Holden+K’s+2015+OpEd+Article

** If No One Loses, Then No One Wins **

B.F. Skinner, the father of behavioral psychology, believed that positive reinforcement was the most effective way to teach children in and out of the classroom. By rewarding them for trying, he attempted to foster a desire to learn. Today this outlook is the most popular form of parenting and teaching, and is fully embraced by mainstream culture. The trend which is synonymous with peewee-soccer, the participation trophy, has significant impacts which are largely misunderstood and ignored. While every student in America gets a gold star for showing up, a trophy for participation, and a check mark for trying, children are given a sense a false entitlement and achievement which may be harmful and misleading. If no one loses, then how can anyone win?

While there are certainly benefits to positive reinforcement, such as self-esteem enhancement, there are problems with constant affirmation and reward giving. In the 1st grade, “A” grades are handed out like candy. Show up to class, get a star, write your name on your paper, get a star; students are perpetually congratulated. While this is great for the kids who try to learn, what about the kids who don’t? At a certain point, children need to realize that results matter. As Susan Harter, a professor at the University of Denver, asks “At what time of [a child’s] life do we want to bring home the cruel reality that somebody’s better than somebody else?” While young students need to be rewarded for hard work and diligence, they need to be taught that results matter. Instead of merely promoting perseverance for perseverance’s sake, parents and teachers should be showing that perseverance can yield favorable outcomes. As mentioned before, young aged sports leagues aim to encourage persistence and build character by giving everyone a trophy. While this promotes a sort of pseudo-equality, it also devalues the hard work of players who actually try to succeed. We’ve all been on the baseball team where one kid sits and picks grass: Should he be rewarded for everyone else’s hard work? This sends a perplexing message to our youth: Why work hard if everyone gets the same reward? Instead of encouraging persistence and building dedication, the participation trophy devalues real effort.

Maybe losing is a good experience. How can children learn to value winning when they never lose? As Ashley Merryman of the //New York Times// writes “Kids are constantly assured that they are winners.” In today’s world, trophies are expected, and the trophy-making business in The United States and Canada is a $3 Billion dollar annual industry. This expectant attitude can be summed up in Jean Twenge’s novel’s title: “Generation Me.” Kids go into sports, school, and eventually life with the mindset that they will win.

This mentality is apparent in later stages of life, and does not end after elementary school. According to a study on grade inflation by Stuart Rojstaczer and Christopher Healy, the percentage of A’s given has dramatically increased. This reflects the overall mentality shift over the last 70 years; What used to stand for excellence, an A grade is now commonplace. Almost every student is now above average, with the mindset that they are special. How this sense of entitlement without work translates into adult life remains to be seen. The everyone-wins-system has some distinct flaws which need to be addressed, mainly it’s inability to prepare students for the real world.

While encouragement is a necessary and beneficial part of raising youth, parents and teachers need to understand that they need to equip their children for the world. The reality of the world is that not everyone wins, and children need to learn that hard work leads to results, not a gold star for trying.