On 2023-11-23, Chris Buckley <alan@sabir.com> wrote:
> On 2023-11-12, Andrew McDowell <mcdowell_ag@sky.com> wrote:
>> I have been re-reading E.E.Smith's Lensman series, with an eye to two recurring motifs. Smith's heroes are intensely competitive, driven, men. Their tools and weapons are kept in perfect working order, but not polished for display; they bear the scars and signs of repeated hard use. The two are linked; the drive for competitive success (within the rules) focusses attention on all and only those activities necessary for success. "Children of the Lens" emphasises a third element - personal growth occurs only in response to stress; the situations necessary for growth are necessarily unpleasant (and may involve admitting to and learning from mistakes).
>>
>> Is this emphasis on competition out of date? I grew up at the start of a period when the educational establishment was working hard to stamp out competition, most notably from school sports. In the UK, parents disliked this to the point of ridiculing it. Our current government (perhaps soon to be replaced) has tried to support competition, but it is difficult for me to see how competition is consistent with an academic crusade against inequality, so I expect the struggle against competition to resume.
>>
>> If there has been an effort to erase competition from education, the result does not seem to have been an improvement in the mental resilience of those currently leaving education and entering work. Could E.E.Smith's enthusiasm for competition have been justified?
>
> Nice topic. I'm going to break my response into several messages/aspects to
> (somewhat) avoid a wall of text (addressing mental aspects later).

Sorry for the delay in posting more - my first joust with Covid interfered.
Message 2 of 3 or 4.

Even without organized competition, kids compete constantly, both then
and now. It may not be explicit but things like clothes, or friends,
or parties are constantly evaluated and compared.

We occasionally put on our rose-colored glasses when thinking about
these past competitions - how simple they were and how stress-free
compared to adult worries. But that's just false. Everything back
then was funneling into our building of our self-identity; what we
believed; what we valued. This was something we did not have yet. All
these things were intensely stressful and vital and necessary to build
our mental health.

So I think the organized academic and sports competitions of the past
were just one facet of competitions. Overall, I would say they were
valuable, as long as you could keep the parents not too involved. But
what we've lost as those organized competitions have diminished is
some of the ability of educators who controlled those competitions
(including grades) to emphasize what's important and lessons learned.

Chris