Millennials Unharmed From Trophies
In the Cardinal Points Article Millennials Unharmed from Trophies by Steve Levy the author writes children should not be given a trophy for nothing, however participating and putting in the work isn’t nothing. I believe that children are rewarded too much without any effort put in, a trophy should be something someone looks back on the rest of their life to remember the effort they put in, not just another participation trophy.
In the article, the study conducted by the Stanford professor Carol Dweck perfectly shows why we should be handing out participation trophies to children. The study very clearly shows that by giving young children an “easy win” that they lack the motivation to push themselves in the future. When I was younger I played
CYO basketball, while I myself wasn't very good at the sport my team was very good at it. However that didn't stop me from trying harder and harder to get better at the game and catch up with the better players of my team. I didn't strive this hard because I wanted to actually get good at the sport, I did it to win, our team went from county to county, tournament to tournament 1st place after 1st place, and each one only got tougher. The desire to get the biggest and baddest trophy, consequently pushed me to be better at the game. While I do acknowledge that participation trophies help raise someone's mood and makes them feel good about the work they did, it however only hurts them in the long run. Without desire and lust for the first place trophy, there is no motivation or drive to improve themselves to reach higher.
In the article, the study conducted by the Stanford professor Carol Dweck perfectly shows why we should be handing out participation trophies to children. The study very clearly shows that by giving young children an “easy win” that they lack the motivation to push themselves in the future. When I was younger I played
CYO basketball, while I myself wasn't very good at the sport my team was very good at it. However that didn't stop me from trying harder and harder to get better at the game and catch up with the better players of my team. I didn't strive this hard because I wanted to actually get good at the sport, I did it to win, our team went from county to county, tournament to tournament 1st place after 1st place, and each one only got tougher. The desire to get the biggest and baddest trophy, consequently pushed me to be better at the game. While I do acknowledge that participation trophies help raise someone's mood and makes them feel good about the work they did, it however only hurts them in the long run. Without desire and lust for the first place trophy, there is no motivation or drive to improve themselves to reach higher.