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Originally Posted by Tom Bottiglieri
I agree with Ed.
There are valid points on both side. You can agree with Mr. Lall, and believe we are all just pawns in FIRST's quest for global domination. Or rather, you can defend FIRST until your final breath is gone.
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Well, I call editorializing on that statement, the value of FIRST is still obvious in Jon's post, albeit with a tone that isn't usually seen on these forums.
Other than that, I am inclined to disagree with my teammate at this point, solely because of the fact that recognition usually breeds continued success, or is at least a motivating factor for some schools. I'll take the example of Team 1558, Albert Campbell Collegiate Institute Robotics (ACCI-DENT!). They essentially had a team of 5 seniors, and their robot came into our shop about two weeks before ship date as nothing more than a kit frame and wheels. They went on to win Highest Rookie Seed at Waterloo. Personally I had always considered there to be a plethora of Rookie awards (Seed, Inspiration, All-Star) but their win prompted more recruitment in their school, where before they had trouble getting interest (the biggest school in Scarborough with 2200+people). At the same time, there were the GM triplets, each of which, no question, had contributed something worthwhile. Two of them won awards, which in my opinion was fair. Giving one team an award over another one of those teams in the triplet set would have been accepted as well, but it served to bring attention to the fact that despite the existence of collaboration, each team is unique and offers different things to FIRST. This point, I feel, illustrates why FIRST should keep the same number of awards they have now. Not only will you have more growth, you will have a slightly diluted field if collaboration continues. But it is important to keep each element separate within that collaborative.