We had the same discussion on "One Big Happy’ the other day… one person stated that there was a girl who sadly took her life, because although she had excellent grades, she didn’t get into the college that was her number one aspiration. They were saying that it seems that all of this trying to protect people from failure and hurt feelings only leads to things like this… the fear of failure… – And I remember a school where a girl was forbidden from passing out invitations to a party, for fear that some would be too hurt at not getting one… and in that instance, there could have been lots of good reasons to not be able to invite some… the lack of space, or the lack of funds to have so many at one time, or whatever have you. Life has disappointments, but learning how to cope and maybe even turn a “loss” into a “win” is called character development ….
Aside from the obvious fact that they don’t give out participation trophies for attending class, this is the same old canard that only the best should be recognized. There ARE participation awards for many non-mandatory activities. So what? They took part, they got a keepsake. Nobody thinks it’s the same as the MVP award, but it is nice to be recognized for the effort you put in even if you don’t score the goals. Why give out even MVP awards? The kid who scores the goals does so because he/she enjoys playing, not to get a cheap plastic trophy (how pathetic would that be?). There is no evidence that recognizing all the players on a team does even the slightest bit of harm to the best players – I know because I coached for years, and while many of the kids never went beyond youth league, other of my players went on to star on the Varsity team. Not everybody is a star in life, but everybody matters. By the way, regarding school – sometimes you don’t get what you want, and it’s not always fair. But you can get something pretty good.
JayBluE over 10 years ago
Especially when his attention was always divided…..
JayBluE over 10 years ago
We had the same discussion on "One Big Happy’ the other day… one person stated that there was a girl who sadly took her life, because although she had excellent grades, she didn’t get into the college that was her number one aspiration. They were saying that it seems that all of this trying to protect people from failure and hurt feelings only leads to things like this… the fear of failure… – And I remember a school where a girl was forbidden from passing out invitations to a party, for fear that some would be too hurt at not getting one… and in that instance, there could have been lots of good reasons to not be able to invite some… the lack of space, or the lack of funds to have so many at one time, or whatever have you. Life has disappointments, but learning how to cope and maybe even turn a “loss” into a “win” is called character development ….
DaveBNM over 10 years ago
Everyone is equal, comrade. Just that some are a little more equal.
cdward over 10 years ago
Aside from the obvious fact that they don’t give out participation trophies for attending class, this is the same old canard that only the best should be recognized. There ARE participation awards for many non-mandatory activities. So what? They took part, they got a keepsake. Nobody thinks it’s the same as the MVP award, but it is nice to be recognized for the effort you put in even if you don’t score the goals. Why give out even MVP awards? The kid who scores the goals does so because he/she enjoys playing, not to get a cheap plastic trophy (how pathetic would that be?). There is no evidence that recognizing all the players on a team does even the slightest bit of harm to the best players – I know because I coached for years, and while many of the kids never went beyond youth league, other of my players went on to star on the Varsity team. Not everybody is a star in life, but everybody matters. By the way, regarding school – sometimes you don’t get what you want, and it’s not always fair. But you can get something pretty good.