[MikeDubreuil]

The excitement of being an engineer is being able to take a problem and create a solution. FIRST provides this opportunity by creating the problem, the game, and leaving the solution, the robot, up to the team.

What’s important to remember is that inspiration is the objective of the FIRST program. FIRST’s goal is to motivate high school students into technology related programs in college. Upon graduation they will enter the workforce as an engineer or scientist.

FIRST’s goal is not education; it is not an advanced shop class. If your school embraces the education part, more power to you, but it’s not FIRST’s focus. Building a robot is an assembly line manufacturing job.

This misconception happens a lot in my major computer engineering technology at my school. Students come and say they want to learn how to build personal computers. What they don’t realize is that that job isn’t very glamorous and is a manufacturing job on an assembly line.

Everyone please don’t take offense, I certainly don’t want to disparage manufacturing jobs. After all, just like the garbage man, someone needs to do it. It is however prudent to understand that FIRST was not started by Dean Kamen to create factory workers.