Live and Let Live

[pfreivald]

Such reasonableness will not be tolerated! This is teh interwebz!

[JustinRueb1891]

I have a problem when mentors keep students from getting to build the robot, but anyone who thinks that the mentors can't take part is probably overlooking what their own mentors do for them. Some years mentors don't touch our robot, sometimes they do, but they always let the students lead and we all have fun. People need to stop letting their emotions get the better of them and look back to the "mission of FIRST" - TEACHING. If the students learn and are inspired, the job was done; however it gets done is up to you. Let's leave each other alone.

[Steven Sigley]

Originally Posted by JustinRueb1891

I have a problem when mentors keep students from getting to build the robot, but anyone who thinks that the mentors can't take part is probably overlooking what their own mentors do for them. Some years mentors don't touch our robot, sometimes they do, but they always let the students lead and we all have fun. People need to stop letting their emotions get the better of them and look back to the "mission of FIRST" - TEACHING. If the students learn and are inspired, the job was done; however it gets done is up to you. Let's leave each other alone.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by Steven Sigley

Couldn't have said it better myself.

You could have said it right... FIRST isn't about teaching, it's about inspiration. Inspiration can come from education but it can also come without it. I don't need to teach my students how to build a hardware PID controller. Only show them what it can do so they can become curious and want to learn how to do it. Some mentors/teams/students are inspired through education, others aren't or can't.

To me, if all a student learns in a given season is "I don't really like writing code" I consider it a success, the student was inspired to find what they are passionate about. That's my job here.

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink. Our job is to make the horse thirsty.

[Steven Sigley]

Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber

You could have said it right... FIRST isn't about teaching, it's about inspiration. Inspiration can come from education but it can also come without it.

It's all good man, I see them as complementary. Inspiration and Education go like Milk and Cookies.
I agree with you as well, If someone learns that they don't like something, then that makes their future easier as well helping them focus on what they do like and the steps they can take to learn that.

[darkMatt3r]

Agreed.

This is a very hostile topic, but i believe it's something that should be taken care of within each club. Not something that should be argued about between clubs.

[jspatz1]

FIRST describes this program as students working "side by side" with professional mentors. We describe our team as working "shoulder to shoulder." This may be be at the CAD station, at the fundraiser, in front of the lathe, in the logistics meeting, or behind the glass at the driver station. Maximum learning happens with maximum interaction between students and mentors, whenever and wherever that may be.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Agreed!
If your formula works for your team, then it doesn't really matter what anyone else says. We are getting 96% of our students into college or university. The majority of the remainder are in trade schools or family businesses. That is our success, everything else is secondary.
When our students graduate, they know how to use tools, assemble robots, perform electrical wiring, program, work strategy, gather data, animate, design and CAD because they perform those functions on our team.