On the one hand, FIRST is doing an excellent job at recruiting new teams. The NASA grants into the NASA events works to entice prospective schools into joining the program. Local volunteers, such as Gail Alpert team #469, work tirelessly digging up sponsors. Veteran teams help the rookies cope with the arduous task of building a team and putting a robot on the floor. ChiefDelphi is there to answer their newbe concerns.
On the other hand, FIRST isn’t doing as well in keeping the teams it worked so hard to start in the first place. The system in place that of seeding the field and expecting it to flourish thereafter may have reached the point of diminishing return. Last year at this time there were 888 teams
(source). This year there are 873. Of the 873 registered teams this year 113 are rookies. We can project that over 128 more teams will no longer be with us in 2006. The rate of growth shrank from 38.1 percent in 2001 to just 8.6 percent in 2005. The projected growth for this year is –1.5 percent, not growth at all, but decline.
So what is the reason we have over 1800 team numbers but less than 1000 teams? No offense kids, but it’s not because of team politics. There’s a new bunch of kids every year, and any slackers are gone for sure within four. True there are cases where the teacher’s union or the administration won’t buy in – or a dedicated teacher is nowhere to be found - but those situations are rare. The reason boils down to economics. When a mentor is given a jumpstart from NASA and/or found money, then has it vanish, he/she either goes out and finds an amount that’s almost as much as his salary, or he says; “Oh well. I was great while it lasted.”
The fact of the matter is that it is not FIRST’s fault. It is a national problem. In the last 25 years the U. S. has slipped from third to fourteenth place in the proportion of young adults holding degrees in engineering and science. The number of baccalaureate degrees in science, technology, engineering, and math fell by 18.6 percent in the last 15. Meanwhile, Congress thru NASA kicks in a few million dollars toward FIRST. Meanwhile, Congress kicks in $223million, as a start, to build the
Bridge to Nowhere.
Apparently our government believes that Inspiration can/should be achieved by a Faith Based Initiative. That is, the parishioners of FIRST (corporations) will find it in their own best interest to take up the cause. As long as the congregation exists, then Inspiration will flourish. What they ignore is the fact a portfolio that starts out weak, then attempts to grow by keying to the Dow, is doomed to go basically nowhere – just like that bridge.
