Practice bot morality

[tsaksa]

Originally Posted by Karthik

Ed's post should be required reading for everyone. The word "fair" gets tossed around far too often, both in FIRST and outside of it, without being fully understood.

Absolutely. I know people who think that FIRST itself in unfair. They know FIRST students who do better in math and science than other students who spend their spare time playing video games. Even if those other students did all the assigned homework! Is that fair? What about being able to put their FIRST experience on a resume, or apply their learning to real world problems? And beyond FIRST itself is it really fair to take a special class that helps you study for an SAT when others can't afford it? Of course it is a bit unfair, but it does not, and should not, stop us from helping these students learn even if it is a bit unfair to those we can't reach.

Lets all try hard not to break the real rules. Lets embrace gracious professionalization. But at the same time lets make sure that students with ambition and talent get the most opportunity we can give them to build, practice, and learn. Goodness knows that the real world will not be worrying about what is fair to them when the time comes for them to face it.

[Anupam Goli]

Originally Posted by tsaksa

Absolutely. I know people who think that FIRST itself in unfair. They know FIRST students who do better in math and science than other students who spend their spare time playing video games. Even if those other students did all the assigned homework! Is that fair? What about being able to put their FIRST experience on a resume, or apply their learning to real world problems? And beyond FIRST itself is it really fair to take a special class that helps you study for an SAT when others can't afford it? Of course it is a bit unfair, but it does not, and should not, stop us from helping these students learn even if it is a bit unfair to those we can't reach.

Lets all try hard not to break the real rules. Lets embrace gracious professionalization. But at the same time lets make sure that students with ambition and talent get the most opportunity we can give them to build, practice, and learn. Goodness knows that the real world will not be worrying about what is fair to them when the time comes for them to face it.

I wholeheartedly agree with everything said here. FIRST has leveled the playing field by providing 6 weeks to DESIGN and BUILD, and all of the other time is dedicated to bring in spare parts and practice. Every Team is capable of getting the resources for a 2nd robot. It depends on time, commitment, and a little bit of luck. If the team spends its time in the offseason fundraising, finding new sponsors, and working on build efficiency, they earned the resources needed for that 2nd robot.

Also, if you are determined to win the competition, you will practice. Remember, FRC is a varsity sport, FIRST is the organization to promote STEM. As with all sports, practice is the key to becoming a better player. Should I penalize my school's football team if they practice 4 days a week vs another school that only practices 3 days a week?