Are we really a "everyone gets a trophy" generation?

[alljoe3]

So every now and then I hear this comment being thrown around in conversations. How times have changed and everyone is awarded a trophy these days. It is almost as if those of us who earn such awards through hard work and talent doesn't really deserve it. Is it our fault that we live in a time and place where there are so many different options of awarding school trophies, plaques and medals? I know this is how it is in Ontario where I am. Any thoughts?

[Dead]

Kind of. At those kind of ceremonies almost every kid seems to get an award. I think they purposely come up with so many different kinds so that none of the kids feel "left out". Which is retarded, since you're supposed to actual do something significant to get an award.

I don't think they should give out awards at school at all. Nothing anyone does there is worth rewarding...

[UnschoolShqiponjë]

For some reason, parents think letting their kid always be right, always win, never feel the pain of defeat or failure will be better for their psyche. This is not true and this (not freedom or respecting your child) causes people to be bratty as they get older.

Defeat and failure are apart of like, they are just as important as winning and success.

I am not saying to mercilessly beat your kid at every competition. Sometimes it is okay to let them win. However the whole "everyone wins!" thing is bullcrap. It is generally unhealthy.

Sadly like I mentioned people conflate it with respecting your kids and allowing them freedom. People think "not spanking" or using logical consequences raises bratty, full of themselves kids. This isn't true.

[brainiac3397]

I always win, because even when I lose I retain the self-confidence(or arrogance, take your pick) to admit defeat with a smile. This usually ruins another's victory be devaluing it.

But the "Everybody is a winner" idea is absurd.

(I meant to vote both, but I seem to have submitted my vote before changing it from yes to both.)

[no]

Yes, we are such a generation. But a lot of people use it in an argument to say "We wrongly believe that everyone has innate skill at everything. This is not true. Nobody has any innate skill at anything." Then they use this argument to make people do pointless schoolwork that is below them, or force people into professions they dislike.

[brainiac3397]

I think people will have an "innate" skill. Obviously this doesn't imply that someone with the innate skill of playing pianos will be able to sit at a piano and play out a Mozart symphony his or her first time. The innate skill is just something they've got a bonus on. If you don't bother honing the skill, it won't matter if it's innate or not.

Course schools, being all utopian and hippy like, like to make everyone all equal and happy. That would be a load of BS because in reality, tough luck. There will be people beneath your abilities, and people who surpass your abilities.

[Ky]

(10-04-2013 08:51 PM)alljoe3 Wrote:  So every now and then I hear this comment being thrown around in conversations. How times have changed and everyone is awarded a trophy these days. It is almost as if those of us who earn such awards through hard work and talent doesn't really deserve it. Is it our fault that we live in a time and place where there are so many different options of awarding school trophies, plaques and medals? I know this is how it is in Ontario where I am. Any thoughts?

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Achievement unlocked - 20G

[brainiac3397]

Posted Reply
Bronze Trophy

[xcriteria]

Who needs physical plaques, trophies, and medals, when there are digital badges and achievements?

Open Badges, P2PU Badge Issuer tutorial

I haven't played around with that much, but it promises to give everyone lots of virtual trophies for various achievements... without being dependent on school for credibility.

Are all these awards, badges, and so on a good thing? I guess it depends what they really mean. In an info-saturated world, it becomes more important than ever to question what all kinds of things mean, from grades, to trophies, to any kind of feedback.

But I think there are better ways to define a generation than school-imposed trophy and ribbon gimmicks. If anything, why not create your own ceremonies and awards, like this thread has already (d)evolved into?

[xcriteria]

Here's an example of "trophies" or "achievements" applied to an undergraduate college program. This is actually a game design program, and they build software to give them virtual awards for engaging in various on-campus activities.



Watch on YouTube

Jump to 15:20 in the hangout for an explanation of the platform.

What do you think of that? Is it "trophy generation," or something playful and fun to get people trying new things, as they're talking about?

[James Comey]

I think the whole "everyone gets a trophy" is merely made simply to boost one's confidence. I don't think that those that impose it really have any ill wills. I agree it gets annoying, and that it gets one person far too excited that something rather meaningless somehow has meaning, but I think the main purpose is simply pro-self confidence.

I think what we have to realize that, although humans may indeed be created equally, humans are not mentally equal. Some are obviously better than others. I think that instead of simply handing everyone a trophy, we need to actually help them get awarded for something that's actually useful.

[xcriteria]

I agree. And also help people grow and improve at things. There's a role for natural ability, talent, and temperament, but people are generally capable of quite a bit of growth, especially if they're not all pushed along a one-size-fits-all framework.

Just placating self-esteem issues, without helping people build resilience and face some kind of meaningful challenges, is setting them up for failure in the long-run.

[alljoe3]

Thanks for the responses guys. It is nice to see so many people agreeing that this is not the best way to go when it comes to awarding people. But it seems this is the reality we have to live with.

