Quote:
Originally Posted by techhelpbb
To an extent I disagree:
FIRST certainly does things that can drive consequences to teams and that are well within their control, in fact, in some cases only FIRST can control these things:
The 6 week build season.
The times at events.
The way events operate.
Bag & Tag.
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This is true. However, I believe that the time limits and access to robots is meant to keep a lid on the ever-escalating desire for teams to pour even more time and resources into FRC. Whether or not you or I believe FIRST's limits are having the desired effect is another story.
As you noted, FIRST does not, and in some cases cannot, limit other inequities such as access to facilities, tools, experienced mentors, or a school system with a strong STEM program. Teams that have less access often find themselves trying to make the difference up in effort. As it is, there are teams that find legal loopholes in the time limits and still end up meeting 20+ hours a week through competition season. And it works. If you lack the theoretical knowledge to design a mechanism, you can usually figure it out through a lot of trial and error. If you don't have sophicated tools to rapidly fabricate high precision parts, you can use cruder tools much more slowly, probably taking multiple attempts.
We all know the teams who win banners year after year after year. I don't expect it's because they are inherently brighter or that they work harder than everyone else. It's more likely these are teams who are blessed to have some kind of knowledge-based, service, and/or material advantage. And I don't blame them at all. But this imbalance ends up putting tremendous pressure on the teams who are competing with them. In order to even have a chance at some kind of recognition, they have to throw everything they've got and then some into build and competition. Even then, they still may not get it.
I can see how diffiicult it must be for FIRST balance a level playing field versus allowing teams to use their unique circumstance to reach their potential. Someone much smarter than me will have to figure out how to solve inequity.
All I meant by one's work-life balance not being FIRST's responsibility is that work-life balance should be taken in a greater context than FIRST. For all things in life, we evaulate the effort, prioritize its meaning to us, and make choices. How you choose to value FRC, how much effort you choose to give it, and how that impacts your time and energy elsewhere is strictly up to you.