Should FRC Account for School Size?

[DampRobot]

Putting teams into divisions by school size or level of poverty at the school would broadcast a bad message. That what maters the most, what makes the most difference, isn't how hard or how smart you work, but factors beyond your control. It would imply that the rich and successful will always stay that way, and that everyone else is a member second class, too dumb to be "competitive" and to poor to ever get there. I couldn't think of a less American statement.

I don't participate in FIRST because I think I can win. Anyone else who believes that this is the sole purpose for anyone to participate should be prepared to readjust their beliefs. And even if it is, competing with the best should inspire them to think and to work harder, not to concentrate on how "unfair" material differences are.

[~Cory~]

I think that FTC adequately solves this problem. FTC is very fair in terms of external resources

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by ~Cory~

I think that FTC adequately solves this problem. FTC is very fair in terms of external resources

FTC now allows unlimited machining. FTC used to be fair in this regard (especially back in the Vex days), but now there's little in the rules stopping the high resource team from beating the low resource team.

[Brandon Zalinsky]

I don't think it should be. Our team, 1058, is at a school 1400 kids strong. However, our team only consists of 7 returning members. However, there are teams in schools of a similar size, team 20, the Rocketeers, for example. They seem to bring 80 or more kids to each regional. Not that it's a bad thing- there is just too much variability between team and school size.