ChampionSplit: A Historical Perspective

[popnbrown]

Full Disclosure: Not sure where I stand but I think I lean towards supporting the split.

My Historical Perspective Conclusion:
I believe FIRST is trying to achieve culture change not just in creating STEM leaders but also with values such as Coopertition and Gracious Professionalism, which I see as a different way of competing than traditional sports. So my conclusion...is that to achieve culture change you need to disrupt the current culture, and provide something radical by current measures. This inherently leads me to be more open to FIRST trying non-traditional methods.


This still doesn't answer whether the split is correct or not, and the answer to that relies around two concepts of "winning" and inspiration.

A Ramble:
In one of the other threads, someone mentioned that inspiration can be achieved with and without "winning". My experience as a mentor is limited, but I think that is a relatively accurate statement. I've been able to keep students interested in FRC by showing them the potential for what they can achieve, and I've been able to keep students interested in FRC by pushing them to strive to "win". This to me ultimately means that it's possible to get and keep students interested in FIRST without the possibility of "winning".

A big question for me is if I'd lose the student that was motivated to "win" or if I would be able to inspire the student via other means. Tough question....and one I can't answer or get an answer without experiencing it for myself. Hopefully, I'll be wiser in a few years
End ramble

Anyways, back on topic, there are two issues at the core of this argument. At least from all the posts I've read everyone keeps going around these two ideologies.
1. Is "winning" wanted for inspiration in FIRST? (Ugh..Ramble-ish again: A sub-question that I don't have an answer for, is whether it's ACTUALLY possible to inspire without "winning" and writing this, I think an answer to this sub-question is actually what we all may be arguing about)
2. What is the inspiration for? Is it to make STEM "cool"? Is it to build an amazing robot? Is it to radically change society's values? What is this culture change are we trying to achieve? (not how, but what)

Hmm..I'm an idealist, so my answers as of now are "No (but I'll confirm)" and "Radically change society's values and instill more Coopertition/Gracious Professionalism".

I think these are personal questions that are being forced on the community due to expansion.

Hmm...Geez, I think this is just a bunch of me rambling about my inner thoughts. Well I'd rather my thoughts be put out on CD than elsewhere so...hopefully I did something constructive.