Mentor/Student Involvement Philosophies

[James1902]

Originally Posted by BenjaminWard

Exactly, this is what ZackAlfakir and I were talking about. It is all well and good if the students are being "inspired" by the success of the mentors, but it is important that they learn what they are doing, which they can only do by actually doing it. As in a Chairman's video with only one student shown vs a large amount of mentors, the achievements recorded there should not reflect the work of the mentors but rather what the students have achieved.

This interview with Dean Kamen might help make a point that some have brought up in this thread: FIRST is not in the business of education.

If your team values the educational aspect of the program (as i'm sure most teams do) that's great! But whether or not other teams, in your opinion, value it as much as you do is not something that FIRST seems to be concerned with.

It's not just well and good that students are being inspired, it's the whole dang point.