Persuasive Essay

You get last place in your tournament. The coach walks up to you looking disappointed and hands you a trophy. You look down at the trophy confused on how you go it and notice that it reads “participation”, but why hand out a trophy if you didn’t really earn it? A popular issue today is whether or not participation trophies should be given out to young athletes. There isn’t a right or wrong answer to this debate, however I believe that it is wrong for these no good trophies to be handed out. Here are some of the reasons on why I believe this.

Should Everyone Get a Trophy? Most teams have the “Trophies for all” rule, But the question is “Should everyone get a trophy for doing what’s required”? Some experts say giving out trophies to everyone sends out the wrong message even though it encourages kids to keep playing. Although some people feel that trophies lose their meaning if everyone gets one, But other people believe that tropies encourage players to keep playing.

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.

But what if I told you that once a teenager receives a participation trophy, it decreases their confidence. Truthfully, teenagers are much more competitive in children, and that's common due to us growing older. However, planning to give out participation trophies at our school isn't such a good idea. Our school is made of middle and high school students, whom all are pretty competitive. Giving out participation trophies to any student who participates in any given activity, no matter what grade they're in, could lead to a decrease in confidence throughout the entire school. Giving out the participation trophies to only one grade could also affect those students greatly, due to those kids taking the participation trophies for

Should everyone get a trophy? I do not think that youth sports athletes should receive participation trophies at all. Many people believe it is worth a buck to give a child a smile but, I do not. I do not think everyone should receive a trophy because it waste good money from the organization. If children just receive trophies for trying their hardest they are not going to try any harder the next year and their best may not be good enough. On the other hand coaches and parents believe that youth athletes should be rewarded for their hard work. Participation trophies are unnecessary because youth athletes play to win not just to receive a trophy they didn’t earn.

Our society has shifted its beliefs in how we should treat competition in young people. The concept that "everyone receives a trophy" has taken the place of only rewarding those who achieve excellence within that activity. Rewarding all participants in youth activities and sports has become standard practice in American culture. "Should kids get a trophy for participation?" or should only the achievers receive a trophy? In the following essay it will explore the idea that everyone should win from participating and get an achievement for being there.

Is giving kids participation trophies beneficial to children, or motivation killers? Many people all around the U.S. have their opinions for both sides of the discussion. James Harrison, linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers, has weighed in on this topic. In many people’s eyes, his beliefs make a lot of sense, they understand where he’s coming from and what he is speaking about. Carol Dweck also made a statement to NPR about her belief’s on the topic. There are millions of important facts that need to be talked about with this epidemic: an estimated fifty-seven percent said “only winners” should receive a trophy for participation in kids sports, giving out participation trophies is tantamount to giving kids the wrong kind of praise, and this

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

Imagine a world where youth athletes received a trophies for everything they do? According to the trophies for all policy youth athletes are being awarded with participation trophies. Participation trophies should not be giving to youth athletes are being awarded with participation trophies should not be giving to youth athletes because it's not reflective of real life. Also, the money spent on trophies could be better used on coaching staff. However, participation trophies may motivate youth athletes to try harder. Not everyone should get a trophy or they will expect for them to get one in every sports.

What do you think life would be like if everyone got a trophy for just going to school or work? That would be crazy! That is not how life works, so why should kids get a participation trophy for just showing up.That is a waste of an organization's scarce funds. Also, the more trophies given out the less each one means. Youth athletes should be allowed to fail. On the other hand, some people believe it is worth a few bucks to give a kid a smile. Participation trophies are unessential for rewarding youth athletes in sports.

Participation trophies only hurt kids. These trophies have been given out in many sports for decades but they do not mean much to older children. Something as simple as golden painted plastic will not keep a child playing for long after their first years. Children must also be taught how to compete early on. These trophies create a lack of competition in youth athletes and should not be given to children above the age of ten to help teach them life skills and to protect them from struggling in their future lives when they will have to compete for jobs.

Over 36,000,000 kids are active in organized youth sports each year, with 90% of kids preferring to be on a losing team if they could play rather than warm the bench on a winning team. This statistic is shocking because it shows that kids do not really care about winning or losing, but rather how much “playing time” they get, bringing up the question, should all youth receive trophies for participating in sports? Ashley Merryman, author of “Forget Trophies, Let Kids Know It's O.K. To Lose.” and Parker Abate, author “In Youth Sports, Participation Trophies Send a Powerful Message” both attempt to evoke the emotions of the pros and cons of youth receiving participation trophies in their pieces, but because Merryman also justifies how gaining trophies can falsely show the idea of working hard, she displays the sounder argument.

Society has shifted in the way competition has worked,and will continue to change its beliefs in how we should treat competition in young people. Is it really necessary that every participant should receive a trophy? Or should only those that accomplished the goal, earn one? In today’s youth activities, it has become an American tradition, to award all those that participate in the activity, whether they win or not. This is perhaps, a decision that many have faced, but in reality it will teach the children about life. Life isn’t always fair, and there’s nothing more atrocious than giving a child a trophy for everything they do.

For centuries, the trophy and many other objects have been used in sports to decide between a winner who has worked hard and a person who has lost. Research shows that when children are given trophies for participation they are manipulated into thinking everything else in life should come that easy, but when in the future they figure out it is not, it is too late. The trophy is mainly a symbol of a winner or a loser, but when you give everyone that “trophy” it loses the overall meaning and becomes nothing worth working towards. Do the kids really need an object to prove that they have worked hard? “Trophies” are meant to symbolize when a child has worked hard for where they are at, but if a child loses it shows them that they should work harder,

Why spend money that is really needed for other things? Why live uncomfortably? Why be trapped in this hole called a home that belongs to another person? Why not live free and peacefully? When a person rents he or she usually throws away money that could be used to purchase something that belongs to them. Money is not easy to come by so why pay out hundreds toward something that is not benefit to the person paying it out. There is no good explanation for making a decision like this. The best option in a situation like this is to buy a house. Buying a house is a better option than renting an apartment.