The Politics of FIRST

[Steve W]

Politics, ah yes the forbidden topic. You are correct with the fact that there is politics involved with FIRST. No matter were you go there is politics. This can be both good and bad. FIRST would not be where it is if Dean hadn't had some clout with sponsors etc. The who you know and how well means a lot when trying to get free bes or deep discounts.

As for the Woodie Flowers Award, I have not heard of any individuals actively seeking for themselves. There are probably lots of teams promoting people from their team or from another team. That is completely possible. The award is applied for by team members so why wouldn't they try to get support if they think that highly of their mentor.

I for one try to stay out of politics. Leave it to the politicians I say. There is enough for me to do with mentoring, work and family than to get involved with the politics of a certain event or item. I find it is best to stick to what you are good and and leave the rest for others to worry about.

[Camerzn]

Originally Posted by Steve W

I for one try to stay out of politics. Leave it to the politicians I say. There is enough for me to do with mentoring, work and family than to get involved with the politics of a certain event or item. I find it is best to stick to what you are good and and leave the rest for others to worry about.

I hate to be the subversive anti-establishment type, but I agree. It's better to beg forgiveness than to ask permission.
If the upper echelons of FIRST are what I think they are, they won't let bureaucracy tie them down much more than the occasional CYA (Cover Your touchAs). I wouldn't worry about it too much if I were you.

We are some of the most ingenuitive people in the world. We can always find our way around nitpickers.

[Billfred]

It's gonna happen. And while the WFA stuff might be a bit much (the candidates probably should sit back and let the students handle it), I'm not too worried about politics in FIRST as long as people play nice.

Now, if the politics start getting ugly, we're gonna have a nice sit-down chat.

[shyra1353]

There are politics in everything you do, so of course there are politics in FIRST (such as within teams).

And for the WFA thing .. I can see it happening. But I can also see that FIRST is smart enough to figure out whether a person is sincere about the work involved or is only doing it for the award.

edit: there are going to be politics and "behind the back" talking with any group of people .. whether it be a class .. a group of friends .. a FIRST team .. or a multitude of FIRST teams ... you cannot change it, you accept that it is going to be there and move on with your life ...

[Aignam]

Politics are far more prevalent, I think, on an intra-team basis, than they are on an inter-team basis.

[Camerzn]

Originally Posted by Aignam

Politics are far more prevalent, I think, on an intra-team basis, than they are on an inter-team basis.

I have seen this phenomenon. Not to badmouth anyone in particular on 1139, but there is a lot of behind-the-back talk, a little bit of backstabbing, and just a smidge of turning everyone against one or two people. It's sad, but it's true, and it's just human nature. We all want to be top dog, we want to keep our friends close, and we want to drive our enemies into the mud.
Our team keeps it to a minimum, I think due to our all-inclusive listserv: if we don't have anything nice to email, we don't email anything at all. But it's still bound to happen.