Why Competition should not be Frowned Upon
Malcolm Harris, in his New York Times opinion piece “Competition
is Ruining Childhood. The Kids Should Fight Back” argues that the
ever-so-competitive society children and young adults live in today is more
detrimental than beneficial and the aforementioned victims must seek to put an
end to it. He describes his memories of high school, “I still can’t think of a
period when I’ve worked harder than I did in high school,” and then continues
to describe its insignificance noting the lack of correlation between
education, a highly coveted status today, and higher wages. Harris intends to
inform the youth of our country and to inspire change, in order that rising
students will no longer walk into the “real” world only to get blindsided. He
speaks to the youth and teens of our country, as he seeks to inform and inspire
a change to the competitive nature of our childhood, supposedly the best part
of everyone’s life.
Malcolm Harris does, indeed, point out many of the flaws and
flawed logic of this generation in terms of competitiveness in the world of academics
and landing a job, however, his proposition for change is no more flawed than
the problem itself. Harris claims that we should “make life easier and lower
the stakes of childhood,” however, this would likely prove to be
counterintuitive. Among the many factual things taught to teenagers with
history, science, algebra, etc., the work habits and mentality they learn in
high school are pivotal to future success. Hard work and grit are not simply
terms to inspire our youth to work for nothing, but they’ve proven to differentiate
between the successful and the hopeless. Angela Duckworth, professor of
psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, has worked to uncover the
importance of the motivational and the psychological in building the next generation
of successful citizens. She maintains, after conducting studies in the business
world, teachers at schools in tough neighborhoods, and military academies, that
the common characteristic between all of those that succeed is grit and the perseverance
to work hard for a long term goal. In high school students it can be achieved
and learned through taking advantage of every opportunity thrown your way in
high school to work at it for the long term. For example, challenging yourself
with three AP classes while playing on the varsity basketball team, which
includes two hour practices on the daily is likely to build grit, a mentality
bound to bring success. Counter to Harris’ point that we should place a “cap on the number of
Advanced Placement courses each student can take per year.” On the contrary,
let students learn to build grit, learn to work hard, learn that perhaps life
is not all fun and games, and that anything in life worth doing requires hard
work and grit. Personally, I’ve seen in my life why grit, hard work, and a
competitive nature can be beneficial. Personally, I am in 3 AP classes, play on
the varsity basketball team, in addition to taking part in Bridge Builders,
YUNMUN, NCSY, Facing History and Ourselves, and performing as co-editor in
chief of my school newspaper. While some would say I’ve over indulged myself, I
beg to differ. Taking part and fulfilling my various commitments not only makes
me a grittier person and builds a better work ethic, but it provides me the
chance to unleash my competitive nature knowing I am going to be the best at
whatever I am doing. Moreover, contrary to Harris’ view, we should not look to
calm our competitive spirit, but we should look to embrace it. It’s our
competitive spirit that drives us to be the best versions of ourselves, to push
ourselves, to grit and grind until we make it. While Malcolm Harris attempts to
lead a revolution of passiveness and a desire to lounge, I’ll be gritting and
grinding for success.
In terms of the precis, you need to write the year that the article was published. More importantly, however, the second sentence of the precis fails to address and pinpoint specific techniques that Harris uses to get his point across. To help strengthen the points you did include, for example, clearly state that he uses an anecdote when talking about his personal past, and elaborate that he did this to show proof that this issue is real, to connect to his audience in a personal way, etc, etc. In addition, talk about his use of cited statistics from recent research which he includes to give ethos/credibility to his argument. You need to be be more specific in listing the techniques he used and explain why he did so. For the third sentence, you got the main idea of his purpose, but it could be worded a little less vaguely than just "inspire change" and that they will get "blindsided." Try to explain as much of the issue as possible as concisely as possible. Finally, I think that in addition to his audience being the youth of America, it is also a criticism towards the school systems, parents, and corporate owners for instigating and perpetuating this issue.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, you are not the owner of the Grizzlies, so there is no need to use the word "grit" so excessively. Secondly, good personal response. I do think that you focused more on the aspect of competition being good for personal growth, as opposed to Harris's point that the way the school systems, parents, and corporate owners approach education (in terms of being necessary for a good job as an adult) is false and is only perpetuating negative competition, in terms of overworking, anxiety and depression. He emphasizes that overdoing education and being involved in a million things isn't helping get better jobs and is just a way that businesses are conning students into being so paranoid that they over prepare and over work themselves in an unhealthy way in school. Your argument was more focused on the life lessons you gain from the extra curriculars you do, as opposed to the negative impact that comes from students killing themselves to be the best and fighting with fellow students for a place at the top. One point that I do not agree with at all is that Malcolm is not leading "a revolution of passiveness" as you claim, as he does support hard work and education, he just doesn't think that it should be taken to the crazy extreme that it has been due to the pressures placed on students by society. His argument doesn't contradict all competition and a competitive education, but believes that the root of it and the invisible drive behind it is incorrect and harmful for students.
Wow, great points! Good job.
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