Quote:
Originally posted by dlavery
FIRST was not originally designed to be a wide-open, anyone can join, all-inclusive, no qualifications required, free-for-all. It was not supposed to be for just anybody, it was supposed to be hard get in. Members of FIRST teams were supposed to be selected from the "best and brightest."
We can argue for a long time about how and why it happened, but FIRST has moved away from this philosophy.
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I've always viewed FIRST as an organization that hopes to show people how amazing and necessary and ameliorative engineers and technological professionals were. I'll freely admit that I'm certain my ideas and hopes for what FIRST can accomplish are not based in esteemed tradition, founded upon speeches I didn't hear when I wasn't around in 1992 or 1998, even, or that those ideas are still unsanctioned and disliked. So, that said, I'm not sure that my perspective holds relevance when discussing this.
But, how do you inspire an elite few to go on to do something they intended to do anyway? How do you inspire and help people who are already experiencing the benefits of privilege afforded to them by their existing abilities and talents?
Or, put another way, what criteria might one use to determine if someone with no interest in science, engineering or technology contains the potential to perform with some elite team in some elite robotics competition?
Elitism is based on privilege and ability. Inspiration is for those who might have neither. How do you reconcile that difference?
I'm not suggesting that the you're lying about the original intent or anything, Dave, but I just can't get my head around how that method could possibly work. I'd appreciate it if someone could take a moment to explain how elitism and inspiration go hand in hand, or, if its more appropriate, that they don't go together at all and that inspiration is a manufactured sort of faux-goal for FIRST.