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Originally Posted by phrontist
I've come to the realization that holding opinions on things publicly is a really, really, bad idea. Really. I'm not being sarcastic for once. Having received negative rep from people I really respect, I now realize that this navel gazing, while fun for a while, is ultimately divisive. Talk is cheap.
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It's a downward spiral folks.
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Please understand where everyone is coming from. A high percent of the people who have posted in this thread
have never been a student on a team. You see it from your perspective, others see it from theirs. As I see it, students in FIRST fall into 4 categories:
Students on engineer-run teams have mixed emotions; some students love it and see the inspiration of a well engineered machine first-hand. Others see it as though the engineers don't listen to their input, or take control and it isn't really "the student's robot".
Students on student-run reams have the same thing; some of the kids love being involved 100% (or close) on all the decisions. Some hate it and are sometimes overwhelmed by everything and wish desperately for experienced guidance.
Having experienced both perspectives first-hand, I have come to the conclusion that it doesn’t really matter in the end. As many people have said, this isn't designed to be a competition; it is designed to inspire and motivate high school students into a career involving science, math, and technology.
As long as you remain involved because you LOVE what you are doing and the things that have seen, it doesn’t matter who wins and looses the "competition" and, it doesn’t matter who build or designed a robot.
Just remember some of the things that flat-out amazed you about robots. Chances are that an adult helped with it. Instead of criticizing the team, try to beat them! Come up with something amazing for the next year.
I know it can be hard to make people understand what you have experienced, as no person has experienced every facet of every team. Just try to remember that we care only about you, not the robots and not about wining. We want you to get an engineering degree, make lots of money, and love what you are doing. Or at least I do!
-Alex