[gblake]

Folks - Some replies to my request contain unfounded assumptions.

I'll supply a little background.

When I lobbied the Vice Presidents of the company I used to work for, I lobbied for support of all large STEM programs, and I described as accurately as I could the pros and cons of each. I included descriptions of the competition events, of the dollars per student, of the educational opportunities offered per student, of the "market" segments where each appeared to be most effective, of the annual rhythms of their programs, etc.

When asked my personal opinion about the ones I enjoyed the most, I gave a multi-faceted answer to that question.

I clearly remember one presentation when I (and my colleagues) had 15 minutes to convince a VP that the corporation should partially fund developing the 5th Gear match simulator for FIRST's FRC program. That presentation included a bottom-to-top summary of FIRST's programs (similar to the STEM robotics summary I requested in my earlier post), and their benefits. We were successful, and 5th Gear was subsequently successful.

The students presenting to VA legislature committee can be successful at describing the big picture, and at pointing out that VA should increase the diversity of programs supported through VA CTE, and other taxpayer-funded avenues. Where holes or inconsistencies exist, I agree that they should be plugged/changed to created balanced choices.

That can be done in 15 minutes (I can offer advice on how to accomplish it), and it can be done without playing favorites on any side of the topic. We don't create balance by implicitly or explicitly suggesting that either/or choices must be made.