Are all girl FIRST team counterproductive to the philosophy of FIRST?

[CallieJ]

Originally Posted by Phcullen

Again I would like to state that I do not include teams based out of already exclusive groups like schools and scouts.

Just out of curiosity-- are there many all-female teams that are not based out of a school or Girl Scouts?

Those are the only two groups I have ever run into that support all-girls teams, and the only Girl Scout team I've ever met is our own (I know there was another Girl Scout FRC team in Austin on 2009 and 2010 but I don't think they're operational this year).

If so, are these teams more common in other parts of the country? Does anyone have any reason why that might be? The last regional my team attended there were only 3 all-female teams out of ~55 teams, and two of those were from Catholic high schools (the other one was us).

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by CallieJ

(I know there was another Girl Scout FRC team in Austin on 2009 and 2010 but I don't think they're operational this year).

If you are talking about the Lady Cans, FRC 2881, they competed at Lone Star this year.

Jane

[SGS]

Originally Posted by CallieJ

Just out of curiosity-- are there many all-female teams that are not based out of a school or Girl Scouts?

Those are the only two groups I have ever run into that support all-girls teams...

3103 Iron Plaid from Houston, but we are based out of a school.

[ZipTie3182]

Athena's Warriors, team 3182 from CT is an all girls team not sponsored through a school for those who were wondering if we existed We also are all female mentored except for one mentor who is the husband of one of our female mentors. We were founded by the Women of Innovation group.

As the Co-Captain of our team, I can say that many or even most of the girls on our team would not have joined if it had been a co-ed team, myself included. Two years ago when I found out about the team, I really had no interest (or no idea of my interest) in robotics. I've always loved technology, but my knowledge was limited mostly to graphic design. Now, I am the co-captain of my team and robotics is really my life. I don't know what I would do without it truthfully. I spend most of my free time researching new ideas for our robot or reading chief delphi for hints. Let me say I was really intimidated when I first began reading as last year was our rookie year and all the technical terms on here made my head hurt. Now though, I have learned enough to keep up, one of the things I am most proud of

Robotics was never something I would have considered before, and now I want to be an engineer.

I could never say having an exclusively female team is wrong, because frankly my team has changed my life so drastically.


-Anna

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber

I agree with your second point but question why you put it in this post as opposed to the hundreds of others that are just as bad that you have responded to without this question.

In this case, the OP (original poster) created this thread. It takes time and effort to create a thread in ChiefDelphi. The topic that this OP is presenting also takes time and effort to think about and decide to create a thread about. (That's my opinion, of course - I realize that some people create threads without giving them much thought.) By using capitalization in the sentences and proper punctuation, the OP brings more credibility to the topic. It is a topic that I enjoy reading discussions about and I enjoy thoughtful posts regarding the topic of women in the fields of math, science, and engineering and girls on FRC/FTC/FLL/VEX/BEST teams that will help to increase the numbers of women in the fields of math, science, and engineering.

I hope this answered your question, Andrew. If not, let's take it to a private message.

Jane

[caffel]

Originally Posted by JaneYoung

In this case, the OP (original poster) created this thread. It takes time and effort to create a thread in ChiefDelphi. The topic that this OP is presenting also takes time and effort to think about and decide to create a thread about. (That's my opinion, of course - I realize that some people create threads without giving them much thought.) By using capitalization in the sentences and proper punctuation, the OP brings more credibility to the topic. It is a topic that I enjoy reading discussions about and I enjoy thoughtful posts regarding the topic of women in the fields of math, science, and engineering and girls on FRC/FTC/FLL/VEX/BEST teams that will help to increase the numbers of women in the fields of math, science, and engineering.

I hope this answered your question, Andrew. If not, let's take it to a private message.

Jane

By the way, what is your answer to OP's question:
Re: Are all girl FIRST team counterproductive to the philosophy of FIRST?

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by caffel

By the way, what is your answer to OP's question:
Re: Are all girl FIRST team counterproductive to the philosophy of FIRST?

My answer is: absolutely not.

There is a word that I value and place great emphasis on when mentoring teams and individuals: freedom. We have the freedom to develop as teams and as individuals. We have the freedom to grow. We have the freedom to mature into creative forces of genius, innovative, problem-solving, and dynamic influence that changes our world in small and large ways - for the better. If we remove the freedom and create cookie cutter molds that set very rigid boundaries and create monotonous patterns/designs - then we are being counterproductive - in my opinion. Let's allow the freedom to grow and develop to be encouraged. Let's see what the next 20 years brings.

My hope is that the alumni take what they've learned, nurtured by the philosophy, and inject it into the status quo - in their careers, their educational experiences, their management styles, their small and large businesses/corporations, their professional lifestyles. This would include opportunity for everyone to achieve and be successful, conducting business through the wisdom and merit of Gracious Professionalism and integrity.

Jane

[Foster]

In that other thread are some great posts by the girls on the teams and by Faridodin “Fredi” Lajvardi, co-mentor of team 842.

