How 4 Mexican Immigrant Kids and Their Cheap Robot Beat MIT

[madokie]

I promise if you will take the time to go to this link and read this story you will be like me, right now, Very Proud you did. There is hope

Editor’s note: Ten years ago, WIRED contributing editor Joshua Davis wrote a story about four high school students in Phoenix, Arizona—three of them undocumented immigrants from Mexico—beating MIT in an underwater robot competition. That story, La Vida Robot, has a new chapter: Spare Parts, starring George Lopez and Carlos PenaVega, opens in January, and Davis is publishing a book by the same title updating the kids’ story. To mark that occasion, WIRED is republishing his original story.

The winter rain makes a mess of West Phoenix. It turns dirt yards into mud and forms reefs of garbage in the streets. Junk food wrappers, diapers, and Spanish-language porn are swept into the gutters. On West Roosevelt Avenue, security guards, two squad cars, and a handful of cops watch teenagers file into the local high school. A sign reads: Carl Hayden Community High School: The Pride’s Inside.

There certainly isn’t a lot of pride on the outside. The school buildings are mostly drab, late ’50s-era boxes. The front lawn is nothing but brown scrub and patches of dirt. The class photos beside the principal’s office tell the story of the past four decades. In 1965, the students were nearly all white, wearing blazers, ties, and long skirts. Now the school is 92 percent Hispanic. Drooping, baggy jeans and XXXL hoodies are the norm.

The school PA system crackles, and an upbeat female voice fills the bustling linoleum-lined hallways. “Anger management class will begin in five minutes,” says the voice from the administration building. “All referrals must report immediately.”

http://www.wired.com/2014/12/4-mexican-immigrant-kids-cheap-robot-beat-mit/

[orpupilofnature57]

1. That's the American Dream!!!!

[mia]

2. Nice story!

Thanks for sharing it!

[bvf]

3. Good story!

I'd like to think it would make a few heads blow up.

[Tanuki]

4. It is indeed a wonderful story, but

the deck was still stacked against those brilliant youngsters. At the end of the piece you can click a link to see what they are doing now. Due to socioeconomic and immigration status issues, they did not have the opportunities others in the mainstream culture take for granted. I would be interested in a similar update of what the MIT students they defeated are doing for a living ten years later, for comparison. It is insane that our nation is willing to squander the talents of people like the students in the story.

[bvf]

7. Appreciate your follow-up. n/t.

[cantbeserious]

5. Thank You For Sharing

eom

[Baitball Blogger]

6. Spare Parts. I will definitely see the movie.

[snooper2]

8. " The front lawn is nothing but brown scrub and patches of dirt."

Um, that is all of Phoenix LOL