Society on the Future

[sciguy125]

Originally Posted by Ashley Christine

Something I notice [and I am sure others notice] is that many young people look for people to lead them ...They dont take initiative and they lack confidence. I have noticed on robotics teams that many times students dont try to step up...

There are leaders and there are followers. If there were only leaders or only followers, it would be anarchy. Everyone has their place in the world. People are born to be leaders or followers the same way that they are born to be an engineer or an artist. They will go where they are comfortable and where they will be most effective. Personally, I'm not a leader. I hate being in leadership positions. If I have to, I will get the job done, but I won't like it. I just hate telling people what to do.

I agree that some don't step up because there are others there. But that's the way it is. Things happen out of necessity. If there's no need for someone to be a leader (because someone already is), they won't see any reason to step up.

Originally Posted by Ashley Christine

And when said student does step up -- the other students do not always listen because they dont have authority. Where is the respect for your peers?

I don't think that it's a lack of respect for peers, just a lack of respect for those they don't feel deserve it. Within our own team, some students command more respect than others. Some are almost never questioned, others were named "honorary freshman for life" and accept the abuse that comes with the title (not that we abuse our freshman...using whips and chaining them together isn't abuse right?). I think that people generally have to earn your respect before you give it to them. People that are older than you have a head start because they theoretically have more experience. That's the only reason they usually command more respect than peers.

Originally Posted by Ashley Christine

Another subject that was brought up is how people always have to find something to put the blame on.

The pessimist will blame themselves, the optimist will blame others. It's human nature. If there's something wrong with you, then you are flawed. Nobody likes to think that there's a problem with themselves.

Originally Posted by Ashley Christine

One way in which I would like to relate this to FIRST is that [I know there are many student leaders] But I really think more students should be able to step up and take initiative in FIRST and strive to get things done.

Our team is primarily student run. Teachers handle all the official business with the school. Student leaders handle all internal affairs. I think that a few of our leaders wouldn't have normally taken the position, but it was forced on them. The founders of the team designed it to be student run so someone had to fill the positions. Some of them are respected more than others, some seem to like the position better than others... Some people are cut out for leadership, others aren't.

Originally Posted by Ashley Christine

But basically I do not agree with the way society is today [never really have] so that is why I rebel [in the good way].

Me too. But I undertake a passive rebellion. In general, I just don't like people that don't think. People tend to see one side of something and stop looking. If they do happen to keep looking, they tend to stop when they find a side they like. People are happy eating whatever the media throws at us. I like to show people the side they don't want to look at. To those that may be stalking me on the forums, you may notice that I like to take the opposite side of a discussion and argue with people. I don't always disagree with those I am arguing with and I don't always believe what I argue. What I do believe however, is that it shows people something they normally can't or don't want to see.