Alfie Kohn The Case Against Competition

1627 Words4 Pages

Emilie Kennedy
Professor Serfling
Composition 1
10 December 2015
Dream to Compete According to Dictionary.com the definition of competition is, “the activity or condition of competing.” In order to succeed, people must compete. Competition can bring out the best in everyone. During a single day, people in some way compete with themselves or with others. For most children, sports are their favorite time of day. Going to practice and pushing oneself to get better, studying at night to make sure you ace the test, practice questions for the interview tomorrow, and working an extra shift for a few extra dollars to spend on nicer clothes are all examples of common competition. Throwing the best party, working the hardest, and winning are components of being the best. Competition is part of the everyday life, not something ignorable. Recent studies are showing that competition is not good for a child’s health or mind. As listed above competition is found in every aspect of life. Within a work staff, a classroom, even a friends group, competition is always there. On another note, children will not grow to be strong independent adults without competition in their everyday life. As humans we cannot ignore competition because it is so relevant to our everyday lives. Studies are …show more content…

According to Alfie Kohn in “The Case Against Competition,” “Most of us were raised to believe that we do our best work when we’re in a race — that without competition we would all become fat, lazy, and mediocre.” Ultimately, this has a bad perception on competition. Not all competition is athletically related. Of course, there is competition in fitness. Starting in elementary school, children take a physical education test to see how many sit-ups or pushups they could do, and it was always your goal to be the best in the class. Competition is also present in school and against

Open Document