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Originally Posted by M. Krass
Was this post inspired by a need to alienate every nationality participating in FIRST or FIRST Lego League? My feeling is that the many fine Canadians, Mexicans, Brits and Brazilians who participate in this program have very little desire for their actions to be considered more "American."
I am dumbfounded by your choice to correlate shirking personal responsibility with being a red-blooded American. Really.
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I think it's important to remember our history and the mission of FIRST. FIRST was initally called the "US FIRST Robotics Competition." The name is still used in the domain name
usfirst.org. The mission was to increase the number of students intererested in technology,
to benifit the United States. This message is still clear when Dean Kamen takes the podioum and gives a speech on keeping technology related jobs in the United States.
Introducing FIRST to other countries is a great idea, but it is inconsistent with the entire original mission of FIRST. One of our growing pains is how to incorporate the original mission while allowing global participation. Dean Kamen continues to ignore other countries in his speeches, and keeps us focused on the United States' problems with the technology sector. In my opion Dean Kamen has yet to waiver in his original American mission.