A few years ago in school, I took part in a STEM program with a subject called “Research,” which included specializations in Biology, Physics, and Robotics. I chose Robotics and became somewhat of an expert among my batchmates. I studied hard and was often the one student who came to help them with their robotics-related projects.
One day, our teacher announced a national Robotics competition. Even though we had three months’ notice, the school hurried with preparations and decided to include students from all specialties, not just Robotics. They promised exemptions from certain subjects to train for the competition, giving one month for preparation and one month for building the robot that was going to compete.
Frustrated, I spoke with a friend who specialized in Biology and suggested to our teacher that only Robotics students, or at least those interested, should be considered, possibly through a quiz or internal contest. The teacher ignored our suggestion and moved forward with the draft.
Out of 10 students chosen, only 2 were from Robotics, and I wasn’t one of them. Ironically, the selected students began bombarding my DMs for help. I told my teacher I wouldn’t help them; it felt unfair to do the work while they received the credit. Again, the teacher dismissed my concerns, saying I was just upset that I wasn’t chosen.
In the end, the school’s participation got canceled due to lack of funding, and the messages stopped. Looking back at it, I wonder if my pride got the best of me. AITA for refusing to help?
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A few years ago in school, I took part in a STEM program with a subject called “Research,” which included specializations in Biology, Physics, and Robotics. I chose Robotics and became somewhat of an expert among my batchmates. I studied hard and was often the one student who came to help them with their robotics-related projects.
One day, our teacher announced a national Robotics competition. Even though we had three months’ notice, the school hurried with preparations and decided to include students from all specialties, not just Robotics. They promised exemptions from certain subjects to train for the competition, giving one month for preparation and one month for building the robot that was going to compete.
Frustrated, I spoke with a friend who specialized in Biology and suggested to our teacher that only Robotics students, or at least those interested, should be considered, possibly through a quiz or internal contest. The teacher ignored our suggestion and moved forward with the draft.
Out of 10 students chosen, only 2 were from Robotics, and I wasn’t one of them. Ironically, the selected students began bombarding my DMs for help. I told my teacher I wouldn’t help them; it felt unfair to do the work while they received the credit. Again, the teacher dismissed my concerns, saying I was just upset that I wasn’t chosen.
In the end, the school’s participation got canceled due to lack of funding, and the messages stopped. Looking back at it, I wonder if my pride got the best of me. AITA for refusing to help?
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> I’m doing a couple reflections and this is one of the thoughts that still confuses me to this day. that’s why I posted it
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Contest mode is 1.5 hours long on this post.
NTA. Something’s not adding up here. It was a robotic competition and they were sending students who were not interested in robotics and who had not developed any expertise in the field to it? Good grief! I hope that your teachers never get put in charge of hiring at any company….
NTA. It’s a specialised competition and would help your department more than anyone else’s. I am glad this got stopped because your school made a dumb ad decision to include everyone. I would understand if it was an in-school competition to boost morale. Also no, you were right to deny help, you don’t get credits so you don’t have to do the work. You’re not in a charity, even they get their names announced when they do something lol