Competition in schools is an issue that teachers and parents feel very strongly about. Some think it’s bad because it hurts students’ self-esteem and worries them more about school. Then some think it is not only good for students but also crucial to their education. But if you look closely and think about it, you might find that school competition has both good and bad sides.
Benefits of Competition
1) Competition makes people work together:
In this age of social media and growing individualism, children spend less time talking and getting to know each other. But working with other children to reach a common goal is an important skill to learn, not just in sports but in life in general. Children can learn how to get along with others through competition, as long as they don’t get too mean.
2) Competition helps you control your feelings:
With proper guidance, competition lets kids think about how they act when distraught, which helps them develop strong emotional intelligence. Control and competence go hand in hand. When you feel in charge of your feelings, you’re more likely to want to work hard and try new things to learn.
3) Competition brings out innovation:
Every time, you have to think outside the box to win the game or get the upper hand. Competition pushes kids to break out of their comfort zones and try new things, which helps them be more creative and solve problems better.
4) Students get motivated:
The main point of competition is to get people to work harder. Students are most motivated when they have to compete with others. When the students are put in competitions, they are challenged to do their best if they want to win.
5) Get over failures:
The students push themselves and try their hardest, but they may not be able to do well. This setback might make them work harder, showing them where they went wrong and where they need to work to succeed. Students would learn to work hard if they did this.
6) Taking risks:
Competition students must go outside their comfort zone and take risks if they want to do well. Students often do things they don’t know how to do well. Students usually take risks, like signing up for a new activity or running a race. All of these things boost their confidence.
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Drawbacks Of Competition
1) Competition can make children feel disappointed:
Not every student who entered the competition would win. Some students may be hurt very badly by a less-than-perfect result. When they don’t win, they might seem to lose confidence. It could be fixed by teaching students to be sportsmanlike and understand that not everyone can win all the time.
2) Competition makes it hard to do well:
Children can feel threatened by competitive situations. When a child’s threat mode is turned on, it makes them feel emotions like fear and anger that help them survive. It takes up important brain processing space that could be used for higher-level thinking tasks that are important for doing your best.
3) Stress is brought on by competition:
Competition is often accompanied by stress. Students competing with each other in school can quickly cause stress and anxiety. Some students may do poorly because of this stress. This stress may cause them to put off other things, making their lives less well-rounded.
4) Competition can lead to less participation:
If competition doesn’t give all kids a goal that they can reach, the activity becomes unbalanced, with some kids getting ahead and others falling behind. This kind of competition will cause stress and make children less interested in doing similar things. An unhealthy competition might be one where the main goal is to win instead of learning something new or working as a team. These are the kinds of competitions you might want to think twice about using in your classroom.
5) Competition can cause children to feel inferior:
A child’s self-esteem can sometimes be hurt in a competitive setting. If they start to feel like they’re not as good as their competitors or that their hard work isn’t being noticed, they may feel bad about themselves.
6) Competition can breed hatred and violence:
A “win at all costs” mentality can easily lead to aggressive actions, a lack of sportsmanship, and, in the end, cheating.
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Conclusion
It’s essential to keep in mind that competition is neither all good nor all bad. Competition is a healthy part of life that helps us do well when it is done in the right way. But the right balance needs to be found. Students don’t need to feel like they have to be the best at everything, and it’s not healthy for them to think that way. We try to make sure that our students learn this important lesson.