We had some parental pushback against a test. I will not go into my opinions or any other further discussion of why...
One of the first things I do to try and cut down on the "there's to much to read" argument, is to bring a copy of the specification documents for whatever I happen to be working on at work when the kick-off happens each year. I build spaceflight hardware, so the documentation I'm working from usually runs to well in excess of 500+ pages. I set that down next to the current rules, and explain that if the team members are really interested in going into engineering or technology fields, they may as well get used to having to read the requirements. And that what they have to read is really not all that bad.
I also explain that the three most common things they will hear me say for the next 6 weeks are:
1) Is your homework done?
2) How much does that weigh?
3) It's in the rules
In general, I try not to let team members that have not read the rules get too far down the wrong path, but after once or twice when they find out that the last several hours of their work is no good because they didn't read the rules, they get the idea that they really should read them.
As an inspector, it's pretty easy for me to tell when I look at a robot or talk to team members if they have read the rules or not. My favorite is when they only read "the important ones". Apparently the ones concerning the Bill of Material, team numbers, sponsor logos, and the use of tape are often not considered to fall into that category
At least those are easy to fix at the regional, it's pretty depressing to have to tell a team they have to do a major redesign or rewire the whole robot on Thursday because they didn't read all the rules.
-Jeff
Lead Inspector, 10,000 Lakes Regional