The guys graciously let the girls go to the San Diego Regionals alone giving the girls the chance to do all the aspects of a regional event. After the event the girls went to Mission Beach. Most of them have never seen the ocean. Needless to say, they learned a lot while iproving the bot for the co-ed team for when they compete next in Las Vegas.
I would really like to know how your team decided to do this. Was it by vote?
And what did everyone learn?
Jane
Thats cool that you have enough girls on the team to do something like that. If we did that, we wouldnât have enough for drivers and human players.
Chris
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I donât mean to muck up the forum⌠But to me, this seems kind of sexistâŚ
Telling boys that they canât compete is just as bad as telling girls that they canât compete. To me, this just simply seems wrong.
Unless of course your team was from an all-girls school, in which case, only students from your school have an opportunity to participate. This would make sense to me.
Not meaning to start a war,
Jacob
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The guys graciously let the girls go to the San Diego Regionals alone giving the girls the chance to do all the aspects of a regional event. After the event the girls went to Mission Beach. Most of them have never seen the ocean. Needless to say, they learned a lot while iproving the bot for the co-ed team for when they compete next in Las Vegas.
The title is a joke. The boys stayed home by their own will and the girls went alone.
No need to get upset.
If you click on the picture above, it brings you to where the picture is on CD media. Under the picture there you can see what was typed above. That blurb should probably be posted with the picture in threads of forums in the future.
Thanks. I would still like to know how they all decided that together as team.
While it may seem sexist I think it i a very good thing for the team to do. It gives the girls a chance to try new things and do jobs that are not what they may be used to. She also said that the boys and girls will be there to compete at the other events so its not like they arnât getting a turn.
I guess the word, generosity, comes to my mind. Or adventure.
âLetâs try thisâ kind of thing. Everyone always wants to travel, to go to the regional or competition. So this, to me, is like thinking outside of the box and then going with it. If that makes senseâŚ
I read this before I posted, but I still, again, personally, disagree. If every boy on the team had said that they were OK not going except for 1, would they have let him go? (I donât know the answer to this question. Again, I am jumping in in the middle, but it seems odd that ALL of the boys on a team would give up their spot. But thatâs just me and my opinion. I am sure that others disagree.
This is assuming that it would not be allowed for girls to do certain jobs on the team. I know that I would be quite angry if I couldnât go to 1/3 events, simply to let someone else have a shot at MY job, just because they are of a different gender.
I hate to be a nuisance, but I really donât like discrimination, as I have been a victim of it in the past, on several accounts.
Jacob
I would gladly give up my job for someone else if they were enthusiastic about doing it. Its not âMYâ job its the teams job, everyone is entitled to try it if its what they desire. I donât think it is the spirit of first to limit someone from doing something they want just because you think it belongs to you.
I suppose so, but, say, for instance, Myself and another student (a male) programmed the robot. Lets say that no girls on my team showed interest in programming before, but now at the competition, a girl takes my seat on the plane. If she isnât qualified to program (or even knows how), what happens if the program needs to be modified? I personally belive that a seat should be won on merrit, not entitlement.
Jacob
i think that is a really cool idea, to have just the girls go somewhere. unfortunately, my team has four girls, but maybe sometime in the future we will have enough.
The team probably chose to do this in advance.In the time period between the decision and the trip is when it is your job to show the person or people interesed in your job how and what to do. FIRST is about teaching, learning and passing on knowledge. I think this i a great way to do it.
FIRST is like pizzaâyou and I might prefer different toppings, but thereâs no wrong way to do it.
If 842 feels that they can get their $4,000 worth by fielding an all-girls team for one of their regionals, Iâm more than willing to let them. Perhaps thereâs some benefit to going this route that weâre all missing.
I know that some schools are going that route. My old high school now has an all girls team(1929) in addition to their Co-ed team (555) which also has girls on it. Both teams show support for each other. I believe this year the Sciborgs(1155) from NY also did the same thing and support their all girl team the FeMaidens(2265).
Fielding an all female team for one event, because you can and not because you have to, seems to me like a pretty cool thing to do. Can someone from 842 provide an answer to Janeâs question?
I can understand the concerns that Jacob has raised in this thread. The answer to Janeâs question could help turn the thread back the intended topic and away from gender discrimination.
Well, just thinking about this a little bit -
FIRST is about changing the culture. Weâve heard that for many years.
To change a culture, one must begin by introducing ideas and concepts into it first. And, to change a culture begins with changing mindsets, one person at a time. Trying different things, different ideas as a team is part of the excitement and adventure, seeing where it leads.
Thatâs just a thought.
Edit: Sorry Richard, you posted and then I didâŚI can delete this post but I think it is ok, hopefully.
I had a chance to talk with several of the Team 842 members during the Las Vegas Regional. They told me about some of their experiences and what they learned with their all-female team. I hope someone from 842 posts here, and I wonât steal their thunder. But they learned some very interesting and positive lessons with this exercize. I applaud them for being willing to experiment with something different, and seeing if they could learn something new.
-dave
p.s. and on a related topic, the âDigitally Enhanced Scouting Systemâ that they developed absolutely kicks major posterior. I donât usually subscribe to Car-Nack-style predictions, but I am anticipating that over 80% of FRC teams will be using a variant of their system within two years. It is THAT good!
While I am not from 842 (they did help mentor us though), I understand enough of the dynamics of the team to say they are not really about the winning. They are such a powerhouse here in Arizona in terms of changing the culture. 842 has taken Deanâs homework VERY seriously and their outreach is very far reaching. I think that this is one of their ways to get all of the students involved in aspects of robotics that girls typically do not do. Iâm sure that a member of 842 will eventually show up to clarify, but I wanted to say they are a classy team and I thank them for helping my team get involved in FIRST!
Itâs not discrimination. Itâs not like they were forced out of it by the mentors and all of the girls. They agreed to this.
And Iâm sure it wasnât a majority vote. Iâm sure it was an all or nothing vote. Every boy on the team had to be fine with this. If anyone had a problem with it, they wouldnât go through with it. I would be upset too if I wasnât allowed to go, but weâve never met the boys on their team, we donât know what they are like.
Would it be a different story if the title was âWe left the girls at homeâ and it was a picture of all of the boys who went because the girls agreed not to?