Grades and Student Travel, Etc

[4throck]

Originally Posted by RogerR

i may be misreading your posts, but it sounds almost as if you are doing FIRST (and plan to continue to do FIRST) purely for the enjoyment, and excluding just about everything else.

if that is the case, you might as well sit on your porch and play the banjo.

first and foremost, FIRST was created to encourage people to pursue careers in technology and science, not to build robots for fun. if all you ever do is build competive robots, you aren't really improving society.

i've been in FIRST for 7 years now. i've been a mentor for the last 4. granted, i've had a lot of fun, and probably wouldn't do this if i hadn't enjoyed myself. but i also wouldn't have been nearly as devoted as i am now if i didn't think i was helping change society for the better.


i agree with just about everything you say, with the exception of this. while its true that no-one on this earth always knows whats best for you, i'd expect that your parents are gonna be right more than any other source (including yourself). they've been around a lot longer than you, and (with a few exceptions) they know you as well as, if not better than, yourself. they did raise you, after all. they've known you all your life. looking back on my life so far, my parents track record is alot better than mine.

<EDIT>



this is true; if you want proof, go back and read my first posts, and compare 'em to what (and how often) i post now.

</EDIT>

Last time I checked, one person is not a representative sample. I truly am sick and tired of the belittlement of high schoolers that exists not only in this post, but is a heavy undercurrent in this thread. Saying that I must keep up my grades "for my future" is very sweet of you, but making vague references to how an extra four years in a university setting makes you somehow smarter and more qualified than I am about the situation that I am currently in is downright insulting.

Secondly, where do you get off telling people how and why they should be doing FIRST? FIRST may be for recognition and inspiration and whatnot, but we paid our money, and if we do it for fun or the hell of it or anything else, what business is it of yours? The purpose of FIRST is to be fun. Why? So that it can inspire.

And if you had actually read her post, you would realize that there is nothing wrong with what she is saying. She is simply repeating a FIRST mantra. She loves science and engineering, and that is why she is doing FIRST. In what greater way could FIRST succeed in its mission?

Chris Fultz said

From the FIRST web site, your are representing:

"Aurora Flight Sciences/Falls Church City Television & George Mason High School"

All of your actions, comments and efforts are reflected back on your team and your team sponsors, including your school. Whether you choose to or not, you are representing you school as a member of FIRST Team 1418.

This is my last post in this thread, and I end with this thought -

I invite you to come back to this thread in about 5 years, read all that is written, and see if your views have changed. Experience says you will have a significantly different view of the world....

This is neither an official forum of FIRST, nor is this an official communique from team 1418. Rachel is posting, as she said, in her capacity as a private individual, not in anyway connected with her team. To try to scare people off with false threats and warnings about what they can or cannot say here is a terrible precedent to set. I give our wonderful sponsors enough credit to assume that they know when someone is speaking on their behalf.

BMartin 234 said
As a student, I have to keep my grades up, or I won't be allowed on the team. It's as simple as that.

Knowing some of my teachers, if I was doing poorly in their classes, they wouldn't allow me to miss the seven days of school I miss per year to participate on Cyber Blue. My teachers want me to go to college and eventually get a good job. To do that, though, I need to keep a decent GPA.

Argumentum ad verecundiam has no effect on me.

For the record, I only speak on behalf of myself. Like everyone else here.