Competition is about winning. People who tell you different are lying. No one remembers the second place team or the team that placed one hundredth for that matter. In the words of Ricky Bobby, “If your not first your last.”
Competition isn’t about feeling good about yourself for trying or just doing your best. It’s about pushing yourself to be first and to win. If your goal isn’t to be a champion then you might as well quit because there is no reason for you to be on a competitive team.
All of life is a competition and those that push themselves to be the best will always come out over those that are happy with just average or mediocre. People telling you that it’s okay as long as you have fun aren’t entirely right.
I am speaking from personal experience that doing your best or having fun isn’t what it’s all about. Losing is losing and it sucks.
I know because my team and I lost the wrestling AAA state title two years in a row. My team did their best. We never went out there thinking we were about to lose. Nevertheless, we lost. It sucked then and it sucks now.
I formed lifelong friendships with my teammates and we became a family we had so much FUN and always tried our BEST for each other. All that being said, we won’t ever be state champions. We did not accomplish our goal- the goal.
That’s not to say that the relationships I forged meant nothing because they are still very important but our goal was to win and we failed.
Americans grow up in a society where not winning is okay and where our kids are taught that having fun is all that matters. We aren’t preparing them for the real world by doing this. You are not going to get into a great college just because you had fun trying to do Calculus. You are not going have a good job just because you have high self-esteem. You are not a winner just because no one ever let you fail.
Winning should be at the forefront- fun and effort in the background. Winning is what separates people whether it’s getting that promotion over a co-worker, getting hired for that job, or being accepted to your first choice college.
So is giving every kid a diploma just for showing up a good plan?
Competitiveness is everywhere and only the winners make it. Therefore, the countries that produce kids with a winner’s mentality will be by default winners. If everyone in America strived to be successful instead of taking handouts and being okay with it then America would be a more successful country.
We need to start teaching our kids that it’s okay to be competitive and to want to win and to want to be the best. Stop telling students that having fun and feeling good about themselves is all that matters. In reality, it isn’t.