Competition Is An Intrinsic Part Of Human Lives

Competition between peers makes people strive to try and be better than their opponents, and can be healthy or unhealthy depending on the competitors and their responses to the competition.

Competition is prevalent in various aspects of life, including sports, school, and jobs. Everyone at some point in their lifetime will have to compete against others in order to achieve a goal or earn a prize. It’s how the world has worked for a long time; it’s survival of the fittest and this minor competition between everyone is how we have continuously gotten smarter, faster, and stronger. Competition is necessary to a certain degree, but how much is too much? It’s definitely not a bad thing, and as long as there’s a healthy amount, it can be beneficial because it fosters self-improvement, and it will push people to go all out and try their absolute best.

Alfie Kohn states that “competition by its very nature is always unhealthy” and has written an essay opposing the concept. There are various examples of competition in the world today, from sports that the world watches on television, to spelling bees children in elementary and middle school participate in. Competition is a part of our daily lives whether we’re aware of it or not; however, it does have its disadvantages that leads me to support Kohn’s opinion.

It is within human nature to be competitive. While it is one of the most basic and primal instincts that has ensured our survival for centuries, today has become more for personal achievement. In movies, shows and on the internet we are constantly exposed to people competing for various reason. Athletes compete for the gold medal, game show contestants for money prizes and characters in movies for the object of their affections. When we best the challenges we decide to face, we often receive an overwhelming feeling of success along with the prize and, in turn, our confidence is boosted drastically. We are encourage to become the best versions of ourselves. However, when our attempts end in failure, we feel disappointed in ourselves and are discouraged from pushing ourselves again. In modern times, individuals often lack the motivation to challenge themselves because they fear their odds of failure. They would rather remain apathetic than even attempt to push themselves. It is essential that we have the dedication, fortitude and courage to regain the confidence to at least attempt a challenge or alter it to make it more beneficial to ourselves.

Lately though, these games have lost it’s purpose and the lessons these players could be learning are far from what is transpiring. The emphasis on winning or losing has significantly outweighed what these sports are all about; teamwork and having fun. Alfie Kohn, author of “The Case Against Competition” found a study researched by David Johnson, a professor at the University of Minnesota, and his colleagues. They previewed all the studies they could find on the subject of competition from 1924 to 1980. Sixty-five of the studies found that children learn better when they work cooperatively as opposed to competitively, eight found the reverse. It is proven that you can get the most out of a topic whether it’s school work to sports, you learn the most from working in an atmosphere where they work together not against each other. In addition, children have been enrolled in intense sport training as early as the age of 4, not allowing them to have a chance to really pick what sport they are interested in. A lot of times parents hope to fulfill their dream, by having their offspring due what they never got the chance as a child. This doesn’t give kids the chance to develop and make decisions for themselves when it relates to the sports they want to play. This causes children to not only unhappy but dependent on

Have you ever been put in a life or death situation? Hopefully not! However, some things you do may feel like “life or death” situations at the time, especially for young children. Competitive sports can help with conquering those fears. There will be times when you feel pressure; as if you’re under a spotlight. Moments when it seems like people are almost daring you to fail. By participating in competitive sports, children are prepared for these moments. These are the times where you go back to what you have learned, all the hours you put in to learn a skill. These are the times worth living for because by putting in the work, you have trained yourself to expect success. Competitive sports have a positive impact on children and teach

We as a people are preoccupied with the notion of greatness. Our role models are athletes, actors and actresses, and other figures in the public eye. Many of us often desire to be better off than our current state; to look better, to be in better shape, etc… We compete with each other for jobs, for mates, for grades, for parking spots, and in sporting activities. This competitive nature is a way of life, especially in sporting activities, often learned as a child and built upon throughout adulthood. But where do you draw the line? At what point do the “costs” of winning or being “better” outweigh the benefits? Maybe it’s too much when you start putting your own health in serious jeopardy

After reading Children Need to Play, Not Compete by Jessica Statsky I thought she brought up some very valid points. I do think that this is a topic that should be scrutinized. I have a different view of the subject. I think that competition can be physically, and psychologically harmful if left unchecked by "abusive/uncaring" adults. I do think that with the right, caring and team work fostering environment competition can fostered without harmful effects, and can lead to learning lifelong skills that can bring emotional joy.

