[Kate00]

The question is, what do teams want to create: thinkers, designing creative solutions to problems, or workers, doing just what they are told.

If the students are given a design and told "build this," yes, they are learning how to use shop tools, yes, they will have to gain new skills, but they are not problem-solving skills, using innovative designs to solve the problems they are given. They are basic skills that may be replaced in the future by machines. Yes, they are needed, but has FIRST created this program to inspire people who just do their assigned jobs? I don't think so. Not anything against anyone who may hold these jobs, but it's not what our future needs. With all the new improvements in technology, such as the CNC mills, the people in these jobs will probably be phased out.

If the students design the robot, however, they are creating something out of their minds, solving the problem. These are the people who I want in the future of the world, the people who think creatively, solve problems.

I may be taking the term "design" too loosely. I am taking it as meaning solving the problems, telling the builders what to do when there is a problem, and modifying the design to solve those problems.

I’d rather see a team full of innovative, problem-solving students and machinist/technician mentors, no matter what.

EDIT: Or, what ^he^ said...