Arden Frandsen (1976) wrote about competition: “Despite the tendency of competition to intensify the efforts of many participants, it has limitations as a learning incentive. It sometimes interferes with children’s efforts toward self-enhancement. On some tasks, it impairs rather than enhances efficiency. Children who discover that they rarely, if ever, win in competition often quit trying and sometimes, with feelings of inferiority give up hope of self-enhancement. “
Too many people have been conditioned to live by the myths that competition is good for us. There is a competition now for everything. We seem to think that the answer to all inadequacies in our societies is competition, and that we could improve people’s performance by putting them against each other.
It is time for us to stop and take a look at what competition really does to us. Every one of us has been exposed from very early to some form of competition, in school and at home. From the time we were born we were put against every other baby; we are compared with the world it seems. Starting with baby photo competitions where these babies are made to compete with others on things they have n o control over. And then we progress to child beauty contests.
All babies start off with the same intelligence. Their intellectual development really depends on the environment and stimulation and support provided for them. Yet from very early the emphasis is on which child is smartest. School is no longer about fun and learning and making friends. It’s about securing that place to the detriment of someone else.
So that when we see our children not reaching their full potiential as we think they should. it may be that they are afraid of not measuring up and of having to experience failure as we define it. Therefore, they prefer not to try. The pressure to compete and excel interferes with the child’s creative intelligence. He decides that he has to do things the “normal” or “accepted” way if he wants to stay in the race. He must learn what is in the textbook and repeat what the teacher says if he wants to get out of school eventually.
Richard Muellar (1974) stated: “When the success of others is a source of threat rather than happiness and sincere fellowship , then the need to win at all costs leads to dishonesty, rivalry, bitterness and reprisals in the event of defeat.”
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