Quote:
Originally Posted by Madison
My crotchety old person opinion is that it should be illegal to try to win the award. Do things because you like doing them or because it helps others. Don't do things to win awards.
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I saw this quote at the top of the page and found it interesting because... well, I was captain of Everything Else on my team (as opposed to Bot and Build).
When I was in high school, I remember the award itself, not what we could learn from it, being the motivation to win an award. Our team was pretty new at the time, so we hadn't quite grasped the value of FRC and there was no one to point it out to us. It was only after we won our first few awards that we realized their real importance. It wasn't about the award! Duh! (Hmm... "It's not about the bot" sound familiar?)
My point is that an award acts as an initial incentive. It's a great way to get students started on the right paths, even if they focus on the goal instead of the means. They figure it out eventually. It's similar to how the competitions feel like a reward for all the hard work - but also teach Gracious Professionalism, among other things.