So, my writing teacher for this semester is a little strange. She is a complete hippie!! She intimidates me too. She does not do very good job of explaining the type of essay she wants us to write about, and when anybody asks for clarity she gets defensive and says "I not the one writing the essay!" Our first essay topic we were suppose to write about was competition. Before she handed our papers back she made a HUGE discussion on how appalled she was when she read them. She informed us that must of the students had achieved D's and F's. In my mind I was freaking out. I just knew that my paper, that I worked so hard on, would be one of them. When she called my name to retrieve the paper my heart sank. I grabbed it out of her hands and began going looking over it. She had a lot written on the papers. And there it was, on the last page, my grade. My paper was B+ material. I was so relieved!! So here it is......
Competition
In Alfie Kohn’s essay No -Win Situations he believes that competition is not a good thing. In fact he states that competition can cause “psychological problems (pg51) and “toxic relationships” (pg52). I can see how competition, if it is extreme, can cause problems. However I believe that competition, at its best, builds important characteristics that are vital for our society today. The three characteristics of competition are setting goals, building self-image and fine-tuning skills.
First, competition can create an inner drive in a person. This means that the person will set goals to help meet that drive. Sometimes when achieving that goal people will do things that are not directly related to their goal, but in the long run will allow them to excel. An example would be a person wanting to have an average of ten points per game. To accomplish this he/she will have to have good grades to be eligible to play. In addition the person will have to be completely dedicated to practicing long and hard. If both of these are done it won’t be long before this goal is achieved, and a new one will be set.
Competition also creates a sense of self-image. While goals are continued to be made and met the person starts to feel proud of his/her accomplishments. Eventually the person will develop a routine of exceeding goals and then continue to create new goals. To win, players cannot come into a game with the idea that the team will lose. Being competitive provides a person with an “I can do this” attitude. This attitude is not only a key for a victory for Friday night’s game, but also a victory for life. A good self-image creates an “I can do this” attitude, which provides a positive outlook on life.
Finally competition builds many different skills. The skill of team work is taught by competition. Because a team has the common interest of winning, this means the team must learn how to work together so they can win. Team work can be applied to more than just a sport teams, but it could be applied to several jobs. For example the hospital staff must work together to save or heal a sick patient. Another example could be the president of the United States. To earn that title he had to convince people that he is the right man for that responsibility. To do this he has to have a committee to work together to help campaign for him.
In addition to team work competition also builds personal skills. Personal skills can be anything from learning how to cook or to speak a different language. Having more personal skills can positively affect someone’s life. Competition also builds more confidence. When a person has more confidence they are more willing to try something that they might have wanted to for awhile. These skills build even more confidence and a sense of achievement. He/she feels that they have done well in all of their goals. The skills they have learned from being competitive can be used in sports and any other situations, such as school, jobs, scholarships, and many more life activities.
Competition at its best teaches us how to set goals, have a positive self-image and to how to fine tune important skills. Without these qualities our society today would not function properly. Being competitive pushes a person to be and do better. If there was not competition then people would not push themselves to improve. Where would our society be if we were to never improve?
