Competition

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Competition

• There are many types of competition. Some
  competitions are good and some can be extremely
  bad. Take time to watch this slide. You might
  learn something.

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The Good
Competition is clearly a part of human nature.
While some cultures are more competitive than
others, universal elements of competition cut
across many cultures. For example, competition
for resources in the forms of food, jobs, living
quarters, and general status in society is
prevalent, to some degree, in most cultures.
Furthermore, an element of score keeping is
evident in the most innocent of children's games.
The number of young people participating in
competitive events such as athletics, 4-H
contests, spelling bees, academic quiz bowls, or
beauty Contests demonstrates how competition
engages the youth in this country. Adults, too,
compete daily both at work and at play. Some
believe that the only way to achieve a
competitive edge in the adult world is by
engaging in as many competitive experiences as
possible in childhood to gain practice. Support
of competition is so strong that one political
party recently included a mandate for competition
through participation in 4-H activities as part
of the Iowa caucus. This was a response to an
attempt to recognize participation ahead of
winning or losing at 4-H events, and was
perceived by party leaders as promoting
socialism. So competition clearly exists.
Exactly how competition motivates young people,
however, is much less clear. According to some
studies, competition among preteens enables them
to compare their skills against the skills of
their peers. Competition as a means of social
comparison appears to help young people find
their niches. As soon as this is established,
they can refine and specialize their skills.
Helping young people manage the competitive
demands of their lives is difficult, but not
impossible. Cox (see Practice Wisdom) offers
helpful strategies for designing programs in
which competition enhances development.
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The Ugly
We observe daily how competition brings out ugly
behavior in us. The tennis player who throws a
racquet, curses an adult official, and refuses to
acknowledge fan support demonstrates ugly
behavior. The teenager, or the teenager's parent,
who injects growth hormones into an animal prior
to a thousand-dollar competition at a county fair
also demonstrate ugly behavior. Photos of a
five-year-old beauty queen in sexually suggestive
poses, complete with make-up and revealing
clothing, again reveals the uglier side of human
nature. Unfortunately, the examples go on and on.
Out-of-control competition is simply ugly.
Parents, adults, and young people may lose their
perspectives when the stakes of the competition
are high. The mildest-mannered father or mother
may scream like a maniac at the finals of the
local soccer tournament. Or, children may be
allowed to exhibit displays of disrespect toward
adult officials that would never be tolerated at
home or at school. The context of the competition
seems to excuse or suspend normal expectations of
civility.
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The Bad
Researchers focusing on the adverse effects of
competition have been active since the early
1900s. (For Scheers summary of this work, see
the Research Update.) The bulk of this research
points to the improved social conditions
associated with cooperation as opposed to
competition. Competition often generates
internal social conflict, while cooperation often
generates group harmony and enhanced
productivity. Individual and group productivity,
for example, appear to increase in cooperative
learning settings (Johnson Johnson, 1992).
Promoting structured competition among young
children may be particularly harmful. Motivated
by exploration and play, young children do not
need to compete to participate in activities.
Neither do they effectively use the results of
competitive activities to compare their
performances with the performances of others. In
fact, children younger than nine years of age do
not handle winning and losing well, and
repeatedly exposing them to highly competitive
situations may negatively affect the development
of their self-worth and identity (Minuchin 1977).
In addition, competition may lead to an
over-reliance on external rewards. While
scientific studies have connected intrinsic
motivation with cooperation and extrinsic
motivation with competition, all you have to do
is observe what motivates those around you. For
example, many adults who work with children in
competitive events such as a beauty contest, a
tennis tournament, or a 4-H steer auction are
motivated by the monetary value of the external
rewards. Financial reward is clearly associated
with the level of effort dedicated to the task.
When external rewards become the primary
motivators for children, adults quickly offer
assistance and, unfortunately, the ugly side of
competition once again rears its, well, ugly
head.
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The Effects of competition on the Youth We need
to do two things to create an environment in
which our children can compete healthily. First,
we need to examine the role of competition in our
childrens lives. Is their too much or too
little? Are children being exposed to serious
competition too early? Are the rewards too high?
A balance of competitive and cooperative
experiences may reduce the bad, and the ugly,
side of competition. Too much too early will
generally lead to difficult situations for
children. Second, we need to increase our
efforts to help specific children and families
manage competition and its impact on their
development. Individual children respond to
competition differently. Children who lose
interest in activities, report high anxiety
related to competition, or show signs of
dishonesty when competing are likely to be having
trouble coping with the demands of competition.
Parents and professionals should collaborate to
initiate strategies to help these children deal
with the demands of competition. Competition is
never all good, all bad, or all ugly its value
is contextually determined. Every effort must be
made to evaluate competitive systems and specific
competitive situations to determine their impact
on the holistic development of children.
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Test are run on competition for a reason.
People do not know that competitions can be
bad. This is a extremely horrible stress. Some
people want to mine and they are running test to
see if they are eligible for the job. The people
conducting the test actually put the miners in
real situations to see how miners would react if
they were actually in this situation. I think
this is a very excellent thing. Jobs need to run
test more often. You just cant grab people off
the street and ask them do they want the job. I
do think that there needs to be more test ran
before telling someone that they have the
job. The competition, is held to maintain,
promote and display excellence in mine rescue
skills. Set up to very closely resemble a
real-life situation, the mine rescue competition
tests have the following tasks gas testing,
bench (during which competitors disassemble,
check and reassemble equipment), first aid,
obstacle, smoke and firefighting. The teams have
three priorities during the competition and in
real mine disasters the safety of the mine
rescue team, the safety and rescue of survivors,
and the restoration and rehabilitation of the
mine. http//www.gov.ns.ca/enla/pubs/wi/vol15-2/
labour.htm
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