I am as competitive as the next guy, but I also know and believe that it really isn't about the robots. Its just the gimmick used to get all of us together to celebrate math, science and technology in a venue that has proven to be a successful model, sports.
...
One side note to all this, as a mentor I saw how teams and people treated us differently between being co-ed to all girls.

We have three "all-girl" teams out of our 15 VEX teams. They do a great job and they have a slight edge on the boys teams because they do a better job of listening to each other. One of the teams has a woman mentor, the other two have men. The teams are some of our strongest and they do know their robots. So in this case, it's not counter productive to have all-girls teams.

I agree with Fredi, it's not about the robots, but about the other stuff.

[JaneYoung]

In that thread, which is a valuable read, please also note how long it took for the girls on the team to post their thoughts. When they did, they did so very thoughtfully and very carefully, making sure that we, their readers, understood what they experienced and what their thoughts were regarding that experience.

Jane

[treffk]

Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber

I do have to wonder what the reaction would be if the roles were reversed, what would have happened if the OP had asked if all male teams should be allowed? Or if teams were allowed to discriminate against students who have learning disabilities or who don't speak English?

At the GKC regional this year there was an all-male team. It was a all male military school. I'm sure there are many more all-male teams in situations like that too.

Although, I do support single gender teams especially within Girl Scouts because they are focusing on introducing the girls into technology. There are single gender schools that also have teams. Do you think they should combine with another single gender teams of the opposite sex?

[nitneylion452]

Originally Posted by treffk

Although, I do support single gender teams especially within Girl Scouts because they are focusing on introducing the girls into technology. There are single gender schools that also have teams. Do you think they should combine with another single gender teams of the opposite sex?

I find it interesting that you would bring this up, and that I would read this. The situation which you described is very similar to what my team did. We are from an all-boys Catholic high school. For our first year, we were an all boys team. Over the summer, we opened membership to a local all-girls Catholic high school. Currently, we have about 2 or 3 active members from the girls school.

When we first opened membership, there was a very good response. Roughly 30 or 40 girls showed up to our "orientation" meeting, which we held to get the girls ready for an all girls competition hosted by the Firebirds (FIRST Team
433). About 10 of those girls showed up to the competition, which was about all we had enough room for. Since then, we haven't seen most of those girls (many of whom admitted to their friends that they showed up for the boys. Who can blame them? We've got some fine looking gentlemen on our team! ).

[N7UJJ]

Generally, because of our culture, girls do not enter high school with the same technical skill set (power tools, mechanics, etc) that boys do and male mentors value. As a result, girls, generally, lack the experience that would allow them to excel in a relatively short time. Males, culturally, have a great advantage entering engineering fields.

The 842 "We Left the Boys at Home" showed how quickly the girls learned with the experience of designing, maintaining our robot at a competition.

I emailed the girls who were on that team to read this thread. Most of them have or are about to graduate with an engineering degree. Hopefully, some will share their experiences.

We are also dong research on gender distribution in engineering education, engineering companies, and FIRST competitions. While we had not completed our study, the U.S. has a lot of "culture changing" to do before women are equals in STEM education and employment. While FIRST actively seeks to attract women and minorities into FIRST teams and STEM, it is obvious that women are not yet on par with men in their numbers nor their responsibilities on teams, and in FIRST itself.

So what can we do to "change the culture" so more females will participate? I think an all girls team is a great experiment.

[Phcullen]

Originally Posted by N7UJJ

The 842 "We Left the Boys at Home" showed how quickly the girls learned with the experience of designing, maintaining our robot at a competition.

I emailed the girls who were on that team to read this thread. Most of them have or are about to graduate with an engineering degree. Hopefully, some will share their experiences.

thank you i hope they do too.

Originally Posted by Chris is me

Apparently now it's popular to attack all girls teams

I am not attacking any teams and i hope nobody else here is. i am just proposing a thought i have not seen this presented anywhere before bur according to you it has come up before so maybe this is worth thinking about.

As for student vs. mentor built robots. Please keep this out of my thread i would like this to keep on subject.

[Phcullen]

Originally Posted by JaneYoung

Name some teams that are all girls teams that are formed solely to exclude boys. Do you know of any?

Also, does it hurt to use capitalization in your sentences? Just asking...

Jane

team 3504 was givin the funding by CMU to have an all girls team. im not saying they are there to exclude boys and i agree that maybe it is a more comfortable situation for girls to have that environment. but i think that teams should be open

[purpleandplasma]

i am a girl, and i agree. however, i know from personal experiences that girls have gotten less respect on our team just because we are girls. I have fought for it, and now, after what the 11th week of the season, we are finally treated equal. so i can see the point were they are promoting girls in engineering fields and trying to gain that respect (trust me, starting an all girls team just to get some respect for all the girls on our team has crossed my mind a few times) but it is counter productive as to that first is for everyone