paper: Accomplishment by Means of FRC

[StevenB]

Put this on my to-do list a month ago and finally got around to reading it today - hopefully my feedback is still useful.

First, thanks for writing and sharing. I agree with much of what you're presenting. Even though I'm now a graduate student at an elite university, the hands-on practical work I did in FRC is still one of the best learning experiences I've had. I learned how to design things in 3D modeling software, read datasheets, bend acrylic, write software feedback control, break chain, tap holes, and countless other things. These have been invaluable, but I never would have learned them in a classroom. Thanks for helping articulate that story.

- I concur with ElvisMom that the writing is dense. In the words of Mark Twain (I think): "When you catch adjectives, kill most of them. That way the rest will be special." There is a ton of great detail in the document, but it overwhelms the real content and message.

- I cringed a little when I read the first paragraph. Shouting "Robot!" is despised by a great many people here.

- $14 million in scholarships / 2k teams = $7k / team, which is definitely less than the average amount that teams spend. I was confused by that whole paragraph, so sorry if you weren't saying that there is more scholarship money than teams spend in their seasons.

- I'm not convinced that "college" is a primary reason for the majority of students in FRC. It wasn't a reason for me, my siblings, or most of my teammates; we just loved building robots. We spent every waking moment thinking about robots because it was that much fun. Yes, many of us got into great schools or netted impressive scholarships, but that was almost an afterthought. That said, I haven't done a formal survey, so if you have, don't let me stop you.

On a different note, the formatting on Scribd is making me crazy...