Quote:
Originally Posted by anfrcguy
Aren't there boys -- maybe those whose strengths involve writing grants -- who would also love a chance to be on the drive team who never had the opportunity? I just think that a "try out new role" type of event would achieve the same goal, but be far less exclusive.
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Yeah, that is completely a possibility but not really part of the grand narrative that a girls event is addressing. I don't think I've ever seen anyone assume that the boy in the pit is only there to talk to judges because
obviously they do chairman's, whereas I know it happens with girls. When you think about that, you might see how a girl is more likely to be pushed into the paper-writing role on her team and pushed out of the driver/robot repair crew. The idea behind a girl's event is to negate a lot of the societal pressure/influence that girls experienced throughout their life... the pressure that comes from not getting legos and lincoln logs as a kid but instead a play kitchen and princess dresses.
Are there boys who would benefit from a push to try new things too? Yes. I'm not saying that those situations don't exist. But boys -by and large- are not actively discouraged from STEM the way girls are, and girls events are about addressing big, system wide problems.