Is competition really out of fashion?

TheKrikkitWars

TheKrikkitWars

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Joshua Kelly
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Duckydoodle said:
I had exactly the same thoughts. Competition seems to be out of fashion nowadays when it comes to school sports days and we wonder why we don't produce any world class sports folk anymore.
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Now that's not been my experience at all The last school function I attended before leaving was the sports day with some serious competition and competitive spirit (with a near riot when the apparent second place form won overall) it never occurred to myself (or any of other ex-sixthformers who got rounded up at the pub) watching the PE staff race against county rugby players (pupils) that it could go any other way than that.
 
I think in secondary schools atm, competition is alive and just about kicking, its primary schools where the traditional sports day is being stealthily replaced by something less competitive. My daughters attended two different primary schools in two different boroughs when we lived in the NW, and neither ran a proper sports day after about 2001 - proper, as in the kind shown in Colins pictures, with races that have winners and losers. We are going back over 3 years ago now since the youngest moved on to secondary school, and the consensus seems to be that things at primary level are getting worse, not better, replacing competition with equality and 'fairness'

I am sorry, but I firmly believe that teaching children from a young age how to compete fairly, win gracefully and lose as gracefully and use that loss positively is so very important as a life skill. If they have to wait for those lessons in the hurly burly of 'big school', thats when the problems can really kick in as teenagers are so much more tempermental to begin with. I was lousy at sport as a kid, apart from gymnastics and horse riding, so sports day was always greeted with dread and yet at the end of every single one of them I wondered what I had worried about, it was piece of cake and not winning was unimportant, I had fun, it was just the dislike of all that running that put me off.
 
LadyLens said:
I think in secondary schools atm, competition is alive and just about kicking, its primary schools where the traditional sports day is being stealthily replaced by something less competitive. My daughters attended two different primary schools in two different boroughs when we lived in the NW, and neither ran a proper sports day after about 2001 - proper, as in the kind shown in Colins pictures, with races that have winners and losers. We are going back over 3 years ago now since the youngest moved on to secondary school, and the consensus seems to be that things at primary level are getting worse, not better, replacing competition with equality and 'fairness'

I am sorry, but I firmly believe that teaching children from a young age how to compete fairly, win gracefully and lose as gracefully and use that loss positively is so very important as a life skill. If they have to wait for those lessons in the hurly burly of 'big school', thats when the problems can really kick in as teenagers are so much more tempermental to begin with. I was lousy at sport as a kid, apart from gymnastics and horse riding, so sports day was always greeted with dread and yet at the end of every single one of them I wondered what I had worried about, it was piece of cake and not winning was unimportant, I had fun, it was just the dislike of all that running that put me off.
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I remember distinctly talking to a primary school teacher who was very much "What if they hurt they're feelings, we need to be more I can, I will like the Americans not pessimistic like typical Brits, this gives them that start"

The only reply possible, "99 in 100 of them can't and won't, if you sugar coat school, it will produce a generation who will never cope with mediocrity, struggling for a living and the unfair world of life, love, and liberty."

When will people get this?
 
My son (now 19) had to be physically restrained on his last sports day. He came 2nd in the 1500 metres, and the guy who won made a wise ass comment. Even when he played football he was like it. Like me, he hates to lose, and gets annoyed when it happens.

There is no gracious way of losing, you either win or you don't, and if you want to win you have to work for it. The sooner the current generation of teenagers realise that life is all about winning and losing (work, relationships etc) the sooner we'll have a better society.

I feel that the current "nanny state" seems to make people think "It's OK if I don't try hard enough, the state will look after me"... It's not true, if you want something, unless you are extremely talented, you have to go and get it yourself, take your opportunities and make them count.

Youngsters also need to learn to recognise when they can and can't win, and concentrate on those winning situations rather than the losing ones.

Life isn't fair, the sooner they learn that the better we all will be.....

