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Let's first define the meaning of competition. Competition is the attainment of a results by different individuals or groups, measured either objectively or subjectively, where the results are ranked and one result is recognized to be superior to all the others. Most peoples initial reflex reaction to this question is, "Competition is a part of life!" But although this is true, I think that our obsession with competition has some bad side-effects that does hurt young people and society in general. There are a couple of problems with competition's results focus:

1) Unethical behavior.
Consider the doping scandals of professional athletes and stories emerging of high school students taking performance enhancing drugs. You hear coaches saying things like "if you're not cheating you're not trying hard enough." This kind of attitude and incursion into ones integrity can be a precursor to criminal behavior, never mind the psychological damage done.

2) Short term view.
The doping stories emerging from schools show that kids are not considering the long term medical consequences,. You hear stories of young athletes collapsing and dying. Our obsession with competition has led to disproportionate rewards for small differences in performance, which kids are literally killing themselves gain. When former heroes are disgraced and stripped of their accolades, the impact on the psyche of the young to reconcile their adulation may not be what we hope.

Competition can be a useful tool to explore the boundaries of ones abilities, but in the current societal context it has been corrupted. We have lost sense of the ideal "it's not who wins or looses, but how you play the game."

Learn more about this author, Mike Mian.
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