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Unread 18-08-2005, 09:40
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phrontist phrontist is offline
Proto-Engineer
AKA: Bjorn Westergard
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Re: Why do teams voluntarily do FIRST without adult technical mentors?

Quote:
Originally Posted by phrontist
An unfair competition is no competition at all. The organization is larger than Dean, and if it is to survive, it must, like all organizations, change.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken
FIRST has grown from an initial 32 teams to over a thousand, has thrived for over a decade, and you are telling us the person who founded this program, and put his life-force behind it for all these years got it wrong?

Seriously?
No, I do not believe I ever said that his origional goal was wrong, and if that was the message sent, it certainly wasn't intended. What I do believe, however, is that I disagree with certain elements of the implementation of his "change the culture" master plan. These issues are fairly minor. None the less, I think people should arrive at their own conclusions, instead of following the messiah in denim unquestioningly. Don't get me wrong, I think he's brilliant, but no one is right all the time.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken
If FIRST was primarilly a robot building contest, then the major funding for it would evaporate overnight. Turn FIRST into battlebots, where winning is the thing, then what is the point?
I'm sorry, but yes, FIRST is a robot building contest. My team is sponsored by people who want to give young people interested in engineering a chance to do some actual engineering while still in highschool. Furthermore, we try to get other students who would not otherwise be interested involved.
[/quote]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken
I could not possibly care less which high school or which company can build the best robot in the US, or in the world. I do care about my profession: engineering. I do want to see more students take up the challenge of completing an engineering degree and helping to do what the rest of my profession does: making peoples lives better.

If a team has to win to be successful, then at the end of each year you will have 3 successful teams and 997 losers.
No, my team does not have to win to be successful. We do, however, need to compete, and do so with integrity, which for me at least means attemting to build student designs.

Competition serves an important purpose, it serves to focus our efforts.
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