I would like to reiterate what Kelly has said about our sponsor: he was not as involved as a team member or mentor, obviously, but he was not just some god throwing money down from Olympus. He knows what FIRST is. He just happens to disagree with the way the program is run in that regard.
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Originally Posted by Alan Anderson
I think you might be misunderstanding the difference between inspiration and learning. In order to "change the culture" we don't necessarily need to show people how to do something. We just need to show what is possible with the right training and study. That training and study is not all going to happen within the time constraints of an FRC season, but the relatively brief bits of inspiration can easily influence the rest of a student's educational career.
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Here's where I think you're wrong. You do not need years and years of training to design and build a reasonably competent robot for FRC. You need years and years of training to build a perfect robot, yes, but I don't think the goal of FRC should be to produce perfect robots (and I don't think you think that either). As many pure student design/build teams (such as my own) have shown, it is possible for a group of high school students to produce a decent, functional robot with minimal (NOT nonexistent) engineering guidance from adults. Our engineering mentors have always acted as resources to be tapped, not dictators.
If I want to see what years of experience can get me, all I have to do is go look at my car. Or my cellular telephone. Or the ice maker in my refrigerator. I am literally surrounded by incredible inventions made by engineers. I don't need FIRST to see how wonderful and smart engineers are.
The thing is, just looking at the products of modern science and technology doesn't inspire much. The reason people shy away from technical fields is that they see it as some kind of black magic.
Look, the engineer goes into his office, and then couple months later blueprints come out. Isn't that amazing? By having the mentors design and build the robot, the students don't get any more of an inspiring experience than taking a factory tour. All they see is magicians using tricks they learned in wizard school. However, by getting the experience of experimenting and modifying and implementing a design
themselves, students realize that engineering isn't magic after all. It doesn't take a degree to make a robot; all it takes is you picking up a drill and actually building it. Even growing up in a family of scientists and engineers, that was quite possibly the best lesson I took away from FRC: being an engineer doesn't mean having a degree, it means having the patience to do the work; I can do this, too.
I can tell you right now that I would never, ever have joined my robotics team if I hadn't been allowed to be involved in the actual business of design and construction. "Watch Professionals Build a Robot Club" would have bored the stew out of me. Even if I had joined a team like that, I'm certain I would not have gotten nearly as much out of the program as I did. As it is, I am eternally grateful for my team and especially for my wonderful mentors. I think I am a
much better person for having participated.
(Credit where credit is due: I didn't come up with the "black magic" analogy. One of my teammates did. It's the best way to explain it I've ever heard.)