[EricH]

Originally Posted by Edoc'sil

Mentors are a wonderful necessity for a team, they just shouldn't be the ones making the bot.

Actually, I think along similar lines as you. I just add one word to that sentence.

"Mentors are a wonderful necessity for a team, they just shouldn't be the only ones making the bot." (Also possible to use "primary" in that slot.)

I've got no problem with a mentor piling in to work. I have a problem if the mentor displaces a student for no apparent reason--major screwups are a reason--and then doesn't have the student stick around and watch, or assist. Or if the students are locked away from the robot by the mentors.

I REALLY don't have a problem if a student pushes a mentor out of the way to do some work, and accepts advice as they do the work. (I have a problem if the students completely block the mentors out, too.)

Back when I was in high school, my team was about 50-50. As an example, there is a picture (it is on CD, but not in CD-Media) of a student drilling into one side of a sprocket. A mentor is on the other side applying cutting fluid. Another example: A mentor didn't know CAD. Two students did. Guess who did the detail design and the build drawings for the parts they were working on? Yep, the students. Guess who made sure they got it right? Yep, the mentor. But on other components, mentors took the primary lead.