Participation Trophies Research Paper

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A chubby, unathletic kid waddles his way around the basketball court in the fourth quarter of the championship game. He sees the best player on his team get a rebound so he runs down the court as fast as his stubby legs can carry him. The game is tied, 40-40, and the crowd starts chanting ten… nine… eight. Little Timmy sees the ball getting thrown to him. He catches it, a small joy for this budding basketball star, and gathers for his shot. Timmy shoots, suspense building in the crowd. Out of nowhere, an opposing player swats his shot into the third row, essentially losing the game for his team. Timmy doesn’t care, as he will get that shiny and beautiful plastic trophy. Some parents think participation trophies are great for kids, while others think they are bad. I believe that participation trophies are harmful to children, inhibiting their personal growth and overall happiness. There are a lot of reasons why participation trophies are bad for kids. Participation trophies give kids no reason or need to improve. If a child gets a trophy just for showing up, then they will probably not try as hard if they even go to practice at all. According to Men's Journal, kids may like getting praised but they will get more frustrated at the first sign of pressure …show more content…

Kelly Wallace of CNN states that parents overvaluing their kids can cause narcissism as well as superiority and entitlement (Website 4). These traits will definitely not help kids in the long run. In a New York Times article Ashley Merryman states, “Carol Dweck, a psychology professor at Stanford University, found that kids respond positively to praise; they enjoy hearing that they’re talented, smart and so on. But after such praise of their innate abilities, they collapse at the first experience of difficulty. Demoralized by their failure, they say they’d rather cheat than risk failing again.” (Website 2). Cheating is definitely not a good trait for a young

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