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#1
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Re: Gracious Professionalism?
I have read several threads over the various seasons that touch on how much adults/mentors should or should not do for the success of an FRC team. During some seasons, I have also reviewed the game manuals and other materials, including the e-mail updates and Q&As. I have also attended a regional in two different seasons, even though I have never yet been part of an FRC team. (I have also been to Atlanta three times with teams in other programs.)
From the threads I have read in the past (but not necessarily from the official FRC materials) I had thought that an all-mentor built or all-mentor designed machine was obviously a bad thing, not in keeping with the intent of FRC. Then (in the 2007-8 season) I heard Dean Kaman speak about FRC and the other FIRST programs to a roomfull of scientists and engineers. Dean analogized the different FIRST programs to different leagues in a sport--from little leagues to pros--with FRC being the top professional league where students are exposed to real-world professional level engineering. The picture Dean painted of FRC was of professional engineers teaching students what they do by exposing them to it--almost like apprenticeships or internships within the structure of the FRC contest--not by teaching the students some basics, or whatever they can handle, and then mostly getting out of the way while offereing some guidance and counsel and a little fabrication help here and there. The overall picture was very different from the impression I had picked up from just reading in the forum. I know there may be many different yet acceptable ways to run an FRC team, and some teams may rely on more management and direction by students than other teams. (And I realize the current standard at FIRST may even be different from Dean's vision). But from Dean's talk, a mentor-lead team, producing a mentor-designed machine, where students are learning from every step, seems well within (if not maybe even closest to) Dean's vision, at least as he expressed it on that one occasion. |
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#2
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Re: Gracious Professionalism?
Quote:
Thing is - it isn't always easy to hear what you don't want to hear. In an ideal world, that is the message. In reality, it can't always work or be applied. Teams adjust to their circumstances or their leaders' ideas of how to run a team. It doesn't take too long before teams have moved beyond the perimeters of Dean's vision and into their own. I'm not so sure that's a bad thing but it doesn't hurt to pay attention to Dean's speeches and learn from them. The message is consistent and there is wisdom and value in it. Peter Pan was a great leader. He was fun, adventurous, exciting, and clever. He was also uneducated, undisciplined, and basically, frozen in time. He was the leader of the Lost Boys. Peter Pan was a leader but he was not a mentor and could not move the boys forward towards their futures in a helpful way - so they were all stuck - lost. It is a story but it is something to think about when thinking about the impact of adult mentors who have the capability of helping to move the students forward into their futures. Jane Last edited by JaneYoung : 21-08-2010 at 00:46. |
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