Girls are still undermined?

[BandChick]

Okay, I know this post hasn't been active in a while, but whatever.

It's my turn I guess to share a ...different perspective of 1089 from Carli's. There are things that I agree with that she said, but there are also many facets of the team that I think are sliding underneath her horizon.

Carli makes a good point in saying that the girls on 1089 aren't often taught about the engineering and tech facets of the team because of time constraints. Like Karthik said, it is a lot easier to pass off the responsibilities to the people that know what they're doing, but I think that often, it's because the girls haven't asked for that responsibility. Maybe that's because they don't know enough to perform it well, but that's another story.

I would like to see the girls learn more so they can be more involved, but I don't think it's appropriate for the girls to expect to be taught during the build season. Things are crazy and hectic as we all know, and though teaching is important, it isn't always the priority. Sure, we all know that a major part of FIRST is teaching and inspiring kids to get involved, that's the real reason I'm still attempting to mentor my team, but we have 52 weeks to teach and only 6 of those weeks to build and create and do the majority of pre-competition strategizing.

My first year on the team, 2003, I came in with basic tool knowledge (ie knowing the difference between a wrench and a hammer) and that was about it. I learned about gear ratios, sprocket & chain drive trains, pneumatics, torque, physics, center of gravity and a lot of other things. The point of this little anecdote is that I learned all these things because I pushed myself to be involved. I kept asking questions and asking to help.

A lot of the time our team will say "not right now" or "in a minute" and the girls will leave to do other tasks. The problem is, leaving the scene doesn't allow anyone to teach when they have the free time. It shouldn't and CAN'T be the responsibility of the robot tech committee to find the interested students and teach them, it should be the responsibility of the person who wants to learn to be there waiting.

Sure, there are other things that could be done in that wait period, but maybe bring them with you, or schedule them for another time. Sometimes waiting is inevitable, and if that's the functionality of our team, so be it. I don't believe anyone on our team has ever flat out REFUSED to teach anyone. We might not be the most efficient or productive team, but I don't believe we are being "unprofessional" or "ungracious" by not jumping at the drop of the hat to teach.

Sometimes the girls are undermined because of inappropriate comments. There are harassment issues on our team, yes, but those are slowly being dealt with (and I really hope getting better). I also think that a lot of what Carli is talking about is a personal issue with one or two specific members of our team, and not something to drag the entire team through the mud with.

Lastly, I don't think it's wrong to want to be more involved with the team, but I think it's important for Carli (and everyone else on our team) to realize they have other responsibilities. If Carli choses to chair a committee, then she needs to take care of those things before she worries about learning about the drive train, electronics, pneumatics, etc. A lot of the time Carli will ask a question and leave to work on her committee responsibilities. That to me says she does not have the appropriate time to learn from robot tech. I would say the same about anyone else on the team as well, myself included.