Quote:
Originally Posted by RogerR
everytime you post on here under a screen-name that has your team name or number, or wear you team shirt (or some other team paraphernalia), for better or worse, you are representing your team, and therefore your school and your sponsors. as unfair as it is, it would be niave to assume otherwise. this goes doubly so for someone who has "leadership" in their title.
and you're right; assuming that i'm smarter than anyone simply because i'm older is mighty presumptious of me. but if you read this thread, you'll probably note that a great many mentors, teachers, and veterans are saying more or less the same thing. this seems to suggest a trend.
and furthermore, it appears that a public school is in your team name; i can only assume that many/most of the students on your team attend this school. while i may not be a taxpayer in your state, i think i speak on the bahalf of them when i say that they would like you to take advantage of all that money they pay for you to attend that school (i.e., taxes, lottery, etc.), and not blow off your classes as a waste of time. they paid their money too.
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"But to say that the race is a metaphor for life is to miss the point. The race is everything. It obliterates whatever isn't racing. Life is a metaphor for the race." --
You know, for someone with this quote in their signature, you seem to be surprisingly missing the point we are making. We are not wasting anyone's money, be it the taxpayers of Virginia or Falls Church. First of all, there is a generational contract that makes it the duty of the current taxpayers to pay for my education, as I will pay for my children, and for my parent's retirement. Secondly, who says we are not getting anything out of it? I am going to St. John's College starting in the fall, and for those of you who know what that is, they will know that there are few better ways to signal a love of learning. High School, alas, is not learning. I get what I can out of high school, but it is not my fault that the system is broken, nor is it the fault of the taxpayers. As things stand, grades can make or break your life, however, that does not mean they should. I particularly feel that they are terrible indicators of anything. And if society refuses to get rid of these impediments, then why does FIRST have to follow society? Last I checked, we were trying to make society better. We cannot attract more people to FIRST by excluding a subset of them. Those people with poor grades need FIRST in order to motivate them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RogerR
you're completely and totally right. you paid your money to do FIRST, and can do whatever you want. but don't claim that by building a robot you are changing culture; there's more to FIRST than that. if all any of us ever did was build robots, then FIRST would quickly become stagnant; no new members or teams would be reached, and no new real world problems would be solved. there's a world outside of FIRST, and FIRST was created to change that world for the better. to presume that FIRST is simply here for your enjoyment is to demote it to nothing more than an expensive game.
as i stated above, there's more to FIRSt than just building a robot. its a means to an end, not an end in itself. sometimes you need to step back and realize this.
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You seem to be missing the point. Yes, FIRST must grow in order to change the culture, but that is irrelevant to the point I was making. When FIRST, by being a fun, exciting event, inspires people, not only to do compete, but to have a life goal, it has done its job. FIRST works because it's fun. Yes, it is a game. But it is an important game. Would society be served if all engineers and scientists were unhappy? People will go into these fields if they enjoy it, and not for any other reason. FIRST can accomplish that. Furthermore, if all that happens is that all of the members of a team go into unrelated fields with a positive view of science and technology, has FIRST failed? No. Because it still has improved the culture. Yes, FIRST is more than building a robot, and we realize that. But I'm not sure how any of what you said detracted from or even pertained to the statement I made earlier; that FIRST accomplishes its goal whether people do well in school or not.