Is competition really that bad? Apparently some think so.

We’ve all heard the stories of children’s sports leagues where there are no winners and losers- a perfect, utopian world where everybody is a winner and everyone gets a trophy. There’s even places, we’re told, where scores are not kept, because determining a "winner" is not as important as everybody having fun. Usually this stuff happens somewhere else- in some distant place referred to in the news or on some talk radio program.

Guess what? This kind of "softening" of sports can happen even in places with tough-sounding names like the "Granite" state. The (Laconia, NH) Citizen Online reports in its August 15th issue that the Gilford (NH) School Board is considering a "no-cut" policy for its varsity sports programs:

School board member Margo Weeks suggested that the board look into keeping all those students on who wanted to play varsity sports. This stance would effectively do away with cuts for initial varsity team rosters.

During discusion of the topic, not all school board members agreed, noting that cuts are needed on varsity teams, with the alternative being problematic for coaches and players over who gets to play. The proponent of the "no-cut" policy responded to the criticism of the proposal, noting, according to the Citizen, that

"I think kids figure it out after they sit on the bench for a couple of seasons." She noted that this way kids will effectively cut themselves from the teams, rather than having coaches select them to be removed.

Board members were divided on this issue. Though the general consensus was that in not having cuts it could be detrimental to coaching, as well as team effort overall.

It was also pointed out that this type of self removal could harm a students self esteem, if they were forced to remove themselves.

One of the classic characteristics of liberalism is the inability to make decisions and the avoidance of conflict at all costs. What exactly are we teaching our children about life when we engage in this sort of nonsense?

Am I wrong? Feel free to comment below…

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http://blcss.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl Rowland

This isn’t removal of competition. It’s simply a weaselly way of cutting someone. To leave a kid on the bench is cutting him, but without the decency of letting him know up front where he stands. What’s that going to do to a kid’s self esteem? Will he ever learn to respect authority when authority won’t be straight up with him? Or to trust anyone?
If someone did this to me I’d make a huge fuss. If they don’t want me playing let them have the guts to say so, and then say exactly why.
It’s dishonest on multiple levels. Dishonest in that it pretends it’s about avoiding competition and then dishonest in the way it treats those who don’t make the cut.
In honest competition you get feedback, and you get a chance to fix whatever’s holding you back. But here there’s no communication. Nobody knows where he stands until it’s too late to do anything about it. No kid gets a chance to learn or improve himself in this system. He just gets acceptance or rejection, without any reasons given for either.
http://granitegrok.com doug

I hadn’t even considered it from this perspective- but I’d say you’ve made excellent points.
Rowland writes “Will he ever learn to respect authority when authority won’t be straight up with him?”-
This is one of those profound statements that I wish I’d thought of first!
Great Comments!!!!