Analysis Of Losing Is Good For You, By Ashley Merryman

Perhaps the most powerful, fluent, and forceful paper promoting liberal Christianity is indeed Harry Emerson Fosdick's 1922 sermon “Shall the Fundamentalists Win?”. Fosdick seemed as if he was a very captivating human being in history during his time of existence. He wrote one of the most engaging papers that I have yet to read thus this far. It was definitely a wise decision to go ahead and read the two articles discussing fundamentalism to catch me up so that I did not have trouble keeping up with Fosdick's movement that he established in his sermon. Initially, I believe that the arising church is, amongst other things, is a rectifying of liberalism for a postmodern age. And I'm convinced that the same claims made by Fosdick in 1922 are just what we hear form emergents today. There is nothing new that lies under the sun today. It is only natural that the specifics argued for by the modernists are not those of the postmodern emergents.

As children who have received participation awards begin to grow older, they are introduced to more and more situations in which not everyone is a winner. A person who has been a winner all their life will eventually lose, and it will affect them more seriously because they have not had experience dealing with failure at an early age. According to the article “Failure is an Option: Raising Children in a ‘Participation Trophy’ Society” in Scouting Magazine, Dr. Tim Elmore believes failure is like a coach, teaching kids to try their best. Elmore argues that participation trophies take away the positive effects of losing, and children grow up lacking motivation and become wary of testing their abilities due to fear of failure. This leads to children being more emotionally fragile than they should be, which may eventually result in serious matters such as depression and even suicide. Participation awards treat everyone like a winner, which means children do not learn how to cope with loss. Kids that don’t experience dealing with failure end up being afraid of it, and this constant fear contributes to psychological problems such as stress, anxiety, and depression. For example, if a child were to

When kids with Low Self-Esteem get the participation trophies, It can make them feel and believe that, they can’t live up to their own hype. We should stop giving kids the trophies, and instead give them a pat on the back, and say “Good luck next time”. Telling your kid that they are a winner, and a natural, will make them feel like they don’t have to improve, and get

Heffernan believes that if kids are given these trophies as a sign of recognition, even for just showing up, they will become motivated to do more next time, because when it comes down to winning and losing, at a young age it’s not a necessity, as the lesson in that is all around them (Heffernan, Paragraph 3). The main lesson in this is that it teaches kids at a young age to not give up, and to strive to succeed, although there is no need to fret over failure, because what matters is that you do your best. Even if success isn’t the result, then working hard with recognition as motivation will have a greater outcome the next time. Not only that, but it is a lesson in teamwork, as kids are taught to work together, and if someone is struggling, then they are there to help, since they have been in the same situation (Heffernan, Paragraph 8). Teamwork is a major key in adulthood. There will be many instances in which teamwork is key, and will make tasks easier to handle. Where there is teamwork, there is also leadership, a quality that many discover through teamwork. It is important for kids to learn leadership in order to handle difficult situations in the future. There are some negatives to those who receive participation trophies, as there can be kids who just don’t care at all about any recognition, and can grow out of the sport, or anything else. Sometimes, what is used to motivate some can be seen as discouraging towards others, and there is where a flaw is seen with

In the article “Dangers of an ‘everyone gets a trophy’ culture?” Ashley Merryman interviews thirty seven children to see what they think about participation trophies. One kid, Levey Friedman, said to Ashley Merryman “Well, I kind of purposely played in this esiar one because I knew I would win and now I don’t really count that as a real victory because I went in and I knew it was below my level.” In other words Levey Friedman only played on the lower level sports team to win. One year when I played soccer we only won one out of thirteen games. At the end of the year we got our trophies and awards and now every time I see the soccer trophy it just reminds me of how bad our team was and how bad we did that season. Kids know when a sport is below their level so it's dangerous to think that everyone's a

Finally, kids that are given participation trophies are given the wrong idea. Fifty-seven percent of people said "only winners" deserve to have participation trophies, giving out participation trophies is tantamount to giving kids the wrong praise, and giving kids with bad attitudes and not a care in the world is not a good idea. These kids need to realize that they need

Children learn the most through trial and error. Ashley Merryman agrees, saying, “It’s through failure and mistakes that we learn the most” (Merryman). As a famous author about child psychology Merryman uses a philosophical position to convey to the audience about the importance of letting children lose to help them grow and become better people. She also states that “we’re teaching kids that losing is so terrible that we can never let it happen” (Merryman). She continues that this destructive message is teaching kids react more towards losing instead of celebrating their success. Also that it is not okay to lose. Kids should know that not receiving participation trophies is okay, and that it helps them do better.

In an age where everyone is expected to be recognized, there must be an understanding that the world does not progress by congratulating the “average.” I believe that giving participation trophies makes people stop competing; especially if the trophies are given at a very early age. For example, a team of small children have a terrible baseball season, but it’s okay! Because the coach gives out trophies to everyone. This in turn only teaches the child that no matter how bad life gets, they will always be rewarded. Participation trophies create future generations of entitled adults as seen by today’s generation. We need to reward kids that work hard for what they do for the sake of risk and reward. That is simply how progress is made in society. Yet I agree with one point made by the opposing side. I believe that participation should be recognized sometimes. Participation can teach kids that teamwork matters in every little aspect of society. Participation trophies should be eliminated but participation should still merely just be recognized with a pat on the back as said by Betty Berdan, a high school junior from Connecticut. Participation trophies overall hinder the growing and learning process of kids; whether it is through sports, or any other competitive involvement.

The topic of whether children should receive participation trophies has sparked national debate. According to a recent

In my essay, I will explain why participating in trophies is not only unnecessary but can also be harmful to their development and understanding of real-world competition. Support 1: The first reason why I believe kids should not get participation trophies is that it builds character. In this generation,

While many writers claim that participation trophies are beneficial, writer Ashley Merryman agrees with the idea that participation trophies are more destructive than beneficial regarding the learning process of a child. The general argument made by Merryman in her work, “Forget Trophies, Let Kids Know It’s O.K. to Lose,” is that providing

In children sports it is common for all children to receive participation trophies whether they win or lose. In life we don’t always win. Children need to learn to fail to be prepared for the failures that happen in life. “It’s through failure and mistakes that we learn the most.” (Merryman). By giving awards to only the children that win, we are teaching them to accept failure.

A new trend across America has risen in sports. Event officials are doling out participation trophies in massive numbers. The question is, are these participation trophies negatively changing the basic American values we treasure in these children? Yes, participation trophies are shaping a new cultural norm of entitlement and it promotes a new attitude of doing nothing, yet still being rewarded for it. This trend must be put to a halt and reversed. Participation trophies are not the answer to making kids feel better about themselves.

Participation trophies are changing kids ideas of winning around the globe in many ways. First off, it gives children the wrong impression on working or putting an effort towards something. Trophies are something you should have to earn. Life doesn’t give you a participation medal, you have to earn it (Website #2). Kids just need to learn that

Furthermore, participation trophies may cause children to encounter crucial self esteem problems and cause children to become selfish. As these participation trophies are being handed out, children may get very depressed that they did not win the game. These children will quit the sport that they are participating in since they believe that they cannot win, and those participation awards will grow into an enormous pile in the corner of their rooms. These prizes may discourage many of these depressed children, which contradicts the main purpose of the prizes. Uniquely, Merryman continues to proclaim “Research has found that kids with low self-esteem believe they can’t live up to their own hype, so they withdraw even further”. It affects children