In the 80’s, there was no such thing as “participation awards.” There was only one award you could win when playing a sport: 1st place. It made kids want to compete so they could receive their next award. But today, all these kids are receiving awards just for showing up. Why do you need to be a member? If I were to say, it's because they were raised to not want to win. In life, if there's something worth having, it should always be fought for. But this new generation doesn't have the same mindset as kids 30 years ago. Children should not receive participation awards in sports because it makes kids entitled and it teaches them poor habits. The first reason why I believe children shouldn’t receive participation awards in sports is because it makes them eligible. When children …show more content…
If they know they’ll be rewarded for something but they have to take a shortcut for it, they are taking that shortcut 9 out of 10 times. This is because of how kids are raised in today's society. The world is a cruel place. If you can't cope with yourself just because you didn’t receive an award, you won't make it far. How can kids learn if they are getting rewarded for not fighting to win? My next reason why I believe children shouldn’t receive participation awards in sports is because it teaches them poor habits. Kids need to know that sometimes losing isn't bad. It teaches you the mistakes you made. It's important to know that a step back could mean two steps forward. Carol Dweck, a psychology professor at Stanford University, found that kids respond positively to praise; they enjoy hearing that they’re talented, smart and so on. But after such praise for their innate abilities, they collapse at the first experience of difficulty. Demoralized by their failure, they say they’d rather cheat than risk failing again (Merryman, 19). To add on, kids need to know that you're going to lose more often than win, even if you are good at