Steve
 
Jelster said:
My son (now 19) had to be physically restrained on his last sports day. He came 2nd in the 1500 metres, and the guy who won made a wise ass comment. Even when he played football he was like it. Like me, he hates to lose, and gets annoyed when it happens.

There is no gracious way of losing, you either win or you don't, and if you want to win you have to work for it. The sooner the current generation of teenagers realise that life is all about winning and losing (work, relationships etc) the sooner we'll have a better society.

I feel that the current "nanny state" seems to make people think "It's OK if I don't try hard enough, the state will look after me"... It's not true, if you want something, unless you are extremely talented, you have to go and get it yourself, take your opportunities and make them count.

Youngsters also need to learn to recognise when they can and can't win, and concentrate on those winning situations rather than the losing ones.

Life isn't fair, the sooner they learn that the better we all will be.....

Steve
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QFT :thumbs:

You get more out if you put more in.....if you lose, and it hurts, you have pride, and should learn from it, and come back stronger.

I'm resisting starting a rant on this, as it's one of my real soapbox subjects :annoyed:
 
Children's lives are dominated by a competitive examination system with a clear ranking system and measure of success and failure. I'm sure they know what competition is.
 
What is this 'nanny state' I keep hearing about? If we lived in a nanny state children wouldn't be getting stabbed every day.
 
'Nanny state' is generally the term that the popular press applies to any government interventions that are detrimental to the interests of their advertisers.
 
KayJay said:
What is this 'nanny state' I keep hearing about? If we lived in a nanny state children wouldn't be getting stabbed every day.
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Well I think the current government have already proved that they haven't a clue what to do on that score, but that's another discussion......

Steve
 
Jamougha said:
Children's lives are dominated by a competitive examination system with a clear ranking system and measure of success and failure. I'm sure they know what competition is.
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Seen the news about the current SATS fiasco then? Yet another debate that is amking many people involved hot under the collar.
 
LadyLens said:
Seen the news about the current SATS fiasco then? Yet another debate that is amking many people involved hot under the collar.
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Yep. My question is why is an american company doing the marking? I'm not anti american per se but why are they involved? Also, wasn't it in America the goverment lost a load of records - dvla or tax I recall.

So what's that all about then?
 
LadyLens said:
Seen the news about the current SATS fiasco then? Yet another debate that is amking many people involved hot under the collar.
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I hadn't heard about it in detail. I'm not surprised though. When I was at school it was common knowledge among students that the marking of english papers was arbitrary.

Presumably some posters will be pleased, since it teaches children that life isn't fair.
 
Jamougha said:
I hadn't heard about it in detail. I'm not surprised though. When I was at school it was common knowledge among students that the marking of english papers was arbitrary.

Presumably some posters will be pleased, since it teaches children that life isn't fair.
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Unfortunately 50% of people are average, 25% of people are below average and 25% above average.

Those above will always have an easy ride in exams, and those below will always struggle, thats the way it is. All artistic subjects will be subject to the whim of the examiner, its how aestheticism works. If you don't like life being unfair, deal with it!
 
TheKrikkitWars said:
Unfortunately 50% of people are average, 25% of people are below average and 25% above average.

Those above will always have an easy ride in exams, and those below will always struggle, thats the way it is. All artistic subjects will be subject to the whim of the examiner, its how aestheticism works. If you don't like life being unfair, deal with it!
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Now this is what worries me about our education system. You have what appears to be an educated, articulate and intelligent person. And yet, in a four sentence reply, they completely contradict themselves once while only addressing the topic with one out of the four sentences. Even then it's merely a bald assertion.
 
Jamougha said:
Now this is what worries me about our education system. You have what appears to be an educated, articulate and intelligent person. And yet, in a four sentence reply, they completely contradict themselves once while only addressing the topic with one out of the four sentences. Even then it's merely a bald assertion.
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I was trying to address your concern about a competitive exams system at the same time as the other issue raised. I don't see how I contradicted myself (the comment on artistic subjects isn't contradictory, simply a special case of the general theory proposed in the first sentence).
 
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