Competition?
In class, we've been working on our persuasive writing unit. For that, one activity what we're doing is reading articles debating whether or not kids should be in competitive contact sports- if it builds confidence or depletes it, if it causes injuries or reduces obesity.
For me, the most interesting points the authors try to make is those regarding competition. Does competition build confidence, teach kids to win and lose graciously, and allow them to have fun... or does it give them unnecessary pressure and stress they haven't learned to handle yet?
I personally think that competition can be healthy- if you learn to handle it right. It can be really hard to lose badly at something and not try to find faults in the other person, ways to make yourself feel like they didn't deserve to win- you did.
But it also can drive you to excel. Struggling against someone, trying to do as good or better than them, can bring you to heights you would have never reached before. This is why when I run laps in P.E., I often try to run with someone slightly faster than me. If I want to be able to talk with them as we run, I have to keep running at their pace. This has lead me to be a better runner.
If you ask me, the perfect balance of competition can be found in Nanowrimo.
In Nanowrimo, you can set your own goals. You're struggling not against the goal someone else set for you, but against the goal YOU set for yourself. You can acknowledge that people have entirely different styles of writing- that some people focus on quantity more than quality, or on quality more than quantity, that everyone has different amounts of homework and free time. For the most part, the competition is the writer you against the procrastinator, writer's block you- you against yourself.
Even so, there's a little bit of healthy, voluntary competition in the form of word wars. It's not a big deal- no one keeps running records- and even though there's no way to tell if someone cheated, no one really cares. The point is not to win against each other, but to help each other writers win their fights against their procrastinating, writer's block selves.
What do you guys think about competition?
For me, the most interesting points the authors try to make is those regarding competition. Does competition build confidence, teach kids to win and lose graciously, and allow them to have fun... or does it give them unnecessary pressure and stress they haven't learned to handle yet?
I personally think that competition can be healthy- if you learn to handle it right. It can be really hard to lose badly at something and not try to find faults in the other person, ways to make yourself feel like they didn't deserve to win- you did.
But it also can drive you to excel. Struggling against someone, trying to do as good or better than them, can bring you to heights you would have never reached before. This is why when I run laps in P.E., I often try to run with someone slightly faster than me. If I want to be able to talk with them as we run, I have to keep running at their pace. This has lead me to be a better runner.
If you ask me, the perfect balance of competition can be found in Nanowrimo.
In Nanowrimo, you can set your own goals. You're struggling not against the goal someone else set for you, but against the goal YOU set for yourself. You can acknowledge that people have entirely different styles of writing- that some people focus on quantity more than quality, or on quality more than quantity, that everyone has different amounts of homework and free time. For the most part, the competition is the writer you against the procrastinator, writer's block you- you against yourself.
Even so, there's a little bit of healthy, voluntary competition in the form of word wars. It's not a big deal- no one keeps running records- and even though there's no way to tell if someone cheated, no one really cares. The point is not to win against each other, but to help each other writers win their fights against their procrastinating, writer's block selves.
What do you guys think about competition?
Ooh, that's a hard question! I don't play sports much, so my main competition is academic. Just like (we both apparently) run with people just a little bit faster than ourselves, I try to surround myself with people whom I can learn from—who set a good example. And when we can help each other study, it's like a word war: the point is not to gain the highest class rank or grade, but to help each other win our fights against procrastination or misunderstanding. ¶ I've never thought of NaNo in that way, but you're completely right; we're all competing against what we see as our own goals. ¶ An idea: I'm a debater, and often we're discussing lengthy issues—foreign policy, education, extinction. We're required to switch sides every debate, to advocate both sides of every issue at some point. On the one hand, the fact that it's a game makes it more fun. Just like I wouldn't go out and play contact sports (especially if there was no "point" to it, no winning or losing) on my own, I might not be discussing foreign policy on my own without the competition in the middle. But on the other hand, turning things into a competition means I'm always looking at those things from a very extreme point of view. XYZ is the /worst/, or XYZ is the /best/. There's no in-between. I wonder if that's harmful; just something to ponder.
ReplyDeleteOoo, I can see that being helpful.
DeleteThat makes sense and it is something interesting to think about. In debates, you get two choices- and you have to support one whole heartedly. You can't think outside of the box and pull a solution out of thin air, or advocate a more moderate solution. Could the debate-like atmosphere of so much of our culture- debate in politics, for instance- discourage creative problem solving or middle-of-the-road compromises?