Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber
I guess when you put it in terms of hierarchy in the school I can understand a little more what you meant. I understand the struggles from being the lowest on the totem pole. In fact 397 had the police called on us several times when we set off the silent alarm at school. We disarmed it but then a group in the school armed it again. (I know who it was but its not appropriate to point fingers.) This happened for 3 consecutive days, the real problem is that we get fined whenever this happens. But of course because the other program is something the school is proud of and encourages we get blamed. I agree that it would be great to get a FRC team in every single school, that having them classified as a school sport and having their equipment and uniforms and travel paid for. I would love to live in that sort of world. The problem is that the structure is not there.
I applaud 341 on accepting students from anywhere, to me this is a quality that needs to be emulated by every single team. If a student has no access to a FRC (or similar) program then please support the student.
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That sucks about the silent alarm, I feel really bad for you. My school refuses to offer any help to my team since our rookie year, which was in 2004 or 2005 (I wasn't around). Only 1/3 of the schools involved, Springfield High School, actually gives us any money, and that's only the $6,000 for the kit each year. This year, since we got a grant from a state senator, I don't even think they gave us any money, and now that they're in the habit, they probably won't next year, either.
I think robotics should be considered a sport because in my mind, it is. We spend hours of our lives, hurting our school work and social lives, in order to complete an incredibly difficult task. Not only that, FIRST emphasizes team work and such, and unlike sports that say they do, FIRST is actually more about the team and people than the robot.
My school spends thousands on sports teams that haven't been good since the 1970s. They spend no money on us, and we're not even that bad. Imagine if they would only fund us like a sports team what we could achieve in the school's name.
Plus, if golf and chess are considered sports, then robotics should
definitely be considered a sport.
