Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt Ciprietti
I mean, fine. You're taking a philosophical stand on a personal belief, I get it. I doubt I'll be able to convince you otherwise. But I'm a Canadian educator too who's been doing this for a few years, and I have to say, I've never run across that particular viewpoint as it pertains to FRC. Being an extracurricular activity, I'm willing to accept outside funds to allow a better experience for my students. If suddenly I found myself teaching "Chemistry - brought to you by Pfizer" then I might feel a bit differently, but as far as most of us are concerned, sponsorships for FRC are just part of the game. The advantages far outweigh the disadvantages (if there are any disadvantages at all).
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I won't try to convince anybody of anything, and I'm certainly not a Canadian educator, but as a former student, the relationships with real corporation meant a lot to me. We had ties into these companies that made us as students feel important in ways my other XCs didn't. Some "real" entity was invested in us, and we would sometimes get opportunities to visit and know local offices, employees, etc. It formed an amazing and valuable perspective on future and "real life" that was a big part of my FRC appreciation and my career trajectory. I don't think it would've turned me off of FRC, but even now it wouldn't have the same spark for me without the private sector relationships. Certainly this is important in the public sector both in and out of the education field as well, but not to the detriment of private community involvement.