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Jacob Maley

Mrs. Cramer

Comp Pd. 5

4 Oct. 2018

Synthesis Essay
Do you remember as a kid getting that shiny silver or gold trophy after winning an event?

That trophy meant so much to you, because it rewarded you for putting in your maximal effort at

practice. Participation trophies are becoming a controversial topic. Some people believe that

everyone should win, while others have more old-fashioned views and think only winners should

receive awards or special trophies. Therefore, the idea of participation trophies being mass-

distributed is unbelievably shocking to some people. In fact, participation trophies have become

a big part of business with mass production of these awards being accepted in our society.

Participation trophies shouldn’t be given out to our youth, because they inspire kids to be

underachievers, narcissistic, and instill horrible life lessons.

One example of why participation trophies should not be handed out like candy is

because it makes kids shy away from challenges. In the long run this creates underachievers.

“Kids respond positively to praise; they enjoy hearing that they are talented, smart, and so on.

But, after such praise of their innate abilities they collapse at the first experience of difficulty.

Demoralized by their failure they would rather cheat than risk failing again,” (Merryman, 1).

People nowadays try to protect their kids from failure so much that along with praising them for

participation, they think they need to win to be successful. This could cause kids to undermine

themselves and take the easy route guaranteeing they will “win.” When someone truly succeeds,

they rise to the challenge and complete it. Another example of this is when kids “win” and don’t
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get recognized with a trophy or praise, they feel like they have been cheated and may give up.

So, if society would teach kids that instead of feeling they need to be recognized for their

success, as participation trophies do, they need to be happy for themselves for doing a good job.

This would negate this controversial argument, making the problem no longer be a problem. For

this strong reason, participation trophies should not be given out.

Another example of why participation trophies should not be given out is because it

amplifies narcissism in the youth of today. Young adults often are susceptible and easily

influenced to the idea that they are superior. For example, “The incidence of narcissistic

personality disorder is nearly three times as high for people of their 20’s than those of 65 or

older, according to the National Institute of Health; 58% more college students scored higher on

a narcissism scale in 2009 than in 1982,” (Joel and Sanburn, 1). Since today's society constantly

praises and compliments the youth, it intensifies their egos creating an unhealthy conceitedness

throughout the new generations. Because of this, young adults believe they are so much better

than what they really are. Especially when it comes to comparing themselves to older

generations. An example of the self-important, egotistical, young people are they believe they

should get a raise over the veterans of a company even when their productivity is far less than

others. This all originates from being self-absorbed in their youth, by being handed everything

when they did nothing other than show up. The constant impressible feeling that they are entitled

and privileged, makes them believe and expect the same thing throughout life. When we give

people honor titles and continue to go down the same path that society is streaming down,

continuously expressing these ideals of privilege will only make kids act worse. Handing out

participation trophies only contribute to this fallacy. So, if parents continue to reinforce this

behavior, by giving children everything they desire including praise, for doing little to absolutely
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nothing, then this chain will never be broken. This is the grounds for undeserving unworthy

children lacking character to be stopped later in life.

Lastly, trophies given out solely for participation should not be given out at all because it

instills awful life lessons into children. By handing out participation awards it makes kids think

that in order to succeed they must “win.” This has created a “participation trophy society,” where

everyone is taught to win. This suggests to the youth, that failure is not a good thing and they

must avoid it at all costs. As stated previously, kids will go to extreme lengths to not fail. This

may be cheating or just not involving themselves in the first place. If people learn from failure

and mistakes, it can be such a great learning tool. People who fail, learn from their mistakes

which is why teaching kids that failing is a negative thing is such a terrible idea. Also, by

teaching them that winning is everything, it fails to teach them values such as trying their hardest

and putting forth their best efforts. This demonstrates that determination and never giving can

accomplish any goals. Instead of teaching kids that the only thing that matters is winning, let's

teach them good moral values and reward them for later life lessons that will make them

successful. All of these reasons' are why participation trophies should no longer be given to

every kid.

In conclusion, participation trophies should no longer be given out purely for the purpose

of protecting the youth from failure and disappointment. Participation trophies encourage kids to

be underachievers, egotistical, and establish terrible life lessons. This is because participation

trophies teach kids that winning is everything regardless of the effort, they put in. So, to them,

it’s all about being a winner. This type of over positive reinforcement creates big egos among the

youth, as well as bad character. Also, this teaches children to fear failure when it shouldn’t,

because losing is the best means to educating someone. Losing forces kid to work harder and
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practice, so they don’t fail again. Lastly, society is telling kids it’s bad to fail. This reduces their

inner character to rise to challenges like the prior generations. The new generation coming up,

would rather hide from failure to ensure that they succeed, or as they refer to as “win.” If people

and parents continue to be part of this participation trophy society, then the once highly valued

weight of that cherished trophy will no longer carry the same weight as it used to. Today's

children will no longer look forward to the once hard-earned well-deserved trophies.
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Works Cited
"Does Sports Participation Deserve a Trophy? Let the Parental Debate Begin!" CNN Wire, 18
Aug. 2015. Research in Context,
link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A432245185/MSIC?u=pl1949&sid=MSIC&xid=9de211eb.
Accessed 21 Sept. 2018.
Fader, Jonathan. "Should We Give Our Kids Participation Trophies?" Psycologoy Today, 7 Nov.
2014, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-new-you/201806/should-we-give-our-kid-
participation-trophies. Accessed 21 Sept. 2018.
"Louisville Coach Rants about Participation Trophies." ESPN,
www.espn.com/espnw/video/18191955/louisville-coach-rants-participation-trophies.
Accessed 21 Sept. 2018.
Merryman, Ashley. "Losing Is Good for You." New York Times, 24 Sept. 2013,
teachers.sduhsd.net/mgaughen/docs/Merryman.Losing.pdf. Accessed 21 Sept. 2018.
Ray, Mark. "Failure Is an Option: Raising Children in a 'Participation Trophy' Society."
Scouting, vol. 103, no. 2, Mar.-Apr. 2015, p. 20+. Research in Context,
link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A404270908/MSIC?u=pl1949&sid=MSIC&xid=d6011156.
Accessed 21 Sept. 2018.
Stein, Joel, and Josh Sanburn. "Why Millennial's Will save Us All." Clas Users, 20 May 2013,
users.clas.ufl.edu/msscha/goodlife/millenials.pdf. Accessed 21 Sept. 2018.

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