Opinion-Discussion Essay

THE PERFECT BALANCE BY: NATALIA ROJAS

Some people believe it's better to put their children in a competitive environment early to adapt to current society, others that cooperation is the most significant skill which children have to know well. But which one is right? 

The society we live in is greatly characterized by the essence of competition, we can look back in the past and see that competition has always been persistent.

Competition can be a great source of motivation for children. This kind of healthy rivalry may help to build children’s self-confidence, abilities like leadership can lead to improvement, consistency, persistence, innovation, etc. All these factors contribute to the individual and professional development of each person. However, a focus on competitiveness is not always beneficial for children, the competition also can lead to frustration, demotivation, aggressiveness, egocentricity between other elements.

Since young we have been told that we need to share, help

and cooperate with other kids, having this in mind we clearly see that we humans have the need to live in a society and cooperate with each other, this is also relevant to education when students cooperate with each other as a teaching method helps in the development of moral values and allows them to contribute positively to the environment he lives in and it also gives rise to compromise and responsibility. But it also has disadvantages such as, the grading system which could be considered unfair leading into a discussion, The better students will scramble to be in each other’s groups to avoid grading issues creating a polarization line in the class, and it can create a system of dependency. 

To have the best outcome of a human being, both of the methods are needed, like a secret recipe all the ingredients need each other in order to have a successful result, we just need to find a perfect balance. I believe that we need to compete in order to be better but in that process, we need to still cooperate with each other to have teamwork.

“Helping others is the way that we help ourselves” Oprah Winfrey.

By Natalia Rojas, Step 10