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Importance of struggle in life
The negative effects participation trophies have on young kids
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A man is working at a law firm He takes a case and he losses. He never had any chance. But he celebrates none the less, he congratulates his co workers for working hard and goes out and celebrates like they won. Why? Because winning isn't everything. Trying your best is what's most important. This lesson was instilled in him at a very early age when he got a participation trophy for working hard and trying his best. Across the country the debate of whether kids should get trophies has brought up conversation.
Some say that participation trophies should be given out because they praise working hard and working with your team. Some say that they should not be given out because they give kids what they want even though they are not the best and that in real life you will not get a participation trophy for just trying. I
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believe that giving everybody trophies is the right answer for kids ages 7 and below. I believe this because it teaches kids to value working hard and working as a team, and they encourage kids to play sports. I believe that giving everybody a trophy teaches kids about working hard and working as a team.
When a child goes out to go play tee ball one year, let's say he does not get a participation trophy. Than the next year he tries his best works hard, but he still want that trophy so he starts yelling and being disrespectful to his teammates. That is the last thing that you want in your 7 year old, especially since he will work with peers to accomplish a goal all of his life. If you give him a trophy, the message is very clear. You did a good job and you worked hard. If you tell children this, their easily impressionable young minds will cling to the idea that hard work is rewarded. Now people say that hard work is not always rewarded, and that you do not always succeed in life by working hard,but that is false. If you are trying out for a baseball team and you get on the team but you never play,but the coach sees you out there everyday working hard and supporting your teammates, if any of your teammates get injured or can not make the games, you will be the first person they call up. Winning is fun, but having respect and working hard is
necessary. Participation trophies should be handed out because they encourage kids to play sports. Sports are incredibly powerful. For example if someone's family is in poverty they can live their life on the streets causing trouble and following in the footsteps of their peers or they could play sports, keeping them out of trouble. Little kids will not think about instric things, such as the pride of winning, they think of material items such as trophies. Sports can be incredibly lifesaving, but kids under ages seven will not be thinking about getting better or improving. And sometimes keeping them away from a life or trouble is more important than teaching them a petty lesson This is an incredibly debated issue. There are so many counterarguments to this position. One is that it inflates the kids own sense of their self importance. The idea is that by everybody getting a trophy, that they will think that wherever they go they will get rewarded. This is completely false. I grew up getting participation trophies for my sports, but I always work hard and do not at all think that I will be rewarded for everything I do. I thought that the trophies were cool, and I had fun while doing it. Had I not got a trophy every year would I still have played, probably not. Nowadays of course I would have kept playing, but that is why you ingrained these lessons when any negative lessons will bring tears to kids ideas. You want them to be happy and in no way will they think their better than everybody else. In fact participation trophies level the playing field by saying that everybody's the same, and that no one is better than anyone else. And in Tee-ball this is basically true. I think that everybody should get participation trophies because they encourage hard work and get children to play. It is possible these sports will be memories for the rest of their lives. They will remember working with their teammates, and the trophies that encouraged them to keep coming out there and trying their best. Some people are athletically gifted while others are not, but that does not mean that these memories of winning an getting a trophy should only be for some
About one year ago, I played on a Pburg Liners basketball team. It was the championship game and we really wanted to win, but we did not play well, so as a result, we lost. After the game, our coach gave us all trophies. On the other hand , I was thinking, did we actually deserve them. Apparently, some people think that everyone should get a participation trophy. However, people strongly believe not everyone should get a trophy. People believe this because kids who only show up to some practices and do not try hard should definitely not get the same recognition as a person who shows up to all of the practices and works really hard. It teaches kids that young kids have to
Children shouldn't be given participation trophies, this can cause false sense of confidence and it can make them expect to always be a winner in life. This can affect them every day not everyone will nail that job interview or win the game and it will be hard on them not being able to except that they lost or couldn't do it. You don't get paid to just show up at a job, you have to work. You don't win by showing up to the hockey
L. Hefferman’s article “ In Defense of Participation Trophies: Why they really do teach the right values?” it states “ An award is not really an award if everyone gets it.” (Today.com) In another article by Ashley Merryman called “Losing is Good For You” it says “Awards can be a powerful motivators but nonstop recognition does not inspire children to succeed. Instead, it can cause them to underachieve.” (New York Times Sept. 2013) It is clear, by not giving participation awards it make the children who do get awarded feel more special than if everyone gets one. Obviously, not giving participation awards to everyone gives more of a boost of self-esteem to the people who do get
Our society has shifted its beliefs in how we should treat competition in young people. The question is asked, should all kids get a participation trophy? As it may seem to be an unanswerable question, it honestly isn’t. Thought that the participation trophies may send the message that “coaches” value the kids’ efforts despite their abilities, trophies do not need to be given out. Your words mean just as much when you remind an athlete that you value them in more ways than one. Some may think trophies are a great idea because it shows that everyone’s a “winner.” However, I disagree with that idea. I believe that kids should know that they need to work their hardest in order to be rewarded and understand that not
Every kid on the football field has a trophy. Even the kids who are on the losing team. Kids’ and parents’ faces are bright with smiles, and laughter echoes throughout the field. Kids are showing off their miny trophies, each with a bronze football on them. No one is paying attention to the two feet tall, gold, first place trophy that is in the winning team’s coach’s hand. Everybody is focused on the miniature trophies. Why are these trophies so special? These are participation trophies. Every kid gets one just for participatcuing in a game. Kids started getting participation trophies in the 20th Century. They got the trophies to feel more confident about themselves. Trophies should not be given to every kid because of narcissism increase,
Some argue that participation trophies are going to be the downfall of society and human life in general. That is not the case but, there are many downsides of these awards, in this essay a few of these will be brought to attention. Participation trophies do not teach children valuable lessons.
