It is interesting to sit in a teacher's lounge and listen to teachers talk at lunch. The other day, a government teacher that happens to be a coach, was speaking about a banquet that the sports program has every year. At this banquet, awards are given out for top performers. She informed us that every player gets a participation award. Sports to me symbolize the spirit of america. They are a competition that results in a winner and a loser. Participation awards seem to cheapen this competition. This shows that there are not really winners or losers, but everyone wins with a nice certificate after the season is over.
In the district that I work in these participation awards are called out and and handed to each student as if they were getting an MVP. When I was a kid I did not play that many sports, but I was involved in Tee ball and then in little league. My team was horrible. Each time we lost it taught us about being a good sport and making sure that we were prepared for the wins and the loses in the future. This teaches us something. It is this compeditive spirit that we should embrace. Instead, we try to make everyone feel better. Our grandparents, or in some cases our parents, fought in a war to help keep us free. There was no consolation prize. No participation trophy for participating in the war. Only winners and losers.
This spirit of competition echoes in the halls of some of the greatest schools in the country. Where would Harvard be without competition, or UT. In K-12 education, we often look to see what the charter and the magnate schools are doing. The root of this success is good teachers and competition. People have to apply to get in. The process of getting into the school means that you really have to want it. Having the winners and the losers out of that makes the kids feel better when they get in, but it also breeds investment. Children are invested and so are their parents. Their parents then look at it as an oppertunity and push their kids harder. This parental investment is part of the keys to success for a child in school.
Not everyone can get into a charter school. This I believe is the future though. How much more investment would parents have if their kids had to apply to a high school? This is how europe does it, and combine it with a program that either prepares the child for a college level education, or prepares them for a vocational persuit. To solve the woes of the educational system, we have to play to our strengths, competition.
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