[Richard Wallace]

When I was eight my dad showed me how to play chess. He didn't have much experience teaching chess, but he was an educator and he did one very important thing right -- he refused to let me win. It took me a few years to get good enough to beat him.

I expressed my opinion about teams with strong mentor-based leadership in one of the earlier threads on this topic. I'll excerpt a part of that here:

... while it is true that many of 71's student members don't work on the robot, it is also true that many do. The standard they are held to is a very high one -- to work on the BEAST it seems you don't have to be a professional, but you do have to behave and perform like one. While this model of teamwork may not be the best for every team, it sure seems to work for 71. It is hard to argue with success, and 71's success is an inspiration not only to its own students but to all of the FIRST community.

Most older mentors (and some enlightened younger ones ) want the pre-college students on our teams to challenge our ideas. I would always prefer to build a robot the way my team's students want it built. The only time that mentor intervention is justified (for me) is as an emergency measure, to head-off failure to compete.

I like e e cummings' poem about the dynamic between youth and age. I liked it three decades ago when I was armed with enthusiasm and arrogance, and I like it now that my tools more worn and my judgement tempered by hard lessons.

 old age sticks   
   
   old age sticks
   up Keep
   Off
   signs)&
   
   youth yanks them
   down(old
   age
   cries No
   
   
   Tres)&(pas)
   youth laughs
   (sing
   old age
   
   scolds Forbid
   den Stop
   Must
   n't Don't
   
   
   &)youth goes
   right on
   gr
   owing old