According to researcher and author of “Top Dog: The Science of Winning and Losing,” Ashley Merryman says “having studied recent increases in narcissism and entitlement among college students, (she) warns that when living rooms are filled with participation trophies, it’s part of a larger cultural message: to succeed, you just have to show up.” She also says “if children know they will automatically get an award, what is the impetus for improvement? Why bother learning problem-solving skills, when there are never obstacles to begin with?” She goes on to say handing out trophies undermines kids’ success: “The benefit of competition isn’t actually winning”. Another author says “when you’re constantly giving a kid a trophy for everything they’re doing, you’re saying, ‘I don’t care about improvement. I don’t care that you’re learning from your mistakes. All we expect is that you’re always a winner’” (Ross). These particiation trophies have many negative effects that can make these children less succesful in competitive enviornments: such as college or in the work force. It will also make them less prepared for an independent life after leaving
A participation trophy can help a child's drive to improve. When a child plays a game and loses, but then watches the other team get a trophy they feel that they suck and won't try to improve. Once they get a participation trophy they make the child feel like they did good and that next time if they get better they will get a bigger trophy for winning and not losing. For instance, “Further, studies also tell us that children who participate in sports get better…”(Huffington 1). This exemplifies that children who participate feel the drive to get better at the sport. When inferring that since they participated they are getting an award if makes them feel like they did good, and then they want to get even better to get a better reward. Thus making the kids get better at the sport showing that participation trophies are beneficial to children, but there are more opportunities to show how they are
Determining whether to award participation trophies or not is a controversial issue in America today. Surprisingly, most people are in favor of not awarding participation trophies to children because of the negative outcomes. A solution that is suggested to solving the problem is to ensure both the winning and losing team a trophy. Conversely, when both teams receive a trophy this defeats the purpose of even playing the game. Children are smart enough to know if they won or lost a game, and by letting each team receive a trophy it creates confusion for children. If a child is rewarded with a plaque after a loss, this could cause confusion for a child because he or she might not understand the purpose of the plaque. Several children understand that while competing there is only one true winner, and by giving both teams awards this creates a false sense of how sports actually maneuver. As children grow old enough to play for their school’s team, they will quickly learn that only teams who win are awarded trophies. Teaching children how a sport operates at a young age could help children comprehend sports better and sooner. Children should not be given participation trophies because the winning effort should be awarded, each sport is a competition, and children deserve proper feedback.
Merryman, an author of two books pertaining to her objective somewhat promoting an ethos appeal, is against the use of participation trophies. Her objective is to rid the role these objects have in a child’s life in regards to how they might view losing. The audience she reaches out toward is any adult who is affiliated with children. To
The maxim “trying is the important thing” will only lead to laziness and complacency in life. Trying is very important in being successful, but there are many more important things that are necessary for success. Parents try to boost their children’s self-esteem and make their children happy by giving them participation medals, but this is actually counter-productive. Larger and larger amounts of medals and trophies are given for increasingly smaller achievements, and this “everybody’s a winner” mentality can make children grow up to expect success and recognition for a mediocre performance. Children may be led to underachieve and not try their best, which may lead to idleness and lack of achievement in the truly competitive environment of
But by doing this, it can also send a wrong message to kids who get them for not winning. They could think that these trophies are given for everyone. One quote from the article called “Should Everyone Get a Trophy” by Lauren Tarshis say’s,”But some experts suggest that giving trophies to everyone sends the wrong message. In life, most people are not awarded for simply doing what’s required.” So this tells that giving trophies for every child can tell them something other than what others want them to know. Another quote from the same article states,”An employee doesn’t get a raise just to arriving to work on time. Shouldn’t only the hardest working or the highest performing athletes get the accolades.”This message is what trophies try to tell kids but they can’t because people keep giving these awards to everyone just for
“If everyone is special, no one is. If everyone gets a trophy, trophies become meaningless.” This was a quote said by David McCullough Jr. in his famous You’re Not Special speech. This quote is very true about the great participation trophy debate. This debate has been going on for a long time and has still not been settled. While participation trophies help boost the confidence of non-winners, participation trophies are useless because no one will be motivated to get better of everyone has trophies and trophies cost a lot of money to make.
Rich Lowry, the author of the op-ed “No Trophy for You”, states that giving effort and participating should be reward enough. He goes on to tell about his Little League experience, without trophies, and how it taught him a valuable lesson: sometimes your best is not enough. Lowry saw a post from James Harrison, a NFL quarterback, that
When you were a kid, did you get participation trophies right and left, just for being on the team? If so, now that you’re older, do you regret being handed those trophies or are you glad you got them? A debate has recently flared about whether or not participation trophies should be given at sporting events. I can understand both sides and see why they think what they do, therefore I remain undecided.