over the years that getting to a highly competitive state is in and of itself a vehicle for student learning and inspiration. This, I totally agree with. Even winning RCA/REI was nothing compared to making it to Finals at Regionals or Elims at Champs. Winning FTC Worlds was even better. After reading all 100-something posts over the last few days, I could be convinced that extending the build season will not increase stress levels over what they've been in the last 3 years (we built a practice bot). However, I don't think my 'vote' matters unless we hear more from FIRST.
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Last edited by JesseK : 06-05-2013 at 12:26. Reason: need to go back to 3rd grade grammar lessons....
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