Quote:
Originally Posted by Tom Bottiglieri
For all of you who think that "student run" is the best way to go.. why don't you put your ego aside and try talking to a professional engineer. Invite them to your build sessions. Ask questions. Sometimes what they say may seem backwards to you, but believe me what you say seems backwards to them. You NEED engineers' help! I cannot stress this point enough.
|
I totally, 100%, "I'll buy you a beer when you are 21 for saying that", agree with you. I'd post this on a giant poster, and march around the Georgia Dome plaza with it.
BUT, I think that what many people (including myself), see is that the OP was talking more about teams where the "mentors" huddle around the robot and shout at the students to get tools (at best); where this is their train set, and even though it had juniors name on it while under the tree, it's really for daddy.
I think what we need is what you described. A team where students work with mentors, both taking a back and front seats at the appropreate times, to create a robot, and so both can learn from eachother. That's what FIRST is. Not a robot that is scraped together by a bunch of teens, and not a rocket science bot that only a engineer for 15 years could have built and dreamed up.
To quote one of my brothers, "Moderation in all that you do."
/me tosses $.02 into the pond