Quote:
Originally Posted by Tetraman
AKA, competition between STEM programs is mostly counterproductive. The goal isn't to be the better program among programs, but to reach out to students and get them excited for science, technology, engineering and math.
Granted there is and will be some competition if another program is as good as or better than FIRST, but in the end the goal of my mentoring shouldn't be to promote FIRST, but promote STEM based learning though a program like FIRST.
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Yes, but I don't think anyone is disagreeing with this. The point of programs competing against FRC is that we believe it'll make FRC --and potentially the other program--better at reaching and inspiring students, a goal they share. They needn't be better than each other, just better than they were. VEX and FTC positively push each other some at least for us at the local level (I'm not condoning FIRST's treatment of IFI). VEX IQ and FLL are shaping up for the same. Heck, we all benefitted from some of the reputable competition between two respected pillars of the FRC community this year: AM and IFI/VEXpro.
The point is, competition isn't about mentors promoting their program rather than inspiring students. I'd seriously hesitate to bring it to the mentor level at all. What competition can do is lower prices and increase service across the board, which is something (particularly lower registration fees) that could really help FIRST
and its competition reach collectively more students.