In her opinion piece, Merryman (2016) argues that the perspective on loss defines an individual. Those who feared failure, influenced by families or those very same participation trophies, adopted the debilitating perspective on life. However, those that embraced loss and failure, as an element of growth, grew stronger from the experience. Merryman strongly supports that all individuals, including children should experience the possibility of losing and not receiving rewards or praise unless they truly deserve it. She argues that the culture of ‘participation trophies’ that has been popularized in primary education is counterproductive and cites research indicating that regardless of the self-esteem level of the child, underserved praise ultimately harms them. Merryman advocates for development and growth, providing a true sense of accomplishment to children in attaining their own goals or being one of the best among others.
Participation trophies are detrimental to self-esteem and morale, devaluing the accomplishments of those who earned it while demoralizing those who have not demonstrated the performance needed for rewards. Throughout my childhood and adolescence, I was heavily involved in league sports. There were times, when my team had placed last, and received participation trophies. I received some rewards at times personally for good sportsmanship or gameplay, but these were individual achievements. However, I felt insulted when receiving these, as it simply took the competitiveness out of sports and removed the need for hard work and skill, since both the first place and the last would receive trophies, meant for public display. Similar occurrences happened as an adult, while in the Army, the squad would receive rewards, but there were exceptionally low standards to achieve, and some members would not even contribute to these objectives but received recognition. In both instances, I felt strongly demoralized and my personal work ethic devalued. I strongly agree with Merryman’s argument, on the detrimental psychological impact of participation trophies. While I personally did not fear failure or inflated self-worth, I saw it strongly in my teammates. Meanwhile, for me, it was a demotivational factor, which actually failed to prepare me for the adult world. Where most of the time, the ‘last place’ is punished not rewarded, and to achieve concrete results, one has to work not for the trophies but for skill and ability to be one of the best.
Reference
Merryman, A. (2016). Forget trophies, let kids know it’s o.k. to lose. The New York Times. Web.