Trophies Should Not Be Allowed In School

“Which kids get a trophy?” This is now a necessary question to ask when enrolling children in sports and other competitive events. Increasingly, the reply is, “Everybody.” But should it be? Are participation trophies really beneficial or will they just hold children back? Participation trophies prove more harmful than not because they impede improvement, cloud the ability to overcome obstacles and failure, and teach children a false definition of success.

“Everything in life should be earned and I’m not about to raise two boys to be men by making them believe that they are entitled to something just because they tried their best…[be]cause sometimes your best is not enough, and that should drive you to want to do better” (Kozicka n.p.). James

Ashley Merryman, co-author of “Top Dog: The Science of Winning and Losing,” said that she would rather have kids realize that they can make mistakes and move on than have them find out for the first time in their lives, when they are in their teens and 20s, that not everyone is going to give them a trophy. In reality, all that these trophies do is show the child that they are always a winner. This, as Ashley Merryman brought out, is setting them back for when they grow up and finally realize that they are not always winners, someone is not going to be there to pat them on the back when they come across an obstacle in life. Those for participation trophies claim, “The idea of a participatory trophy is not to make everyone a winner, but to acknowledge that the child put time and effort forward and to provide a memento of the experience.” (Wallace n.p.). This “memento” may acknowledge the child’s effort but it doesn’t allow the child to acknowledge that the obstacle of losing the game because they weren’t good enough needs to be overcome. Ashley Merryman also says, “It's fine to say...‘You didn't go to all of the games. You didn't practice soccer. The other kid worked really hard and he did really well and he deserves a trophy and you should go over and congratulate him.’ That's a hard lesson, but it's an important lesson” (Wallace n.p.). Even though it is