Cooperation Vs Competition

Cooperation and competition has been a debate for many years, but still there is no right or wrong answer in my opinion.

 I feel competition has a very important place in society. Without competition honestly where would we be today? It is a driving force which pushes people to excel and come up with great new innovations and ideas. As for more of a sports view, all elite sports are centered on competition. Every athlete ever to be interviewed after winning the top prize in their respective sport always says they can’t put their emotions into words and it is something they have dreamed about winning since they were small children. It is an end goal that makes all the hard work and sacrifice worth it. I believe competition is healthy and needed to push people further than they thought they could go. As for cooperation all team sports involve it and a good team buys into the system and uses both competition and cooperation as tools to help them reach their end goal. I know I am talking about elite sports here and there is a time and a place for both.

In the case of children in schools, I feel more cooperation could be beneficial to help all students feel more involved in certain games, but I also feel competition is a human trait that some are born with and can’t change. Most can hopefully turn it down and use it in the correct places during life.

There is a time for elite sports but I am not sure exactly when that would be. My best guess would have to be starting in grade 8. Elementary school should be a time for trying out new things and trying to increase participation with cooperative games that force everyone to work together and therefore eliminate the feeling of being left out or last pick. I also feel that physical education shouldn’t be a place where too much competition should exist but it will always be there. It is human nature to try and be the best. As humans we have a tendency to try and classify everything and without competition how would you be able to classify what is a good performance as to what isn’t? This is only my opinion and I feel I am a very competitive person myself and I enjoy my life. I am very comfortable with who I am so that is why I feel the way I do! 

I have attached a little video that has to do with the competition of life as well as cooperation to help others http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU8DDYz68kM I thought it has some relevance