Petition to Diminish Mentor Involvement

[MentorForChange]

Please sign the following petition to disallow mentors from going on to the field of play at FRC competitions. This includes not just drive coaching, but strategy, on field repair, etc. More details are included on the petition site. Thank you.

Link to petition

[AdamHeard]

This has to be a troll job....

[PayneTrain]

[MentorForChange]

No, I'm just a concerned mentor. I would ask that you take the time to at least consider my viewpoint by viewing the petition and the description. Whether or not you choose to sign it is on you.

Description found on the petition site:

Originally Posted by Petition

The FIRST Robotics Competition, founded in 1992 by inventor Dean Kamen, is a robotics competition for students in grades 9-12. Students have 6 weeks to respond to a design challenge and fabricate a robot to compete against other teams from around the world, culminating in the FIRST Championship held annually in St. Louis.

Unfortunately, the competition, which is meant to introduce students to STEM and establish a fair playing field for all teams, currently allows heavy mentor involvement on the field of play. Mentor involvement, while important in the build process, is unacceptable on the field, regardless of intent. Strategy and coaching from mentors should be completed before the match and not during the competition. Allowing mentors onto the field of play diminishes the goals of FRC.

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by MentorForChange

No, I'm just a concerned mentor. I would ask that you take the time to at least consider my viewpoint by viewing the petition and the description. Whether or not you choose to sign it is on you.

I think regardless of intent, you're petitioning the incorrect president.

[Deke]

Originally Posted by PayneTrain

I think regardless of intent, you're petitioning the incorrect president.

+1

We do not need any more regulations from the government, especially ones restricting the awesome program FIRST is.

Why not bring this suggestion to FIRST? It seems like this is trying to above and around what is in place already.

[Anupam Goli]

Originally Posted by Infinity2718

+1

We do not need any more regulations from the government, especially ones restricting the awesome program FIRST is.

Why not bring this suggestion to FIRST? It seems like this is trying to above and around what is in place already.

Let's not bring politics into this, but if he wants to bring this up with FIRST, emailing FIRST HQ or asking Frank might be the way to do it.

Regardless of all of that, I think FIRST has made it clear through their ambiguity and refusal to address the mentor vs student nonsense that it honestly is up to the team to decide how much the mentors should be involved. Many times have people complained and emailed FIRST about mentors being coaches and on the field, etc, but many times FIRST has ignored or gone the other way and promoted mentor involvement on the field.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Recognize that the FIRST Robotics Competition is not a science fair and mentors should be required to work beside students.

The FIRST Robotics Competition, founded in 1992 by inventor Dean Kamen, is a robotics competition for pre-college students. Teams have 6 weeks to respond to a design challenge and fabricate a robot to compete against other teams from around the world, culminating in the FIRST Championship held annually in St. Louis.

Unfortunately, the competition, which is meant to introduce students to STEM and establish a fair playing field for all teams, currently allows minimal mentor involvement on the field of play. Mentor involvement, while important in the build process, is is significantly more important on the field as dealing with high pressure situations is an important teaching moment. Not requiring mentors to be present on the field of play diminishes the goals of FRC by forcing students to face a stressful situation alone and unguided.

Bolded was changed.

[MentorForChange]

Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber

Bolded was changed.

...by forcing students into stressful situations, so that they can make mistakes and learn from them, just as in building robots and engineering in general.

[Steven Donow]

Originally Posted by MentorForChange

...by forcing students into stressful situations, so that they can make mistakes and learn from them, just as in building robots and engineering in general.

But what if a student makes a mistake and gets so disenchanted through FIRST that they no longer have any interest whatsoever in STEM because they think they're horrible at it?


Oh, I almost forgot



It's that time of year again

[g_sawchuk]

Originally Posted by MentorForChange

...by forcing students into stressful situations, so that they can make mistakes and learn from them, just as in building robots and engineering in general.

I think that without guidance it is hard to learn anything, and that is the problem. Imagine that you've never gone swimming before, and have no idea how to swim. Would you prefer that someone just chucks you in the lake, or would you prefer if someone was there to aid you when you need help, and let you go when you don't need help?
Mentors give team members the guidance they need and steer them into the right direction.

[Nick Lawrence]

Right. We do something like this, we'll have a field full of these:



How inspiring is that?

-Nick

[bkahl]

Originally Posted by MentorForChange

...by forcing students into stressful situations, so that they can make mistakes and learn from them, just as in building robots and engineering in general.

By forcing students into stressful situations where they have no guidance and don't know what to do?

I have been in situations like this and let me be the first, and definitely not the last, to say they are not fun. Being around my mentors gives me confidence to speak up, because I know they will have my back and answer any question I may have.

[protoserge]

I agree with Andrew's assessment. As a student 10 years ago, I'm glad we had mentors on the field.

If mentor involvement wasn't acceptable, FIRST would put it in the rules.

There is no such rule.

Oh, and...

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by MentorForChange

...by forcing students into stressful situations, so that they can make mistakes and learn from them, just as in building robots and engineering in general.

With mentor support.

Just like in engineering in general. (replace mentor with peer)