Competitiveness in School is Encouraged

                Imagine if you will a school system run completely without grades or class standings.  Everyone is equal no matter how much they accomplish.  Just as one person does well on an essay paper, all the students do.  That is the school system many in our great nation are trying to usher in.  They feel that the competitive nature of our schools is hurting the children’s abilities to learn.  This approach may seem friendly in that students will not feel the need to put their pride before their work and feel hurt if they are outperformed.  However, it is not conducive to  the real world job market, and letting the future job holders of America slide through school without having any significance placed on a job well done may well hurt their abilities to cope with that competitive behavior in the working world. 
         If all of our current students were put into a noncompetitive program, they would be given the right to seek the easy way out all their work.  Since grades would be nonexistent, no truly gifted students would ever feel the need to push themselves further, and those who lack would be far less likely to try to reach proficiency.  The seemingly “bad” push-for-the-grade is what aids in making the pupils want to reach their ultimate potential.  Even those that do not always reach the highest percentage feel a decent swelling of self confidence when they occasionally do achieve higher standards.  Without that competition, they would never feel that; they would feel the same as usual.
         The job market of our modern times is highly competitive, with employers seeking the best and the brightest.  If no emphasis was placed on doing work well in school and becoming better than some others, then everyone would think that a good job is just going to fall right out of the sky.  They must seek it, just as they sought that “A” in school.  Confidence must be instilled into each student by showing them how their talents could be useful over some others in certain areas.  To have no need to achieve the highest would carry over into the student’s adult life, leaving a marked trail of missed opportunities and fallen expectations.  Indeed, a noncompetitive educational institution will create a lazier and weaker society overall.
         Our aim should not be to lower our standards to the needs of the lazier students just to ensure their graduation from school.  Rather, we should build up our educational goals and bring the workforce of tomorrow up to the standards we previously  established, then upgrade them as times and technology  change.  From better competition standards shall spring our necessary abilities to approach our job search with earnestness and focus.  A stronger workforce will mean a stronger country, and when even through trial and tribulation, we may be blessed with adults capable of handling such situations with courage and vitality.  Embrace the scholastic competition, and help push our society to ever greater heights.