The kids know. A participation trophy is a reminder of nothing...a token of mere existence.
A trophy of a win, any win in any competition, is a reminder of what it took to get there i.e. it’s educational in the most fundamental sense.
The truth is that helicopter parents want the trophies the most. They have so coddled their kids that they would rather give them a meaningless token rather than have them get a small taste of life’s realities. But sports are intended to be a structured, fun laboratory of life lessons. Kids learn through play at very early ages. They value rules and accept the outcomes. Parents who seek to eliminate the risk/reward and work/result dynamic are merely propagating cowardice.
The fact that only 57 percent agree with this proposition is disgusting.
Long ago, an Economics professor told my class that the genius of Capitalism, and its biggest advantage over Socialism and Communism, is that it allows people to fail. At the time, I did not fully appreciate what he meant. However, in the fullness of time and experience, I learned that he was correct. Failure is a means of communication to the person who fails. When you fail, you examine the reasons for that failure. It could be bad assumptions, underestimating the competition, or simply failing to try hard enough to succeed. The exact same calculus applies to sports. If a kid or team fails to win, they will suffer emotional pain. Not wishing to do so again, he or they will try to figure out why they lost and take actions to make sure that it will not happen again. However, when our pussified culture gives trophies to those who fail, it guarantees that the kids receiving those trophies won’t try harder the next time. That is, to me, absolutely unacceptable.
Yet someONE can get the Noble Peace Prize for doing nothing.
If the losers insist of receiving trophies, the trophies should state that they LOST.
To me this is one of the most stupid discussions ever.
What are trophies for? They are for winning, not for participating in something one doesn’t win.
I never heard of a trophy for losing. If one needs a citation for proof of participation, then let such a citation be.
A trophy is an incentive to win, and an acknowledgement of success.
Wondering why people want to change things that work.
The whole school should receive trophies, not just those on the team.
Wow. What’s wrong with 43% of Americans??
I’m OK with the kids on losing teams getting trophies, as long as the inscription says they are losers.