Competition At School: Good Or Bad?

Imagine that a basketball game was organized for children at school. This common situation is a reflection to understand whether or not it is correct to give importance to the final result. This question gives rise to another question: is competition at school good? Let’s try to answer.

Let’s not fool ourselves: nowadays the world of work is highly competitive, so it is important to ask ourselves whether it is good to educate children to adapt to this type of job market. If we look at it from an adaptive point of view, it certainly is.

Yet, it would also be interesting for future professionals to reorganize the world of work so that it is based on collaboration and allows any individual to find their place without having to exaggerate the level of competition.

Starting from these arguments, we could come to the conclusion that competition at school can be both good and bad. To learn more about the subject, it would be advisable to analyze its advantages and disadvantages.

Competition at school

Having said that, let’s see what’s good about introducing competition in the school environment. We remind you that however we will speak in general, without ever taking the aforementioned competition to the extreme.

Positives

Currently, to have access to university education it is necessary to pass an entrance test. Therefore, students who want to attend a certain course of study that requires high grades will be forced to improve their academic performance. This pushes them to commit more, to set goals and to give their best in studying to reach the final goal.

When children want to stand out and get good grades, their training will be enriched at the same time, allowing them to acquire knowledge and achieve better academic, personal, life, professional performance, etc. In addition, other aspects will also improve. To give some examples:

• The fear of making mistakes is reduced, as mistakes go from being seen as a failure to becoming opportunities for learning and self-improvement.

• More importance to commitment associated with positive values. The idea that it is not necessary to win always helps pupils to face a constant process of improvement.

• It might be useful to introduce the concept of individual competition to prevent children from comparing their own merits and achievements with those of others. In this way it will only make sense to confront oneself with one’s own successes and merits, with a focus on development and self-improvement.

• The commitment that comes from competition must be associated with positive values. It is not always said that this commitment results in a victory, an improvement, etc. The ideal is to reward the child for the work he has done: even if it did not lead him to victory, it was used to learn and gain experience, for example.

Furthermore…

• It is equally important to avoid making comparisons. The focus will be placed on the successes of each pupil, not so much on what they have achieved compared to other children, who have not been successful for whatever reason.

• As contradictory as it may appear, competition at school contributes to collaboration and mutual aid. In particular, it is invaluable when working in a team, in sports, etc. Kids in general are sociable, so they will need to help each other to allow the group to be successful. This will bring them closer, bond, and allow them to support and encourage each other.

• The focus is on the path or, at least, it should be. In this way it will be a much more positive competition, and this is because it will allow pupils to make the most of the path while learning, without focusing too much on the final result.

Competition at school: negative aspects

We analyzed the competition at school from a positive point of view, highlighting all those aspects in support of the emotions and the formation of the child. Yet, there are also other elements, this time negative, that could row against its development in childhood and youth.

On the other hand, in fact, it can be observed how excessive competition between students can cause intense stress and anxiety, which derive from the strong pressures suffered by the students, to the point of bordering on obsession with good grades.

In addition to this, it can foster less solidarity between peers, causing unhealthy competition between students, to the point of harming harmony, teamwork and other values, such as generosity, empathy or resilience.

Conclusions

Competition at school can be good or bad, it all depends on the type of approach. From a neutral point of view, it undoubtedly helps children to be more competent, pushes them to go beyond their limits to improve themselves.