Quote:
Originally Posted by Blue_Mist
Well, then, let's make it an equal opportunity field and remove the glass ceiling! M. Krass said excellently in a post earlier this thread that as an unspoken rule, men are able to try and try again without ridicule, while women tend to be discouraged from trying again after failing.
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I don't know what your situation is like, but from what I've seen, men seem to get their share of ridicule for failing. In fact, if anything, I feel that they have shown restraint in their criticism of me (probably because I'm a woman) when they have shown no mercy in ripping each other apart.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Blue_Mist
Let's all make sure that women have the same opportunities to try and try again, since no one likes being pushed down for not being perfect on the first attempt.
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In an ideal world, everyone would be encouraged for effort, leading to success. While we should never give up on trying to reach this ideal, the reality is that I don't have control over my environment, and expecting it to change will only frustrate me when it doesn't happen. But, I do have control over how I respond to the environment. When pushed down, I can choose to leave, or I can choose to stay and try again. I can't force the people around me behave more fairly, but I can make myself more determined to succeed despite the circumstances, fair or not. The choice is mine: to become a bitter victim or a better person.
I'd like to share a story related to a girl on a team in the FLL region I oversee. Her first year, she, 2 other rookie guys, and a veteran guy who owned the team robot kit were on a team, and the coach was also a rookie. Not surprisingly, the veteran guy was the "dominant" team member, having the most say in the building and programming of the robot. The next year, the 2 new guys didn't return, but the girl decided that even in her limited experience, she liked robotics enough to buy her own RIS kit. She practiced during off-season, developed good building and programming skills, and the following year, SHE was the "dominant" team member.
Like this girl, I have found that our team's "dominant" members (head builder and programmer) of both genders typically hone their skills on their own time and their own dime -- they buy their own kits and spend hundreds of hours on robotics on their own. (Sometimes this purchase requires great sacrifice --I know one kid who saved for 2 years on a $2/week allowance, plus birthday money for a robot kit.) The students who come to our once-a-week meeting as their sole robotics experience have a tendency to end up on the sidelines. I have tried to rectify this by inviting kids to my home in pairs during off-season and in between regular team meetings so that they can have the whole robot kit to just themselves and one other person for 2-3 hours. This works for an FTC team of 7, but I don't know how this could work for a larger team with a more expensive robot, like FRC.