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Early Childhood

How competition in schools affect kids!

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Sonja Russell Sonja Russell 10 Points

Myself Sonja, doing research in child psychology. Clinical child psychology is a specialty in professional psychology that develops and applies scientific knowledge to the delivery of psychological services to infants, toddlers, children and adolescents within their social context.

My research on the psychological problems in school children led to conclude, the competitive circumstances in schools make kids’ life more stressful and complicated. In fact, they don’t want to compete with their friends. The pressure from teachers and parents make them to compete. They always want to be peaceful and of course, kids should be provided with that.

For a good learning atmosphere, the teaching methodology should be simple and something which they could easily follow. And they expect some joy and fun in their classroom. I would like to tell the teachers, try a different atmosphere to bring the best in your students. You can try learning through games, in case of Maths, the most difficult subject for kids. For further training and excellence, certain programs like GSE Preparation and Georgia Milestones Practice program are available for kids in grade K-5 which is enjoyable for both teachers and students.


Let’s give our children what they deserve!

Ayodele Shofoluwe Ayodele Shofoluwe 545 Points

It would be interesting to see the affects of competition on school children in more detail. I think that children learn more in a safe, welcoming classroom environment that encourages cooperative learning strategies rather than competition.

Erika Padilla Erika Padilla 805 Points

Hello, Sonja. While I do agree that there are times where students may be stressed due to the fact that schools and teachers try to make them compete, I think to some extent, I think sometimes some friendly competition may help students. It allows students to push themselves to try harder in order to win a competition. I do think it is very important for a teacher to stress that it is a friendly competition where everyone is a winner. I have to disagree that students do not want to compete. I am currently a student teacher, and I have seen many times where my students compete with each other with no prompting from a teacher. I have also seen students from different classroom compete with each other or with my students in a vareity of ways. Competition is also a good way to teach some social skills such as good sportsmanship, working as a team, and turn-taking. I think as long as it is stressed that whether the competition is won or lost, everyone still won for trying, competition may serve as a useful strategy for students to grow in a plethora of ways.

Brenda Villarreal Brenda Villarreal 974 Points

I do agree that competition is not the best method to help students learn through. Parents and teachers are at fault up to a certain point when it comes to pressuring the students with or without knowing that they should compete against each other. Instead of creating an ideal classroom climate, students feel like they need to compete to become the best out of everyone. Showing students that everyone is different and no one learns the same way can affect the child's mindset. The students will have the opportunity to understand that they have the capability of having a growth mindset instead of a fixed mindset.

Giselle Aguayo Giselle Aguayo 20 Points

I do agree with the fact that competition is stressful, especially when one is not confident in the material they are learning. Some students do enjoy some competition in their lives; however, when students who are not confident and in the same team as the competitive students it might create unwanted tension.

On the other hand, I also believe healthy competition is something essential for students to have a taste of because it can demonstrate how hard working they have been to understand the material. I think one way to make competition fun for everyone is by allowing students to stay anonymous while competing. Programs like Kahoot! allow students to create usernames, so they can stay unknown, but they can still compete.

Are there any other ways people can suggest to make competition fair and fun for everyone?

Grettel Vazquez grettel vazquez 845 Points

Hey, my name is Grettel. I totally agree with you. I believe that competition in schools only adds on stress to the students when in fact we should create a peaceful environment for children to learn and enjoy learning. I think that we should focus instruction on cooperative learning instead of making students compete against each other. Parents too, should not put as much pressure on their children to always be the best at everything.

Colette Fortilus Colette Fortilus 910 Points

Hi Grettel, I think that I might know you from my science class. I think the same like you that schools should not be about competition. Yes, it will definitely adds stress to the kids' life. You are also correct that school should be a peaceful environment where students are excited to learn without pressure. Parents should not compare their kids with others because not all kids learn at the same level.

Khadijah Barrington Khadijah Barrington 230 Points

Hello Everyone, Yes, I completely agree with everyone. Competition in schools within the classroom causes students to have stress, and also have lack of social behaviors. Meaning that students will have less interaction with each other. I think ALL teachers should create a peaceful environment for students to learn, and help them strive to be the best they can be. When there is competition within the classroom it takes away from cooperative learning and causes behavioral issues amongst students. As one the post stated above parents should pressure on their children on competing amongst their peers, and also allow their children to be the best at their own pace.

Jenna Leonard Jenna Leonard 2125 Points

I agree with this to an extent. I think that a small amount of competition is important for students to partake in. It teaches that not everything is easy to accomplish in life. Student's need to learn to work hard, be persistent, and fight for what they want. Competition in the classroom can also teach students problem solving. Teaches them that if they fail, that sometimes you have to problem solve or think differently to accomplish something. I agree that it can cause stress and that students may not want to be involved, but give them the option. In my 10 years experience working with 2- 10 year olds, they love games and competitions. Have the children work together, using team building skills.

Mark Zucker Mark Zucker 20 Points

Here I agree with you that a competitive environment in schools makes life more stressful for children, that pressure from parents and teachers makes them compete with each other. But unfortunately not everyone understands the correctness of parenting and everyone has their own views. I'm a child's psychologist at calmerry reviews an online psychology platform, and I've had patients who I've helped solve this problem and made clear that their child's choices should be respected.

Talia Kelly Talia Kelly 520 Points

I agree that competition can make certain situations more stressful and less appealing, but I also believe that competition is beneficial to students as it creates opportunities to challenge ourselves and to grow. I think competition can be taught differently. I think as educators we have an opportunity to host healthy competitive lesson plans that allow students to take charge and dictate the rules and regulations that make it safe and laid back. I also am biased because I am an athlete who grew up with four brothers so competition was a given. 

Dynalee Medellin Dynalee Medellin 490 Points

I believe competition between kids can have a negative impact in their lifes. Some students at an early stage don't see the difference between one project or another. What they do see and have clear is the illusions and effort that they made as they prepared their project. Having to hear that their friends project is better at times can be very stressful and hard to understand for some. Therefor, I discourage science fair projects competitions. 

Emma Estep Emma Estep 1690 Points

I agree that competition can lead to students comparing their work. If one student always gets praised for how amazing their work is one of two things will happen. Either all the students will want to work harder and get the 'attention', or the students will see that they could work less and get the same 'reward/grade' for their actions and work. I think that competition can be a good thing but if done incorrectly it can lead to comparison and lack of confidence. 

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