[gblake]

Folks,

While I might or might not have been tactful enough when I wrote my first reply to the OP in this thread, please believe that I was attempting to make the same point that is contained in this post Dave Lavery wrote in 2009 (see below).

I believe the sentiment he expressed is as true today as it was then, and consequently I wanted to encourage conveying (to the legislative committee) the importance of Virginia using every available STEM program to accomplish just as much as each possibly can.

I'll personally go a step farther than Dave did, and say that if the programs aren't actively cooperating in Virginia, then they aren't "getting it".

Virginia needs to use *all* of the arrows in its quiver; and I feel that all of us involved in the various programs today are all responsible for working together to ensure that happens.

Along those lines, I have *not* been assuming that the teams involved in presenting to the Va committee are trying to compete (on behalf of FIRST) with the other STEM robotics programs in Va. Instead, knowing how easy it is for anyone to develop a bit of tunnel vision, I very much wanted to encourage them to do a great job of being advocates for all STEM robotics programs (with at least a nod to other non-robotics STEM programs, too). Part of doing that great job might be pointing out that FIRST teams, along with all other non-TSA teams, might need different types of support than the TSA participants need.

When you read Dave's post below, I hope you will understand my motivations.

Here is a link to the thread where Dave' post was written, 2009 Discussion

And here is the pertinent excerpt (the entire thread is worth reading). Its sentiment was on target in 2009, and its sentiment is still on target today:

...
I have said it before, and I will say it again: If between them FIRST, IFI, BotBall, BEST, and PLTW are collectively dedicating even a single neuron firing to the contemplation of how to beat the "other guys," then collectively they are all fools.

Let's look at some reality. TSA will reach 150,000 students this year[1], the FIRST Robotics Competition will reach an estimated 41,000 students[2], Project Lead The Way manages to contact 500,000 students[3], BotBall touches approximately 5,000[4], and the VEX competitions add about 6,000 more[5]. That is a grand total of about 700,000 students involved in these programs today.

As of 2007, there are an estimated 16,400,000 high school students in the U.S.[6]. So collectively, these guys are affecting a grand, whopping, huge 4.2 percent of the U.S. high school student population. That is right – 4.2 percent. Over 95% of the current high school students in the United States are not engaged by any of them.

Given a potential market that is 25 times larger than the entire population currently served by these programs – and remembering that it has taken nearly 20 years for them to grow just to this point – the ONLY focus that anyone should have is how to reach that larger market.

The publicly-stated goal of each of these organizations is to provide inspiration and education on STEM topics to those that have not yet "seen the light." You don’t do that by trying to convince those already converted that your particular phrasing of the message is better. You do it by reaching out to those that have never heard the message in the first place. A little less time spent on turf wars, and a little more time spent on reaching the 95% of students who are oblivious to your existence, might be wise.

-dave

Thanks for your time,
Blake