Vote to change the format of FIRST. Part 2

[Mr.G]

I have read through the whole original post and would like to do another poll to see what people really want and maybe we could all meet in the middle and make things a little better for everyone.

Please put what would you like to see optimally done, not what you think can be done. Make your choice and let FIRST explain why they can’t do it. It is FIRST job to make things work. I think we have argued all the extremes in the other thread. Please take a moment to read everything completely before replying.

Here are my opinions. Maybe people could comment in this format and not have it turn into a big argument.

Length of Season:
I would like to see a week taken out of the Season. This would help take a load off everyone. It could also help employers that support FIRST by reducing peoples time away from their normal jobs. A week taken out of the build season could be made up by letting the students work on the robot during the competition season. The kick off could be moved back to take out a week. It was nice starting a week late this year. Another point; I work in a large plant and we have been unable to get people to help because they don’t want to give up the time needed for this competition. We ask them to give what they want and just do a small portion every year. They come to a couple of meetings and see how involved it is and run away. We need change because what we are doing isn’t working for us. Also, just because the robot ships doesn’t mean the work is done, I have always said the season is half over when the robot ships.

Robot work time and competitions:
I would like to see the robots stay in the hands of the teams and let them work on them. I would like at the very least, the amount of time that other teams get to work on there robots when they are at a competition. Though, I would rather be able to work on it constantly to increase the learning the students get. I find that any lag in time (even a couple days) the students are away they get easily distracted and aren’t as engaged. I am on a Michigan team and love the bag and tag. There is something calming knowing where your robot is and being able to look at it. Lol This is why I think differently now that we bag and tag then I used to.