Quote:
Originally Posted by dsm
It seems to me that you have a classic issue of "the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer" -- and if that is a FIRST precept, then I must excuse myself and find another program to inspire students, because this one is clearly not for me.
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The love of competition is human nature. If I can find a way to come up with the funding and give the kids on my team one more chance to compete, I will do everything in my power to make that happen.
I've been on teams in the past where the travel is the only time the students have been on a plane, the only time they've been out of state or country. It becomes an experience for them, especially if they would otherwise be unable to afford the trip.
Because of our travels, our kids have made friends with teams all over the US and Canada. They ate meals at competition with these kids and we joined forces with other teams to scout our division at Championship. We like being able to travel and compete with our 'friend teams' and enjoy playing against the 'big dogs' of FIRST. Even if we play and lose every match against them, it gives us a reason to try harder next year and gives us a goal to work towards.
I've been on a team so poor that I donated a chunk of my tuition money to them. And yet, even when we put our robot back in the crate and went home, the conversation in the car always was, "Man, did you SEE that robot? Now THEY were awesome!" And even though our year was over, the competition set a bar for us to aspire to reach.
You can be a one-regional team and have an inspiring experience in this program. Limiting those teams who are better off than we are doesn't make me feel better, it makes me feel worse. Who are we to lower the bar?