[David55]

I have no desire to jump into this discussion (partially because I haven't decided what side I'm on yet), but I wanted to point something out to everyone who says "don't try to convince other teams that your opinion is the correct one".

IMO, if everything was left the way it is without attempts to initiate a change, we wouldn't get very far (this applies to FIRST and society in general). More participating members and teams means more insight and constructive criticism. If Leav thinks that the students in his team have a better experience as the actual working members on the team, he is entirely entitled to suggest and even try to convince other teams to adopt this system. If Sean believes his system provides the most inspiration and benefit to the students, it is great that he is trying to convince people to use it.

One more thing that bothers me: when people say that the "team" should decide what works best for it, that would be the ideal case if all teams were democratic and keen to changes. However, most teams developed these systems when they are founded and are often run the same way for many years, while the current students don't really have a say in it. Because the program is intended for high school students (the mentors and engineers are there to support the program), I think their opinions should be given considerable weight in such team decisions, which we all know does not happen (most important decisions are made by the mentors from what I have heard).