Team Demographics

[Dan50]

I have a question, all the demographics except one has to deal with the team. My questions is: Why do they want to know how many students from the school get free or reduced lunches?

[BlackRoboDragon]

They want what? I don't think I'm following why robotics people would want to know this stuff...

[Eugenia Gabrielov]

I can probably explain this, though if somebody is more informed free to correct me. The idea of getting this kind of demographical information is for a varity of reasons:

1) so that the organization can see what kind of students are involved or underrepresented in FIRST, and try to bring these students in with programs or whatnot

2) A lot of schools have funding capabilities that are very closely related to the number of students on free/reduced lunch in some way. By getting a feel for the demographic information of teams in any given area, the organization can use this information to talk to sponsors and again, gear some work towards everyone.

Please note that I'm not trying to be prejudiced in any way with this. I know members of my own team have great difficulty finding money to attend competitions and afford team activities, and we don't have very many, if any, students on reduced lunch who have to try to afford that. I speak from a financial perspective.

[Jessica Boucher]

I'll take a swing at #1, to build on what Genia has already said:

In pitching FIRST to companies that fall beyond the proverbial "sponsor safe zone" (as in, a sponsor that can see the direct benefit of FIRST on their business), I have found that FIRST often loses out to organizations that fulfill basic needs to the underprivelidged. The reasoning? "If students can afford to compete in such a costly-looking competition, they are nowhere near underpriveledged, and my money can be better used to....."

So, why would someone not want to give to a robotics competition? A psychologist named Abraham Maslow may have something to say about it. His claim to fame, "Maslow's hierarchy of needs", contends that as humans meet 'basic needs', they seek to satisfy successively 'higher needs' that occupy a set hierarchy. (Wikipedia's listing is a good starting point in finding out more). According to the heirarchy, FIRST could be classified under "safety needs" (referring in its most basic terms to the "security of employment"), but they still fall above "physiological needs" (the need to eat/sleep/etc).

The bottom line? People with money to give naturally would rather give to focus on basic needs. Although FIRST has an advantage by its unique way to excite students, its showiness can also serve as a deterrent because the beneficiaries of the program do not look underpriveledged to Joe Public.

Thus, statistics to prove that misunderstanding otherwise are extremely important to show the amount of good work that FIRST does in multiple socio-economic levels.

I hope this helps a little!

[Dan50]

This question is not about the team (all of the other questions were), it is about the school.

[Wetzel]

Originally Posted by Dan50

I have a question, all the demographics except one has to deal with the team. My questions is: Why do they want to know how many students from the school get free or reduced lunches?

Free or reduced price lunches are how school districts tract how many students they have from low income families. A schools social-economic base is an important demographic.

Wetzel

[RoboMom]

It is used as a snapshot statistic to look at the demographic profile of students attending a school. In addition, FIRST sometimes receives grants targeted at certain demographic groups, which fits into the mission of the granting organization.

You can look up this information for your school to help with the "yearbook" page in a centralized database through the National Center for Educational Statistics.
http://nces.ed.gov/globallocator/