{"id":11262,"date":"2015-08-13T12:16:40","date_gmt":"2015-08-13T16:16:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/characterandleadership.com\/?p=11262"},"modified":"2017-07-11T13:34:11","modified_gmt":"2017-07-11T17:34:11","slug":"participation-trophies-special-or-harmful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/characterandleadership.com\/participation-trophies-special-or-harmful\/","title":{"rendered":"Participation Trophies &#8211; &#8220;Special&#8221; or &#8220;Harmful&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>HBO Real Sports aired a story recently about participation trophies for youth programs, i.e. regardless of winning or losing, everyone gets a trophy. The piece examines the long-term implications of participation trophies, essentially asking is this a good idea for the next generation and our culture.<\/p>\n<div class=\"x-resp-embed x-is-video x-is-youtube\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/aLIB8Czh1J4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><strong>Pro:<\/strong> It&#8217;s just a trophy or a ribbon. It makes the kid feel good about being on a team, competing and having fun. They don&#8217;t feel left out or &#8220;less than&#8221; their peers who won the league. It makes every kid feel special. It raises their self-esteem. It&#8217;s a big &#8220;atta-boy.&#8221; Parents feel good about it and the kids feel good about it. It reinforces the notion that sports is fun and increases the odds that a child will want to return to play other sports\/get another trophy.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Con:<\/strong> It actually harms a child to constantly praise a child for merely showing up. It artificially raises pseudo-self esteem. The trophy actually takes away the motivation to improve&#8230; it keeps kids from feeling frustration and I experiencing failure. The experts (researchers, psychiatrists and doctors) in the segment say this is doing our kids no favors. When they get to college\/work and struggle, they are more likely to give up than dig in. They are more likely to blame their professor\/boss instead of looking inside themselves. Why? Because they have always been told that they are special. This is why they quote a study that documents that over 50% of college students believe they should get at least a B just for showing up and participating. This sense of entitlement is dangerous for our culture.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dr. Hoedel&#8217;s Perspective:<\/strong> I&#8217;m old school on this one. I think participation, competition, teamwork and enjoyment should be its own rewards for participating in sports. I say skip the additional fee of the trophy and hold a team banquet at Dairy Queen. \u00a0I believe that a coach, parent and teammates can do a better job of improving self-worth throughout the season than a trophy can provide after the season. I believe that building character is more important than trying to give a child self-esteem via a ribbon. Learn to lose with dignity, applaud those that bested you and work hard to improve. I believe these lessons will translate from the athletic field to school, college, career and life. As Hellen Keller once wrote, &#8220;<strong><em>Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial <\/em><\/strong><strong><em>and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and <\/em><\/strong><strong><em>success achieved.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Your Turn: Please provide your name, email and comments below. Please use respectful language and don&#8217;t bash those who provide a different point of view.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>1) What is your opinion of participation trophies\/medals\/ribbons? Use complete sentences. Please provide a thorough argument like I did above. Compare and contrast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>HBO Real Sports aired a story recently about participation trophies for youth programs, i.e. regardless of winning or losing, everyone gets a trophy. The piece examines the long-term implications of participation trophies, essentially asking is this a good idea for the next generation and our culture. Pro: It&#8217;s just a trophy or a ribbon. It makes the kid feel good &#8230; <\/p>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/characterandleadership.com\/participation-trophies-special-or-harmful\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":11278,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,225],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Participation Trophies - &quot;Special&quot; or &quot;Harmful&quot; - Character and Leadership<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/characterandleadership.com\/participation-trophies-special-or-harmful\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Participation Trophies - &quot;Special&quot; or &quot;Harmful&quot; - Character and Leadership\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"HBO Real Sports aired a story recently about participation trophies for youth programs, i.e. regardless of winning or losing, everyone gets a trophy. The piece examines the long-term implications of participation trophies, essentially asking is this a good idea for the next generation and our culture. Pro: It&#8217;s just a trophy or a ribbon. It makes the kid feel good ... Read More\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/characterandleadership.com\/participation-trophies-special-or-harmful\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Character and Leadership\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/characterandleadership\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-08-13T16:16:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-07-11T17:34:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/characterandleadership.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Trophy.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"853\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Joe Hoedel, Ph.D.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@CDandLeadership\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@CDandLeadership\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Joe Hoedel, Ph.D.\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/characterandleadership.com\/participation-trophies-special-or-harmful\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/characterandleadership.com\/participation-trophies-special-or-harmful\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Joe Hoedel, Ph.D.\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/characterandleadership.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a821f269a73d1b027a406550cf255cf0\"},\"headline\":\"Participation Trophies &#8211; 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