A personal opinion in favor of the trophy culture system of rewarding children regardless of performance Essay

Should kids receive an award secure for participating? This question has become one of large(p) debate in recent years following the rise of trophy Culture, a system where children receive awards regardless of performance and get applauded for but showing up. Many p bents argue that giving children awards even if they do non perform well promotes entitlement and teaches them to not try. My thoughts on the matter were a little sundry(a) before I did any research on the subject. As someone who has participated in track and cross-country for years, I have been a witness to Trophy Culture in many of the races Ive competed in. When I was a beginner kickoff, I rarely if ever placed in races, and was often still disposed a medal just for completing the course. Anyone who has taken part in a large-scale public race like Race for the Cure or the Disneyland Marathon knows what I am talking ab give away, basically if you get across the finish line even if youre hours behind the first pl ace runner there will still be someone there putting a medal around your neck at the end. When I was younger and slower, acquire that medal was extremely exciting because I felt like even finishing 3 miles of running as an everywhereweight 7th grader was a king-size accomplishment. And the girls who blameless in the top 20 of the races typically got another medal on top of the participation one, meaning I still had something to strive towards, so lack of motivation was not a problem. And as Ive grown and improved in my running skills, the Trophy Culture that is extremely prevalent in the sport of running still does not bother me. I could argue that getting up at 600 AM every morning over the summer and training my hardest, only to win a half marathon then get the exact same medal as the woman who finished last almost 2 hours after I am disheartening. However, I believe that the trophies we get for accomplishing things like this are essentially meaningless, and the true reward is the odour of triumph one gets when finishing something truly challenging.This feeling relates to the existence of self-esteem, or ones overall evaluation of their worth as a person. Doing a difficult task well like performing excellently in a soccer game or acing a test are ways we can improve our self-esteem and feel better about ourselves. This plays into our sense of self-efficacy, our belief inability to perform and succeed in tasks presented to us. Some parents count that trophy culture is artificially inflating their childrens self-esteem and self-efficacy, making children specify they are performing better than they actually are and allowing for them to almost get stuck in a mediocre performance because they have no reason to believe their performance is less than ideal. On the other side of the argument, there are parents who think that if we award children for completing sports successions or specific events, we are teaching them that it is worth keeping a commitment, that we value this (Heffernan, 2015).A recent report from Real Sports With Bryant Gumble on HBO explored this problem. In the trailer for the show, he is seen interviewing a woman who says that giving trophies to everyone regardless of performance sets the bar pretty low, and she also makes the argument that she indigences kids to improve and be engaged in the process of improvement, and she thinks without incentive this will never happen. This perspective on the topic is one that made headline news when NFL line backer James Harrison took to Instagram announcing he would be sending back the trophies his sons, 6 and 8, received until they earn a real trophy(Wallace, 2015). In an article analyzing the different sides of the debate, Kelly Wallace from CNN points out that many experts side with those saying, if you tell a kid theyre wonderful and they believe you, thats not about healthy self-esteem, thats about self-love.Lisa Heffernan, a contributor to NBC News TODAY, disagrees wit h this mindset. According to her, participation trophies remind kids that they are part of something, and may help build enthusiasm to return for another season. Another point she brings up is that at a time when parents complain of escalating competition in youth sports, trophies remind kids that we value their effort, regardless of ability or results. Her words echo those of a writer by the name of John Kass, whose article in the Chicago Tribune includes a segment from his son who claims Whats ill-timed with a participation trophy for kids? It makes them gifted. Theyre just 6 years old. Isnt it good to be a kid, and happy, playing the game? Theyre just kids. Kass then goes on to explain that this conversation with his son made him realize participation trophies arent as bad as some people want us to believe, and getting a participation trophy as a child didnt make his son any less competitive.After read articles with opinions from both sides of the argument, I have come to the conclusion that my initial view of the topic has not changed I still believe that Trophy Culture is not detrimental to the development of childrens self-esteem and people fighting to end a system that allows awards for participation are wasting their time. Children need encouragement and buy at from their parents, coaches, and others to succeed and stay motivated in everything from sports to academics. Trying to get rid of participation awards could very likely result in discouraged children. standardized John Kasss son said in his discussion with his father, Whats wrong with a participation trophy for kids? It makes them happy. If giving participation trophies make kids happy and doesnt harm anyone else, then the clear choice is to allow participation awards to continue in our society.Works CitedHeffernan, Lisa. In Defense of Participation Trophies What TheyTaught My Son. TODAY.com. N.p., 21 Aug. 2015. Web. 29Apr. 2016.Kass, John. Is Our Trophy Culture Making Happy Losers?Chicago tribune.com. Chicago Tribune, n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2016.Wallace, Kelly. Debate Does Sports Participation Deserve aTrophy? CNN. Cable News Network, n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2016.