The Meaning of FIRST

[spikeman62]

I think the argument you are making is just based on too small of a sample size. This point has been made, but there are over 2500 teams in FIRST, they all aren't going to run how you want. That's just not how FIRST works. There are many different ways to "skin the cat" that is, building a robot and more importantly, inspiring students. And believe me when I say that many teams do not have the adequate resources to have depth at every level of the engineering process.

On my team until recently, we were lucky to have 10 kids on the team. And really only about five of those were dedicated and came almost every day. Many of us didn't have a engineering background so we needed our mentors to step up and teach us what we didn't know. Yes that meant sometimes they had to machine a part or do some of the coding but that didn't mean we were incapable or that they weren't letting us do anything, they just had the experience. We did our fair share of the work and the mentors did theirs. The combination of the two is what gets the robot done in six weeks. I can honestly say that without my mentors, I wouldn't be where I am today or have the knowledge of engineering that I have. They have taught me so many lessons, not just about robots, but about life. They have truly inspired me.

I can tell you the high majority of mentors are there for the greater good to inspire and teach you. I think you're letting one mentor skew your entire image of what a mentor truly is.