Claim: As a kid, did you ever receive a participation trophy? Do you still have that trophy, probably not? Instead of giving kids meaningless awards when they lose, we should teach them how to show good sportsmanship. When we give children participation awards, it gives them the false implication that in life, everybody wins. At some point, we must show them that sometimes, even if you want something, you might not get it. Understandably, parents and coaches want it to be fair to all the kids, but it gives children the idea that they don't have to work hard or try because they will get the reward no matter what. It's not fair to the kids that win, either. They put in all this effort just to get the same reward as the kids who put in half as …show more content…
What happens when kids get older, and they don't get these trophies anymore? They won't know how to lose, most likely resulting in children acting out. They won't understand how to lose grace. It is equally as difficult for the winners because they might not understand how to win with humility. They could intentionally, or unintentionally, brag about their winning and only make the other team feel worse. "These shiny bits of plastic have been blamed for creating an entitled generation," says Lisa Heffernan. They created groups of kids who don't know how to properly win or lose. Based on the fact that they feel like they never have. Support 2: At some point in their lives, kids will have to come to terms with the fact that not everybody can win. Instead of trying to teach that fact to a spoiled teenager, why not teach it at a young age? There are no participation trophies in life, and if you want something, you have to work for it. If you want to go to a good college, get good grades. If you want to be in varsity football, practice consistently. Nothing is ever handed to you. You're not going to be put on varsity just because you went to tryouts. In the article "Do we all deserve
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
Over the years, many sports leagues have given out participation trophies to young athletes. Today, a lot of leagues are no longer giving out trophies to everyone. Leagues should not give out participation trophies because it teaches kids that you don’t need to earn anything, ruins getting an award by not making it a special thing, and teaches young athletes that you will always win.
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
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.
Explanation Participation trophies are awards handed out for simply participating in an athletic event or program. These trophies are very common in youth athletics across the country and their effects on children have been debated for years. In many areas around the country, teams hand out thousands of trophies to children, and many of the children will receive more than one particiation trophy (Merryman). Arguments have been formed from both sides of these trophies and researchers have found beneficial and harmful effects on young athletes when given participation trophies.
Todays generation of kids have been crafted to expect praise for everyday tasks and have become entitled all because of something many people thought was harmless, participation trophies. If you ask anyone, they have probably recieved a participation trophy at least once in their life and some will think it was a good thing, but others may beg to differ. In my opinion participation trophies are a bad tool in life because it goes along and is a big part of the we are all winners concept. Trophies should be a symbol of accomplishing something not a symbol of participation in an activity and a few people have written about their opinion about this situation varying from critical writers, to college athletes from around the country here 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.
Rewards and trophies should only go to the children who are doing something and making themselves better at what they are passionate about doing.” Trophies used to be awarded only to winners but are now little more than party favor Reminders of an experience, not token of true achievement when awards are handed out like candy to every child who participates, they diminish in value.” Children just getting Participation trophies will make the other children that are taking the sport seriously look like they are doing nothing, also it makes the coaches look like they're not good at coaches because they are not good at coaching. the children that have the trophy will get more attention than the rest of the children. The children should get trophies, but they should not get them before the winners, the trophies should be given out last so their other kids can be honored before the others and then our trophies should be given to them.”
Imagine finishing in second place or not even making it into the quarterfinals, and then someone is handing out trophies to everyone anyway. This would give these people the wrong idea that they don’t need to win, since they’ll get rewarded either way. In the article, “Participation Trophies Send a Dangerous Message” by Betty Berden, she lists the cons of distributing participation trophies to younger people such as reducing competition, making winning less important, and giving off the misunderstanding that everyone is a winner. These are important factors to consider when deciding if it should be practiced. But according to some people, the only definitive positive is that handing out these awards grants a boost in self-esteem for younger
Some people may argue that kids should receive participation trophies, however some think they should not. Why should kids keep getting participation trophies if they did not win anything? In general sports there is only one winner they don't get participation trophies, so why should kids. Even though kids are young and have low self-esteem, not receiving a participation trophy can drive them to achieve one that is earned. Although some might think that kids should receive participation awards, what about?
Almost all kids have their walls lined with participation trophies they won for sports. Support for participation trophies has been increasing within the younger generation with the majority of people ages 18-24 supporting the idea that every kid should receive a participation trophy (Source 2). There are some benefits of giving out participation trophies to kids, including how they give kids an item to remember an experience by, however, the drawbacks of participation trophies far outweigh the benefits they provide. Participation trophies should not be handed out to kids as they don't teach kids lessons, they devalue hard work, and they promote bad attitudes in kids which overall harm them later in life. First, participation trophies don't teach
In recent years, awarding participation trophies to children has become increasingly common in youth sports and other activities. While the intention behind these trophies is to often boost the children’s self-esteem and encourage participation, there is a growing body of evidence to suggest that such trophies may have unintended negative consequences. This essay argues that children should not receive participation trophies as they can foster a sense of entitlement, undermine the value of genuine achievement, and hinder the development of important life skills. One of the main arguments against participation trophies is that they can foster a sense of entitlement in children. By receiving a trophy or reward simply for showing up or participating, children may come to expect recognition without putting in the effort or achieving any real success.
This proves that experts believe that participation trophies are awards for kids that don’t win and make it so that they don’t strive to win and improve their abilities. According to The Sun's Washington correspondent and sports reporter, Jeff Barker stated that kids need to learn to “take the good with the bad. ”(Baltimore Sun). This quote shows that kids need to be able to learn lessons and improve instead of being rewarded for making mistakes. Overall, if people want their kids to be the best or improve their skills participation trophies should not be given out.
Kids shouldn’t just receive awards for showing up to a practice or a game. They should although receive something, but the winners should be noticed and recognized by something more than a participation trophy. The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place should get a trophy saying 1st, 2nd, and 3rd but the other players should get like a certificate. “You have to win to get a trophy.” If you don’t give them anything for showing up it might make them feel bad about themselves. They might not want to show up anymore either. Kids will try harder to get awards for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd if there aren’t awards for just showing up. (Berdan, Betty)
However, people who have little to no interest in the sport and only show up to receive a trophy are taking away the true value of winning and hard work. If awards with no worth are the only way a child's self-esteem can be boosted, then maybe the parents are doing something wrong when teaching their children how the real world works. As stated in the article "Youth Sports: The Psychology of Winning and Losing", "if young athletes are taught that there can be value in losing and that winning isn't everything, their time spent playing sports will have a far better outcome and give them the skills and attitude to do better in life." So, how about we make kids go to practice and make them work hard to earn that trophy; don’t just let them think it should be handed to them. If an athlete truly enjoys a sport and is playing it for the right reasons, then having to attend