[kevinw]

Disclaimer:
The views expressed below do not necessarily reflect those of the rest of my team.

Now then...

Personally, I believe engineering is not simply about applying this concept, and building that design. Engineering fundamentally comes down to problem solving, and if the students can't get excited and inspired by the problem solving process because someone has spoon fed them a solution, then nobody wins.

Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, he'll eat for a lifetime.

One of the most remarkable aspects of FIRST is the variety of different designs seen at the competitions. Without fail, every possible design that we brainstormed and ruled out for whatever reason will have been implemented, and in a way that we may have thought could never work. Yet it does. It's a learning process throughout, and seeing how everyone else solved the problem after you've come up with your own solution is all the more valuable.

In my mind, FIRST is kind of like school. It's here to teach students about engineering, and inspire them to consider making a career in the fields of science and technology. When I was in school, I learned a whole lot more doing something on my own and comparing it with the solutions and methods of other students than I ever would have if they simply told me how they solved the problem before I started.

I don't believe anyone is saying that information should never be shared. It's simply a matter of when. Allow teams to experience the problem solving stage without influencing them. Necessity is the mother of invention - but if you no longer need anything because something has been given to you, then there's a loss of creativity. And sure, you can argue that simply improving someone else's solution could make it worthwhile, but I stand by the argument that you should come up with your own solution first.