[SoulRiser]

gg
I guess you can keep that link.

[brainiac3397]

Even if a trophy is meaningless, I find that hoarding trophies to be fun. Then again I really have an urge to just collect things, giving them some sentimental meaning, and hoard them. I could even enter the realm of Kleptomania.

Then again I do seem to have some sort of OCD coupled with my eccentricity and insanity...

[xcriteria]

(10-06-2013 01:50 PM)brainiac3397 Wrote:  Even if a trophy is meaningless, I find that hoarding trophies to be fun. Then again I really have an urge to just collect things, giving them some sentimental meaning, and hoard them. I could even enter the realm of Kleptomania.

Then again I do seem to have some sort of OCD coupled with my eccentricity and insanity...

Hmm... which version of hoarding do you go for?

Hidden stuff:

Or something that I missed?

[brainiac3397]

1-3-4-5.

I hoard, but I like to keep it organized enough that I can pick out each item individually. You could say my hoarding is a form of personal history description. I'll give every item a story behind it, then gaze across it and basically "read" it.

I do something like that with my books on my bookshelf. When I skim over the books, I "gather" the moods of books mixed with my personal opinion of the story. A sort of physical manifestation of a portion of my psyche. Probably why I never bothered with a journal.

[xcriteria]

Interesting. This is the kind of thing that is missing from school... looking at how people's minds work.

The term for that is metacognition, "thinking about thinking." Much of school is the way it is because of its focus on behaviorism, not taking into account mental processes... or the fact that they can differ between people.

I have a similar process of intuitively "reading" my accumulated things (including walls of text, layouts, and various digital "things")... but very often I don't get any sense of significance from it. Then sometimes it'll come back in general, or for certain things in particular.

It's like when you look at a book as a valuable object of interest, vs. something that's just taking up space.

My dad has a massive collection of books, probably 10,000, but I prefer to keep minimal things. A lot of the books I've purchased I've ended up doing so more out of some kind of symbolic meaning, or desire to learn about a topic, when it turns out books aren't always the best way. Same with going to school, and taking classes.

So, what's the best way to learn, or to strategically collect things? In an increasingly digital age, lots of the things people "collect" are virtual. Also, you can imagine an organized "collection" in your mind... and even construct it by forming connections between things and building a better cognitive model. The video I linked on Unclutter Your Brain Attic Like Sherlock Holmes

What you said about journaling is interesting. I've journaled in sort of random bursts, though now I do most of the equivalent on video, or in walls of text I post online. One form of journaling I started doing a few years ago was actually photographing arrangements of physical objects like books as layouts, sort of like Book Spine Poetry but much more complex. I evolved that into just doing layouts with digital images. This is like a different take on collecting and organizing collections. All in the pursuit of "engaged learning" that I often haven't found through traditional means.

So, how do you go from personal history description, to personal history authorship? That's the question, when it's possible to "hoard" hundreds of courses on Coursera and elsewhere, and countless thousands of videos and digital books and documents. What do you do with access to all that? How do you make the most of it?

[brainiac3397]

If I do write a journal, I like to do it in a language I invented myself(not just replacing latin letters with substitute images). The English language can't accurately describe my thoughts, so I just make my own.

[Roboka]

(10-04-2013 08:51 PM)alljoe3 Wrote:  So every now and then I hear this comment being thrown around in conversations. How times have changed and everyone is awarded a trophy these days. It is almost as if those of us who earn such awards through hard work and talent doesn't really deserve it. Is it our fault that we live in a time and place where there are so many different options of awarding school trophies, plaques and medals? I know this is how it is in Ontario where I am. Any thoughts?

For my school, sort of. Usually the popular kids or the "academically skilled" always are rewarded, and at the rare, different times, when the normally sidelined people ARE rewarded, the popular kids freak out. But then again, it is hard to tell because things are always changing when it comes to popularity, drama, etc.

[brainiac3397]

Did anyone win 17 Dundies?

[James Comey]

(10-16-2013 11:01 AM)Roboka Wrote:  

(10-04-2013 08:51 PM)alljoe3 Wrote:  So every now and then I hear this comment being thrown around in conversations. How times have changed and everyone is awarded a trophy these days. It is almost as if those of us who earn such awards through hard work and talent doesn't really deserve it. Is it our fault that we live in a time and place where there are so many different options of awarding school trophies, plaques and medals? I know this is how it is in Ontario where I am. Any thoughts?

For my school, sort of. Usually the popular kids or the "academically skilled" always are rewarded, and at the rare, different times, when the normally sidelined people ARE rewarded, the popular kids freak out. But then again, it is hard to tell because things are always changing when it comes to popularity, drama, etc.

Oh great. Popular kids winning these awards.

[brainiac3397]

Sometimes I find it curious that popularity can also be equated to intelligence or capability.

It's like saying Kim Kardashian will invent a working fusion reactor because she's such a big celebrity.