I understand your frustration, I've been there. I would say there's ton of educational gains from the UIL marching process. Learning how to win and lose with respect is a valuable educational experience. Being part of a team is educational. Heck, listening to critiques and making adjustments to become better musicians and marchers is educational. It's like anything. It's how you approach it that ultimately makes it valuable or not. Being on the side of having groups be successful now in the process I see the really good sides of it. Having been on the other side of not doing well I understand the frustration. UIL is continually looking at modernizing the process to ultimately make itself more like a BOA or USSBA situation. It's looking to be as educationally significant as possible. I applaud the UIL office for continuously attempting to provide some of the best foundations for music education in the entire world.