In
today's youth sports programs, trophies are divvied out like orange slices are
at half time. The winner, the loser, the MVP, and the bench warmer are all
rewarded the exact same prize: a plastic golden trophy. As I looked up at my trophy collection
sitting atop my bookshelf earlier on tonight, I began to think about how many
of those I earned, and how many were given to me. Out of the 21 trophies, 5 of
them are trophies that tell of the accomplishment, and 16 were given to everyone who participated. I'm
sure my team won some of those leagues in which I was given an "everyone
trophy", but I have no proof or source or pride because the administrators
of those leagues felt everyone needed a trophy. The point of everyone
receiving a trophy is meant to raise the self-confidence of the group as a whole,
rather then just the winners or the best. Although this is in theory a smart
idea, it sets up these children to fail in their future. If you try hard and
succeed, rather then slack off and lose, you are not rewarded any differently.
This ingrains the idea that one does not need to work hard in order to get the
outcome they desire. It teaches these children that life is not about
succeeding, but about trying your hardest. This utopia does not exist.
Basically all of my current high-school life is based on succeeding in what I
do, not attempting. Whether it is receiving the grade I want, or making the
team I've trained for, there is no one set prize all participants are given.
Results are what matter at the high school age and on, so it should be taught and
trained that way at younger ages as well. In a similar blog post by Todd Henry,
he writes that everyone getting a trophy "has de-emphasized the value of
contribution, and has emphasized the importance of recognition". (His post
can be found here) He has a very legitimate
point. He claims that by giving trophies out, it de-motivates children to put
in their full amount of effort. Looking back on all those house-league
basketball games, I wonder why I practiced so much and tried so hard only to
receive the identical 8-inch plastic statue as the last place team. I'd be
incredibly curious to see if countries like China, Russia, and Spain have taken away
the importance from trophies by handing them out for free, or if you
still must earn a trophy. It wouldn't surprise me at all if this was an
American idea. American parents never want to disappoint their children, so they came
up with this temporary solution that in fact does nothing but hurt their child
in the long run. This aspect of American culture is a very flawed one, and does nothing but damage the futures of America's generations to come.
3 comments:
I never really considered this until now but now that I think about I agree with all your points. I think that awarding the teams that didn't deserve the awards not only teaches them to value effort rather than accomplishment it takes away from the winning team's sense of pride. I remember when I was a kid my team one the house league championships for hockey and although, at the time I felt very proud when I came home and put it on the shelf with the rest of my trophies it equated the accomplishment with the year that my soccer team didn't even make it into the playoffs. In addition to this I never even liked getting those trophies it was almost embarrassing. Although I probably couldn't explain why I felt this way it was like a false sense of pride. It was like the feeling when someone called you a sore loser. In conclusion, I agree with you when you say this system was created by the parents for the parents and really doesn't serve the kids in the long run.
I also remember receiving unearned trophies as a child, and I believe that this was the case in almost every sport that I have participated in. I think that this is a very American mindset. We are rewarding all the kids, trying to give everyone a fair shot, and attempting to make life fair. I personally think that there is a huge problem with this philosophy. The people that work the hardest should be the ones rewarded. The other people should not reap the same benefits just for trying and/or failing. We need to teach our children that they need to work in order to be successful in life. Nothing is free.
There is one thing that you said that slightly confused me. You said, "I wonder why I practiced so much and tried so hard only to receive the identical 8-inch plastic statue as the last place team." I would hope that you continued playing sports because you enjoyed it and had fun. It would be really sad if the only reason that you played sports was to be recognized by a meaningless trophy. Just some thoughts.
I could see how this quote could confuse you, but as an incredibly competitive person, and a naive child athlete, the trophy at the end was a major guiding goal for me. To find out year after year that no matter how hard I tried (or didn't try), I would be rewarded the identical trophy as I did the year before, with just a different year engraved on the base. I have 6 "Glencoe House League Basketball" trophies, all identical, sitting in my room right now, and none of them mean anything to me. So I do wonder why I put everything I had on the floor year after year only to look back 5 years later and have nothing to commemorate my effort with. I did enjoy playing these sports, and those games were some of my fondest memories as a child, but I stand by that statement.
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