I feel this needs to be said...(Grades & FIRST Dedication)

[Tom Bottiglieri]

Originally Posted by Rick TYler

Amen. Hallelujah. Whenever I read things like "everyone on our team has to be an honors student" I want to throw something.

For
Inspiration and
Recognition of
Science and
Technology

You'll note that FIRST's slogan does not include "for those students who are so self-motivated that they don't really need a program like this anyway." If we don't use our program to motivate kids who are struggling to find some reason to care about school, what's the point? Setting high grades standards to participate is EXACTLY the wrong policy to enforce. You are automatically excluding those whose lives could be the most transformed by the experience.

I just want to add that there is a positive correlation between intelligence and grades, but it is far from a strong one. You can get good grades by working hard, but "smart" is mostly born. Bored smart kids are so common in school that it is practically a cliche. Excluding those without good grades does not even insure that you are getting the school's best and brightest on your team.

I totally agree. Half of the responses in this thread make me sick.

I also agree with your points about lack of motivation. I was at the top of my class until school stopped being fun. I like solving problems. I don't like memorizing things just to get high scores on the exam, without really learning anything. Yet, it just so happens a majority of students need to learn this way, so that is how the material is taught. Without FIRST I probably would have dropped out of school by now.

(Then again, this is coming from someone who tries to "solve" questions in English class mathematically...)