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"Competition is what keeps me playing the psychological warfare of matching skill against skill and wit against wit."
-Lou Brock, Hall of Fame Baseball Player

Political correctness and the culture of not wanting to offend or hurt someone's feelings have gone haywire and it's creeping into every part of our culture including on the playground, during physical education (PE) and everywhere else these academics can think of. Did you know that in many PE programs dodgeball has been eliminated? Thats just the beginning. Tag has been banned and so has picking of teams within some school districts. All this to insure that a few select kids feelings don't get hurt. Please. Here is why competition is good for not just adults but young people also.

First, competition among the young makes them better at whatever they are doing. Whether it is competing to be the valedictorian or the starting QB for their high school team...competition always makes a person stronger. For example, if your child knows that you have to beat out three other kids to make the team this should motivate your child to practice more and try harder to win the slot they covet. How do we think Olympians or child actors or any other field riddled with talented kids are born? They are born out of competing against their peers.

Secondly, competition helps young people in the long term. If a child grows up not facing any type of adversity in the form of competition how is he/she going to cope when they are competing against the best in the nation or the world in terms of athletics and academics? Probably not very good. Parents and teachers can only keep someone in a bubble for so long before it bursts and when it does many a child is going to left facing a harsh reality check.
Competition also offers a forum for a child to see what they may be good at and whether it is worth pursuing in the future ranging from mathematics to baseball.

In ending, let me leave you with this. I attended one of my nephews non-competitive t-ball games and although there was no official score being kept the kids on both teams sure were. They counted everytime someone came around to score for either team. After it was over the losing team just went about there business and said they were going to practice harder and get them "the next time."

Learn more about this author, Matthew Soo.
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