[Salik Syed]

Oh know, you definitely didn't give me that impression... in fact I thought you made some really good points.

I'm also a teenager myself, and one thing I've finally found out is that adults/parents don't always know what's best for you... even though they may act like they do. However I've also learned that neither do I... nor anyone for that matter. Life is a wierd situation... you have one chance to live it right, and nothing to guide you except your gut and other people and perhaps religion... and every piece of advice from those sources is essentially unprovable.

The problem is alot of people some times have the wrong "gut" feeling ... and end up screwing themselves over for the rest of their lives through bad decisions they made when they were young.

Oh and I'm definitely not suggesting barring people from robotics teams because of their grades, I was just saying that in the end a persons GPA will matter... and that they should try and keep it up as much as possible, even if it involves tedious, mind-numbing soul sucking work.
I hated having to keep my GPA up and getting good grades and such...so I know exactly where you are coming from.