COMPETITION IN CHILDREN

WRITING:

Some people think that a sense of competition in children should be encouraged. Others

believe that children who are taught to co-operate rather than compete become more useful

adults.

Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.

Before jumping to the conclusion we should encourage a sense of competition in children or teach

them to co-operate to make them more useful adults, we should clarify the meaning of competition

and co-operation.

Initially, what is competition? Who are we and what are we doing when we are in competition?

Competition means my success is your failure. If I obtain my goal, then you don’t obtain yours. It is

essentially a "zero sums" game. Competition may be best described as a situation in which

individuals or teams strive against each other to obtain a goal that only one can ultimately achieve. In

a competition, one forces oneself to endure pain in the belief that it is the only way to get faster. On

race day, Competition is inevitable; it is human nature, one is fiercely focused. Having trained so

hard and made so many sacrifices, one wants to win, not just perform well... so, it’s not just winning

that one wants, but the opportunity to prove oneself; the challenge of the competition. In a nutshell,

Competition brings out the best in us, builds character and strengthens our esteem.

And, what is cooperation? Cooperative learning is an instructional strategy in which students

work together in groups that are carefully designed to promote positive interdependence cooperative

learning requires students to share ideas, take risks, disagree with and listen to others, and generate

and reconcile points of view. The task assignment is the crucial point in the formation of each group,

and some tasks (like problem solving and open ended problems) are more easily performed in group

than others Specifically, groups work according to implicit or explicit norms that regulate individual

contributions. Students need to be taught how to help others in group, and individual accountability is

essential to ensure generalized participation to cooperation. A cooperative learning approach may

usually emerge when competitive behavior is negatively evaluated by schoolmates, especially when

the class is more homogeneous in terms of student’s characteristics.

In my point of view, both competition and cooperation should be taught to children on behalf of

their usefulness Competition is a valuable experience for children as it can stimulate them to seek

personal improvement as well as learn discipline, persistence and chance to assert themselves.

Competition can help children to appreciate and value effort and excellence in themselves, their team

mates, and their opponents. Whereas, cooperative activity allows for individualized attention for low

achieving students, as well as providing an opportunity to high achievers to improve their

understanding of the subject while exposing to the group. In addition, they are more inclined to gain

recognition of their level of ability through competition in the class

In a nutshell, education is a preparation for life and in life presents both competition and

cooperation. So, children should be made to be familiar with them (453 words).,.