It is a well-known fact that competition drives most people to do better, to be better. Whether this is in sports, school, work or even a simple day to day task; the idea of possibly not being as good as the guy next to you drives the individual to push harder, to dig deep and be the best he or she can be. This is no different in A Separate Peace. In this essay we will look at the way competition affected Finny and Gene, the way Finny made new games to entertain his longing for competition, and Gene’s drive to be the best and smartest student at the school. Although they were focused on different aspects of life, competition was still very strong in their friendship; whether good or bad, it was there.

Competition In Chapter 5 , “ Bling, Bombs, and the Bible”, in the book called Game On: How Pressure to Win at All Costs Endangers Youth Sports, author Tom Farrey claims that children can benefit from participation in sports even though the sports are not highly competitive. To support his argument Farrey uses the examples of Jack Welch, former CEO of GE as well as a description of how the historical background of youth sports evolved in the United States. I believe Farrey’s claim is invalid because competition is a significant part of adult life and therefore, children must learn to cope with highly competitive situations from an early age. Additionally, Farrey seems to focus on non-competitive sports that were prevalent in the past, however,

I am a very determined person and I am so competitive it's almost unhealthy. I have always been determined to be the strongest, be the best, be someone people won’t forget. I haven’t ever been the best until I was determined to be better than everyone else. Everything to be in a competition, I try to lift more than people, be faster than people, get better test scores than people; no matter what it is, I want to be the best. According to the book “Outliers: The Story of Success” by Malcolm Gladwell, “it takes roughly ten thousand hours of practice to achieve mastery in a field”

People accuse me of being competitive, as if this is bad quality. While it is true, in the generic sense of the word, but to me the only competition that matters is my own performance compared to my past performance while on the line with outstanding shooters. Competition energizes me to improve.

In Hannah Pandels’s article, Healthy Competition is Good for Children, she makes the statement that it, competition, is a necessary and essential part of our society today. This article was written partly in response to numerous other articles stating the opposite but one was singled out. The American author Alfie Kohn. Now this fits into the childhood development debate that has been ongoing lately regarding the theory that today’s kids are more entitled to things and have less problem solving skills then previous generations. With that back ground she begins to vocalize her thoughts regarding the issue. Her thesis is clear, it is in the title for goodness sakes, that competition is a normal part of growing up and it is essential to the proper development of children. She states “competition breeds excellence” (Pandel) this simple statement engulfs the

Along with many other sports, much skill is necessary to compete. Gragan Starrm a writer for the Christian Science Monitor explains how people in gaming consider video games require equal amounts of strategy, teamwork, training, and reflexiveness as real sports (Starr). Major sports like soccer and football require tremendous amount of skill, and gaming is no exception. Alejandro Viramontes, a reporter, strongly relates chess to video games, and how similar they are, “...you have to practice and you have to understand the rules of each game-and how each game works” (Can Video Gaming Be Considered an Actual Sport? ). As a result, each sport and video game require training, as there are steep learning curves for each sport and game. Along with individual skill, teamwork is especially needed for both video games and sports. As Aileen Cerrudo describes it perfectly, athletes are alike gamers including the level of teamwork (Should “eSports” Be Considered As a Sport?). Most video games require teamwork to help win; they can’t win by just one person. This is exactly like most of the sports world wide are like, for example hockey and

Some players are motivated further to master the game itself, wanting to completely dominate every aspect of it. This is also to prove one’s self by overcoming challenges presented within the game, for a sense of accomplishment, satisfaction, or acknowledgement.