First and Lego Education Partnership Update • Hacker News Board

Re: First and Lego Education Partnership Update

#21

Post by mikegreenberg » Mon, Mar 23, 2026, 7:04 PM UTC

MrDarcy wrote: post #13

syntaxing wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What a bummer. FIRST robotics was a big part of why I’m an engineer today.

I was a mentor for an all girls high school FIRST team and I have to say, the way they were treated at competition by other teams and the way the organization handled that sexual objectification of them at competition leads me to a “that checks out” conclusion of Kamen and Epstein. Culture propagates from the top.

I am currently a mentor and previously a judge and volunteer for many years at regional events. In all my years I have never seen anything remotely like sexual objectification. I obviously can't know your experience but I would be very very surprised to find this occurring... especially at competitions.

I believe this implication goes against core values of the org and certainly it's local volunteers. I have no skin here except to defend a program that is doing amazing work. My kids are participants and I have contributed to the org for more than 10y.

Just offering some more anecdata for passers-by.

Re: First and Lego Education Partnership Update

#22

Post by mindslight » Mon, Mar 23, 2026, 7:08 PM UTC

MrDarcy wrote: post #13

syntaxing wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What a bummer. FIRST robotics was a big part of why I’m an engineer today.

I was a mentor for an all girls high school FIRST team and I have to say, the way they were treated at competition by other teams and the way the organization handled that sexual objectification of them at competition leads me to a “that checks out” conclusion of Kamen and Epstein. Culture propagates from the top.

How did you rule out the much simpler explanation that the culture propagates from the hormones of high school boys, and going against that is a hard problem? You're going to have to be explicit about the details of "the way the organization handled that", as the obvious assumption is that they'd be stuck between a rock and a hard place trying to post-facto punish at the organizational level (as opposed to proactive policies for team mentors to follow going forward).

Re: First and Lego Education Partnership Update

#23

Post by hellisothers » Mon, Mar 23, 2026, 8:01 PM UTC

I was a coach the last two years for this and I found the FIRST program to not be productive or enjoyable for the children or the adults. We all joined for the robotics but 75% of your score is not about robotics, fully 50% is about displays and presentations. On top of that, as others have alluded to, the missions rewarded brute force attempts at perfect replays as opposed to problems solving and didn't get into some of the more interesting sensors available. Add to that the upcoming year is focused on inclusion by relying on vibe coding so which is the opposite direction they should be going.

I hope Lego can find a partner more focused on the robotics and not the pageantry and performance.