Competition

After reading this article, I agree with Good and Brophy. They state that “if students become preoccupied with winning or losing the competitive activity, the may lose sight of important instructional objectives and content.” Students lose sight of the value of learning and become fixated on the rewards of winning. They also go on to say that those who end up losing can fall prone to losing interest in the subject at hand while being so focused on the competition.  I suppose that competition has its place in the educational context though. Children play games against each other, and that is competitive. Competition teaches humility and fairness. It can also teach children how to be good winners and losers, which, to me, is the most important thing that competition can teach child. Learning to overcome failure is important. I don’t mean that I want students to fail, but by experiencing the feeling of loss or failure, a student may feel more inclined to do their best and succeed. All in all, I think that students should experience healthy competition, but the competition should depend on the student’s age, and the subject matter.