[gblake]

Originally Posted by Tom Line

The Michigan education system has nothing to do with altering the rules. FiM, First In Michigan, is not affiliated with the school districts.

I think many people have missed asking why FiM has done this. I'll take a stab at it. FiM has always focused on spreading FIRST. From the district system to the State Championship that was supposed to be free, FiM has drastically increased the impact, reach, accessibility, and number of Michigan teams.

Dean's vision is to have FIRST in every school. FiM is working toward that, and I think they have decided that one of the steps to having that happen is to set clear break points that coincide with school grades.

It may not be perfect for all kids, and some districts have different definitions of middle school, etc. But I can see the logic behind the move. This is going to create a boom of FTC teams in middle schools as the FLL members move upwards. And with middle schools providing some financial support it will probably be a lot more successful. Right now our local middle school does nothing to support FIRST because their kids go back to FLL and continue competing there. But as a parent you can bet I'll be pushing for an FTC team for my middle schoolers to compete in since they loved FLL so much.

Change is painful, but I can definitely see where this is going. FiM has been offering grants that make starting FLL and FTC teams nearly free. (Not the governmental grants from Lansing).

This makes things appear even worse.