Anonymous Response:
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Your teammates choose to cheat, and they know it's cheating. They think it's OK because "everyone else is doing it". That is never a good reason. If everyone else jumped off a bridge, would they jump? Also, most FRC teams that I know about follow the rules. So their reasoning is invalid. However, I am quite sure that they won't listen to that, which puts you in a hard place.
Since the mentors are at fault, talk to the school administration,
if you are on good terms with them. This would be effectively the same as a sports team cheating...but could hurt the team a bit.
If you can't do either and get the cheating problem addressed, you have two or three choices.
- Go along with it. By the original post, you don't want to do that. That leaves the two options that are going to cause problems.
- Quit the team. Especially if you are a valuable member, this will probably get their attention.
- Blow the whistle.
Remember what Gracious Professionalism is? The simplest definition is, "doing what would make your grandma proud." I know my grandma wouldn't be proud of me if I cheated! Also, the term has two parts: "gracious" and "professional". Sometimes, an employee has to report wrongdoing by his employer to the government. This could be one of those cases. However, sometimes going to upper management can fix the problem.
So, here is what I would recommend:
- Administration. Remember, the team represents the school (or other organization). The school isn't going to want cheating to tarnish their name.
- Blow the whistle.
- Don't return if they are going to do it again.
Assuming that you have to go to step 2, choose who you talk to carefully. If you are the student who has to sign the inspection form, you could refuse to sign it, for the reason that the team wasn't in the time limits. The team can work around that, though. Otherwise, the regional director might be a good choice. He can call FIRST HQ for instructions, and the team may remain anonymous.
If the team cheats on the field, the refs are there for a reason. Also, if the robot is modified after inspection, other teams can call for a re-inspection.
The most important thing to do is impress on your team what GP really is. There is a reason that very, very few teams even think about violating the time limits, even fewer do it, and fewer still get away with it.
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