[EricH]

I would have to say that FIRST is not totally about the engineer training. I'd have to agree with the "goal is to inspire students to want to learn" point of view.

It's not completely about inspiring students to be engineers. There are a number of things to do on the team that are not about the robots at all. They aren't technical. They aren't necessarily something that you can only learn in FIRST. I know of an FRC student who is not going for engineering. He's going for marketing, if I remember correctly--a field he'd have been introduces to by "selling" the robot to other teams. Others go into graphic arts, animation, web design, and similar fields.

It's not that they can't be engineers or that FIRST has missed its mark with them. On the contrary, FIRST hit a bullseye. They now want to learn more about their chosen field, to go in-depth, to pursue a career in whatever they choose. FIRST competitions simply provided an outlet for them to find that place they fit and a means for them to try it out and see if this is something they really want to do.

Cody, it's good to see you back making posts like this. We all need to think a bit about where we are and where, who, and what we want to be from time to time.